Anti-Hunter, Now It’s Personal

Hunting is not for everyone, which means some people will oppose it. Anti-hunting sentiment is nothing new, nor are the attempts by some groups to end all hunting by smearing hunting in order to enlist more non-hunters to support their anti-hunting agenda. What is new is “anti-hunting” has become “anti-hunter.”

If you’re having a difficult time getting other people to object to an activity, you might try something more personal, like getting people to object to the actions of other people. This is what anti-hunting has evolved into—people objecting to the motivations and actions of hunters.

Why should we care? The anti-hunter atmosphere is far more dangerous because it welcomes aboard many more people who would otherwise not have given hunting a second thought. These people are not originally opposed to someone else hunting even though they choose not to hunt themselves.

The anti-hunter approach is also tailor-made for social media trolls and keyboard terrorists. Personal attacks on social media, where one can hide behind a pen name with no accountability for what they say, is on the rise everywhere, and hunters are becoming prime targets. It would be “sticks and stones” if it were not for the Internet being the global avenue through which the majority of people get their information and form their opinions.

There is no simple solution to this. All we can do as hunters is walk a straight path and hunt fair chase.

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