Matt Rinella on Social Media

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I’m on board
 
While there are interesting points in this article, I dislike his style and over generalization. Public land is "uninhabitable" for wildlife? Public lands are too crowded because of social media? Everybody is posting photos to make money? I don't think so.

Clearly, there are slob hunters and some social media people with the wrong motivations. All it takes is to see how many "celebrity" hunters run afoul of the law each year. And while I am a social media neophyte, the number of paid "influencers" can't be more than a tiny fraction of 1% of all hunters. Most never think of starting a blog or getting endorsements.

Yes, we could do without many of these influencers. Others, like his brother Steve Rinella, are great ambassadors for our sport. And yes, I'm sure he makes good money with this hunting show and endorsements. The article smacks of jealousy more than anything.

I remember running into landowners demanding trespass fees in eastern Montana in the late 80's. Sure, prices have gone up, just like everywhere else. There wasn't social media back in the 80's unless you consider magazines like Field and Stream. The changes in access have little to do with social media, and more to do with an increasingly affluent society that can afford to spend money pursuing their passions. This is true in every leisure activity today. Our growing wealth as a society has impacted the supply and demand market - and this has impacted the hunting community as well.

Again, an interesting article, but mostly argued from an emotional standpoint, and many facts are omitted or obscured.

Bill
 
Hunting forums are also social media.

If you are a hunter, and you think there are too many hunters, you are part of the problem.
 
257Tony said:
Hunting forums are also social media.

If you are a hunter, and you think there are too many hunters, you are part of the problem.
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Exactly. My motivation to be a better hunter came from elkassassin posting all his hunting pics here for the last 20 years. Seeing that guy constantly killing big stuff year in year out really is what made me the hunter I am today. Thanks bobcat!
 
llamapacker said:
While there are interesting points in this article, I dislike his style and over generalization. Public land is "uninhabitable" for wildlife? Public lands are too crowded because of social media? Everybody is posting photos to make money? I don't think so.

Clearly, there are slob hunters and some social media people with the wrong motivations. All it takes is to see how many "celebrity" hunters run afoul of the law each year. And while I am a social media neophyte, the number of paid "influencers" can't be more than a tiny fraction of 1% of all hunters. Most never think of starting a blog or getting endorsements.

Yes, we could do without many of these influencers. Others, like his brother Steve Rinella, are great ambassadors for our sport. And yes, I'm sure he makes good money with this hunting show and endorsements. The article smacks of jealousy more than anything.

I remember running into landowners demanding trespass fees in eastern Montana in the late 80's. Sure, prices have gone up, just like everywhere else. There wasn't social media back in the 80's unless you consider magazines like Field and Stream. The changes in access have little to do with social media, and more to do with an increasingly affluent society that can afford to spend money pursuing their passions. This is true in every leisure activity today. Our growing wealth as a society has impacted the supply and demand market - and this has impacted the hunting community as well.

Again, an interesting article, but mostly argued from an emotional standpoint, and many facts are omitted or obscured.

Bill
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You should listen to his podcast with Blood Origins, which was produced before this article was published it's hard to see the jealousy if you listen to him.

It's difficult for me to argue one way or the other I see both points. Being a New Mexico resident I would like to draw a bull tag every year in 16d but because so many people put in for that my odds are terrible to even draw it once my life. It is not lost on me that without advocates for hunting there would probably be less opportunities.

On one hand it would be wonderful to have the mountains all to myself, on the other that wouldn't be possible with the work of conservationists/hunters who keep public land public.
 
throwfar said:
You should listen to his podcast with Blood Origins, which was produced before this article was published it's hard to see the jealousy if you listen to him.

It's difficult for me to argue one way or the other I see both points. Being a New Mexico resident I would like to draw a bull tag every year in 16d but because so many people put in for that my odds are terrible to even draw it once my life. It is not lost on me that without advocates for hunting there would probably be less opportunities.

On one hand it would be wonderful to have the mountains all to myself, on the other that wouldn't be possible with the work of conservationists/hunters who keep public land public.
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Did you mean it's not hard to hear the jealously?
 
llamapacker said:
While there are interesting points in this article, I dislike his style and over generalization. Public land is "uninhabitable" for wildlife? Public lands are too crowded because of social media? Everybody is posting photos to make money? I don't think so.

Clearly, there are slob hunters and some social media people with the wrong motivations. All it takes is to see how many "celebrity" hunters run afoul of the law each year. And while I am a social media neophyte, the number of paid "influencers" can't be more than a tiny fraction of 1% of all hunters. Most never think of starting a blog or getting endorsements.

Yes, we could do without many of these influencers. Others, like his brother Steve Rinella, are great ambassadors for our sport. And yes, I'm sure he makes good money with this hunting show and endorsements. The article smacks of jealousy more than anything.

I remember running into landowners demanding trespass fees in eastern Montana in the late 80's. Sure, prices have gone up, just like everywhere else. There wasn't social media back in the 80's unless you consider magazines like Field and Stream. The changes in access have little to do with social media, and more to do with an increasingly affluent society that can afford to spend money pursuing their passions. This is true in every leisure activity today. Our growing wealth as a society has impacted the supply and demand market - and this has impacted the hunting community as well.

Again, an interesting article, but mostly argued from an emotional standpoint, and many facts are omitted or obscured.

Bill
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Sorry, but if you don't think social media has had a dramatic impact on hunting than you aren't paying much attention. I couldn't disagree more with that statement. While posting on forums/facebook/instagram have taken it's toll, I do see far less location information given these days, so I see a light at the end of the tunnel. If you read many posts, people are now chastising others for giving location information, that proves the point that it has had a dramatic effect on local hunting spots.
 
The day there is not interest in hunting, is the day hunting goes away. Be careful what you wish for.
 
How come I can’t open it and all his opions have been scratched off the internet. Maybe because his brother is a social media giant here in Idaho. Then we have Abby Rinella another Face Book Social media hunter..
 
That blood origins podcast was worth listening to. I hope they have him on again so he can dive into the issues he has with Rogan that he touched on briefly.
 
hawkbill said:
How come I can’t open it and all his opions have been scratched off the internet. Maybe because his brother is a social media giant here in Idaho. Then we have Abby Rinella another Face Book Social media hunter..
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It does seem to have been removed from the original site. I was able to find it as an archived page.
 
Here is the first part:

OPINION: UNFOLLOWING HUNTING SOCIAL MEDIA WILL MAKE HUNTING BETTER

OPINION & ESSAY

DECEMBER 03, 2021 By Matt Rinella

Matt Rinella is a grown-ass man with spicy-ass opinions. While we at FRA do not agree with all of his thoughts presented below, we’ll defend his right to air them till the end. We know one thing for certain: It’s gonna be an awkward ******* Christmas at the Rinella house. – The Editors

Over the past decade, hunters have increasingly publicized pictures and videos of their kills to large audiences on social media. This monumental change in hunting norms occurred gradually and with little thought for its consequences. These consequences are overwhelmingly negative. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sharing photos of harvested game with friends and family. I strongly support individuals and organizations that use social media to cover issues of importance to the hunting community. But it is time to unfollow hunters who post pictures of dead animals to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of, mostly, strangers.

Social media has corrupted our motivations for hunting and is risking the future of the very activity we love so much. Traditionally, we hunters took to the woods for hides, horns, meat, personal enjoyment, and a sense of self-reliance. Now, for the first time in human history, many seek a digital harvest. Rather than butchering meat for the freezer or tanning a hide, these kinds of hunters mostly want photos on their iPhones to beam out across the internet. More than cooking and eating what they shoot, they’re interested in exchanging it for likes and followers — and even corporate sponsorships in gear and dollars.

With my last name, this may strike some as a curious position. I’m the brother of Steve Rinella, the founder of MeatEater and maybe the most influential hunter in America today. While I dearly love Steve and am close with some of his coworkers, I’ve come to realize their approach — and the approach of many others — of blending hunting and media, and their efforts to publicize and commodify hunting and wildlife via every available digital platform, undermine hunters everywhere. It’s easy to forget these days that people can remain friends despite vehemently disagreeing, but we’ve managed to do just that.

My argument starts with the fact that, in much of the US, public-land hunting is so overcrowded it’s no longer worth it. The mainstream and hunting media have run articles bemoaning declines in hunter participation for years, but this is utter nonsense. The number of hunters is extremely difficult to determine, and even if hunter numbers have dipped slightly since the 1980s when US Fish and Wildlife Service data indicate they peaked, it’s irrelevant. Existing hunters are hunting more. When I crunched the data, it became clear that hunting license sales increased a whopping 30% between the 1980s and 2010s, and then the COVID-19 hunting boom increased hunter and license numbers even more. So, even if there are a few less hunters, those hunters are buying more licenses and spending more time crowding the woods.

Also, since the 1980s, the American landscape has changed in major ways. The US population size has increased by a third, the square footage of housing per person has doubled, and many former hunting spots are consequently residential neighborhoods now. The US simply doesn’t have the habitat needed to support the wildlife and hunters it used to.

As a result, big game draw odds have plummeted, private lands are increasingly leased for hunting and thus off-limits to the public, and public land hunting often begins with struggling to find parking at the trailhead, followed by struggling to find animals so pressured they suffer from PTSD. According to 2017 survey data, over half of hunters have abandoned spots due to crowding. In short, hunter numbers have grown beyond what the resource can support. I believe social media is largely responsible for this because it draws people afield under false pretenses and encourages hunting for unjust reasons.

I’d be remiss if I ignored my own history with hunting social media. I was never big on posting grip-and-grins online. Years ago, I completely stopped after seriously asking myself why I wanted lots of people to see what I had shot. Upon reflection, I realized bragging was my sole motivation. This troubled me. I’ve always had a low tolerance for bragging by others, so I disliked realizing I was guilty of it myself. It didn’t help that I was bragging about dead animals harvested for food. This seemed more consequential and perverse than the soccer trophies, kitchen remodels, and other inane **** people brag about online.
 
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The Negative Consequences of Hunting Social Media

For proof that social media, and hunting television, are increasing hunter numbers on already overcrowded public lands, consider what hunting influencers sell their followers on Facebook and Instagram and through their TV shows. In addition to hunting products, influencers like my brother sell books that teach rudimentary hunting, game cooking, and backcountry survival skills. Many are now teaching classes where students learn elementary woodsmanship, game calling, map reading, and strategies for applying for tags.

The target audience for all this is clearly hunting-curious nonhunters because seasoned hunters don’t need 101-level how-to content. If you have any doubt that motivating people to hunt and selling them products is big business, consider how many influencers do it. Here, for example, are more than 200 of them on Instagram. In addition to inspiring people to hunt, influencers inspire people to become fellow influencers. They do this partly by example and partly by teaching the relevant skills to do so, like how to attract sponsors and how to film their hunts. In other words, influencers motivate people to hunt for the same shitty ego- and profit-motivated reasons they hunt themselves.

Top hunting influencers like to call themselves conservationists, but the fact of the matter is influencers are terrible for habitat. No matter how great areas look in terms of feed and cover, game can’t live where there are hunters on every ridge. That’s exactly the situation influencers have created in their quest for more hunter-customers. Most influencers don’t have to hunt the places they’ve blown up because they largely hunt private land, take expensive trips to remote hunting destinations, and enter pricey limited tag lotteries throughout the US and beyond.

Influencers like to believe they’re elevating our reputation among the nonhunting public, but social media has severely damaged our reputation among nonhunters as well as reduced hunting opportunity. For example, read about the banning of grizzly bear hunting in British Columbia or watch The Women Who Kill Lions on Netflix. Or Google something like “social media hunting controversy” and settle in for a very long read.

Moreover, hunting influencers routinely engage in selfish, greedy behavior that poses threats to our reputation among nonhunters. Generating enough content to gain big followings and attract sponsors necessitates gobbling up tags and killing more than one needs. Top influencers commonly kill three or more elk a year along with a variety of other game. If you’re reading this, you’re probably following several of them right now.

If I was a nonhunter doing a quick scan of hunting social media, my gut response would be one of shock. It is a cornucopia of carcasses with zero explanation of what they plan to do with all that meat. If you’re a nonhunter reading this, please believe many traditional hunters are as disgusted by all this greed as you are. Traditional hunters believe wild game is a precious resource, and we harvest only what we need to eat between seasons, thereby increasing the chances for other hunters to take an animal.

Hunting social media is also horrible for public access. Friends growing up in the rural Montana community where I live remember freely hunting the surrounding ranchlands. A tractor repairman friend remembers having permission to hunt a 100-plus-mile swath running from eastern Montana all the way to South Dakota. Access started dwindling in the late 1980s with the advent of cable-TV hunting shows. These shows increased the appeal of hunting to the point where people became willing to pay big money to lease private hunting lands. Nowadays, it’s laughable to think banging on doors will result in hunting permissions in this prairie country because years of social media hype have made un-pressured ground so rare and monetarily valuable that landowners can’t resist charging for it. Hunting influencers like to pretend fellow hunters are their stakeholder group, but their real stakeholders are large landowners and the hunting industry.
 
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Social media hunters further degrade opportunities for traditional hunters by deceiving people into thinking hunting is something it’s not. When famous hunting personalities pay to kill elk on ranches that are off-limits to the public, what they’re doing is more like slaughtering livestock than hunting wild elk. If that’s what gets them off, great, but putting videos of their “hunts” on social media without indicating they are stalking areas off-limits to the public dupes legions of newbies into thinking publicly accessible basins are brimming with bulls just waiting to be shot. Nothing says, “let them eat cake,” quite like using social media to inundate traditional public land hunters with throngs of aspiring hunting influencers while stalking quasi-domestic wildlife on private ranches.

I can’t understand being proud enough of this fantasy hunting to film it or brag about it on podcasts. Aren’t the videos a tacit admission one lacks the tenacity for real hunting? Many traditional hunters think so. I’d rather kill a one-eyed calf with a limp on public land than a half-tame giant that’s only accessible to people who can afford to pay for it. At a bare minimum, these “hunters” should explain to their followers that they’ve paid to stalk glorified cattle at hunting amusement parks. Then they could give a virtual tour of the lodge and a cost breakdown.

Here is perhaps the biggest problem with hunting social media: It is blatantly dishonest. It doesn’t take much hunting experience or familiarity with wound-loss data to see that social media hunters regularly hide the sorrowful side of killing animals for sport and meat. Social media shows too many smiling faces and too few fading blood trails. I know hunters that upload their grip-n-gloats before the meat cools when things go right but post nothing at all when they wound and lose game. Even major hunting publications encourage this lying by omission by discouraging hunters from posting videos of poorly hit game.

“KEEP ON HUNTING, BUT POST NOTHING IN 2022. THIS WILL PROVE YOU’VE MOVED PAST THE ATTENTION-SEEKING TODDLER STAGE IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT AS A HUNTER AND NOW GO AFIELD FOR MATURE REASONS.”

Showing only the happy parts attracts people to hunting on false premises, which is deeply unfair. It causes people to gear up and head afield thinking they’ll simply pull the trigger and drag their winter meat back to the truck. It’s not a true representation. The cold, hard fact is that pulling the trigger sometimes results in wounded animals and severe regret. This is especially true for new hunters. If influencers insist on recruiting new hunters and selling them gear, they should at least have the decency to ensure these hunters go into it with their eyes wide open. Of course, honest social media that consistently shows wound loss would provoke public outrage. As such, the influencers have painted themselves into a corner: Showing only the happy parts is lying and showing everything could destroy hunting. If they want to stop lying while maintaining our right to hunt, the only option is to take hunting offline.

What’s Lost if We Stop Posting Harvested Game?

As long as there have been cameras, hunters have been taking pictures with their game animals. Before the internet, these photos were displayed in albums and sometimes on walls in sporting goods stores. While the pictures aren’t new, the motivations for showing them, and the numbers and types of people that see them, have changed dramatically. Instead of a few family members or hunters in bait shops seeing the images, they are broadcast to everyone willing to look at them across the internet. This mass posting of dead game has become so common that it’s tempting to think something virtuous might be lost if we stop doing it.

To determine what’s at stake, I recently asked eight hunters who are widely followed on social media why they show us what they shoot. If they can’t explain why looking at what they kill is indispensable to the future of hunting, who can?

Their responses included “picture storage” and “informing friends what I’ve been doing.” Both are goals easily achieved without hundreds or thousands of followers. Most other motivations I heard about clearly don’t benefit the hunting community, such as “gaining credibility as a hunter” and “being addicted to the adoration” of followers, as two interviewees put it. One said, “It’s only worth [posting dead game] if people buy something,” and six of the eight admitted bragging was a motivation.


To determine what’s at stake, I recently asked eight hunters who are widely followed on social media why they show us what they shoot. If they can’t explain why looking at what they kill is indispensable to the future of hunting, who can?

Their responses included “picture storage” and “informing friends what I’ve been doing.” Both are goals easily achieved without hundreds or thousands of followers. Most other motivations I heard about clearly don’t benefit the hunting community, such as “gaining credibility as a hunter” and “being addicted to the adoration” of followers, as two interviewees put it. One said, “It’s only worth [posting dead game] if people buy something,” and six of the eight admitted bragging was a motivation.

One motivation mentioned to me that demands more serious consideration is “celebrating the animal.” This could ostensibly benefit the hunting community as it could be seen as a positive to nonhunters watching. But do they mean celebrating the animal’s magnificence? If so, why not stick to photos of living animals? All animals look way better alive. Do they mean celebrating the animal’s life like we do loved ones at funerals? If so, why don’t we post pictures of open caskets to celebrate departed loved ones? When people say they show thousands of people what they shoot “to honor the animal,” much as I want to believe their motives are pure, all I hear is “to honor my abilities.” They’re honoring themselves, not the animal.

One interviewee said his motivation was to “portray hunting honestly” as a counter to all the dishonest depictions on social media and television. I’m positive this interviewee provides warts-and-all depictions of real hunting. I know the guy. He once released a heartbreaking video involving an elk he wounded. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to regularly consume hunting social media without regularly consuming bullshit, and there’s no way to distinguish the truth from the half-truths and outright lies.

Another motivation cited by the social media hunters I spoke with was promoting acceptance of hunting by illustrating field-to-table connectivity. To me, it’s a stretch to think nonhunters learn anything profound that revolutionizes their views on hunting when we post dead deer followed by a recipe for venison osso buco.
 
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What Should We Do About It?

My brother Dan has joked about developing an internet-enabled rifle scope that automatically uploads kill shots to a hunter’s social media feed. His joke illustrates how hopelessly entangled social media is with hunting. Prospects for disentangling the two seem dim. Once before, however, hunters did abandon a common practice that wasn’t serving them. Through the 1980s, visibly transporting big game on vehicles was common. Then, in the 1990s and early 2000s, sportsmen’s groups, hunting magazines, and game management agencies began encouraging hunters to conceal carcasses to avoid offending nonhunters. The campaign seems to have worked some because I don’t see as many predominantly displayed deer on the highway as I used to.

If we unfollow hunting social media, we’ll do much more than avoid further public relations problems. We’ll be better, happier, and more successful hunters. In addition to no longer completely wasting time and suffering other downsides of staring at phones, we’ll stop contributing to a system that:

Incentivizes hunting for the wrong reasons
Diminishes draw odds
Crowds public hunting grounds
Makes wildlands uninhabitable for wildlife
Pays landowners to lock out the public
Degrades our reputation among nonhunters
The solution to all this is simple. I’m appealing to hunting influencers: Stop posting it. I’m appealing to hunting content consumers: Stop following it. I’m appealing to all hunters everywhere: Get on board with my New Year No Post Challenge. Keep on hunting, but post nothing in 2022. This will prove you’ve moved past the attention-seeking toddler stage in your development as a hunter and now go afield for mature reasons. More importantly than proving it to others, you’ll prove it to yourself. Is hunting still fun without the likes?

When it comes to hunting, we should take our lead from the Ju/’hoansi people of the Kalahari Desert, a hunter-gatherer tribe that the anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee studied in the 1960s and 1970s. Ju/’hoansi customs strongly encouraged humility, as quotes from a tribesman illustrate:

“Say that a man has been hunting. He must not come home and announce like a braggart, ‘I have killed a big one in the bush!’ He must first sit down in silence until I or someone else comes up to his fire and asks, ‘What did you see today?’ He replies quietly, ‘Ah, I’m no good for hunting. I saw nothing at all…maybe just a tiny one.’ Then I smile to myself because I know he has killed something big.”

The contrast between Ju/’hoansi hunters and social media hunters couldn’t be sharper. These humble tribesmen were reluctant to tell their closest friends and neighbors they had killed something. Conversely, social media hunters tell the whole world. The Ju/’hoansi had the right idea. The proper attitude for the hunter is one of understatement and humility. Hunting is about seeing without being seen. Hunting is best done quietly.
 
The wood River Valley, Ketchum Idaho is over run with Rinella’s and their social media followers, Meat Eater, First Lite, Addy Rinella on face book. Everyone one wants to hunt and deserves to now, they want opportunity hunting. Yet Rinella pushes this with his show and now his clothing line . I’ve have eaten my last three trophy deer tags and a sheep tag, why because I like to see young animals grow into mature animals and I’m not seeing much in the older age class Like I used to so I let them go. If I want to show a picture of my self or my family on MM with an animal I am going to. I like seeing nice pictures of other hunters with their game and short stories. Rinellas and the other celebrity hunters are the real problem with the over crowding of hunting and all the gimmicks. Why do you think they pulled this off the internet so fast because one of them knows the effect they are having on quality hunting and the others are silent on their way to the bank.
 
hawkbill said:
The wood River Valley, Ketchum Idaho is over run with Rinella’s and their social media followers, Meat Eater, First Lite, Addy Rinella on face book. Everyone one wants to hunt and deserves to now, they want opportunity hunting. Yet Rinella pushes this with his show and now his clothing line . I’ve have eaten my last three trophy deer tags and a sheep tag, why because I like to see young animals grow into mature animals and I’m not seeing much in the older age class Like I used to so I let them go. If I want to show a picture of my self or my family on MM with an animal I am going to. I like seeing nice pictures of other hunters with their game and short stories. Rinellas and the other celebrity hunters are the real problem with the over crowding of hunting and all the gimmicks. Why do you think they pulled this off the internet so fast because one of them knows the effect they are having on quality hunting and the others are silent on their way to the bank.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion.
 
Just another ass wipe who is looking out for what he feels is best for him. Sad so many hunters just worry about themselves and not the future of hunting.

Times have changes and maybe not all for the better but we can still hunt and enjoy the outdoors. I post pictures not to brag but to share me hunts with others. If not for this site which is a form of social media I would not of had the great hunts I have had out west.
 
Um... If you have your facebook and instagram set to private, it IS only shared with friends and family.

Until you drop it on a message board.
 
The irony of members of this site bashing people for posting to “social media”.
I enjoy MM for the discussions, the jokes, the $#!+ posting, but mostly for the successful stories.
I understand the frustration with a crowded mountain, but the day the woods are empty, all my hobbies will be outlawed anyway.
For sure we have an issue with a few “influencers” posting disrespectful pictures, and getting caught breaking the law. I don’t think the remedy to that is quality hunters being silent on social media.
My wife as an IG page with a decent number of “followers” most of whom are not associated with, or know anything about, hunting. Every time she posts about a successful hunt we have she gets multiple messages asking about the process of hunting. Generally that leads to the opportunity to explain some of the science behind conservation, the health of eating wild game, and the enjoyment of providing your own meal.
I think we lose a lot of votes, not because of anti-hunters, but because of lack of education. If we can gain back those votes 6 at a time because of my wife’s social media, I think that’s a good thing.
 
ciller160 said:
The irony of members of this site bashing people for posting to “social media”.
I enjoy MM for the discussions, the jokes, the $#!+ posting, but mostly for the successful stories.
I understand the frustration with a crowded mountain, but the day the woods are empty, all my hobbies will be outlawed anyway.
For sure we have an issue with a few “influencers” posting disrespectful pictures, and getting caught breaking the law. I don’t think the remedy to that is quality hunters being silent on social media.
My wife as an IG page with a decent number of “followers” most of whom are not associated with, or know anything about, hunting. Every time she posts about a successful hunt we have she gets multiple messages asking about the process of hunting. Generally that leads to the opportunity to explain some of the science behind conservation, the health of eating wild game, and the enjoyment of providing your own meal.
I think we lose a lot of votes, not because of anti-hunters, but because of lack of education. If we can gain back those votes 6 at a time because of my wife’s social media, I think that’s a good thing.
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Discussion is one thing but grip and grins (with no story) are quite another. And I think if you actually look at who is posting ego-pics on this “social media” site, it is not the vast majority of us.
 
why not post pictures. Why should I be ashamed to show what I have taken on a hunt. Some people just dont get it and is not showing off it is being proud of what someone has done and sharing with others and if someones little feeling get hurt because they see a dead animal to bad for them they dont need to look or comment.

Sick of hiding or worrying about everyones feelings who may not like hunting. I dont rub it in anyone face but I dont need to be ashamed of posting any place I pick to share pictures.
 
Matt Rinella definitely makes some good points and I respect his opinion, but I don't think social media is the driving force for overcrowding or more hunting western game. I think it is the economy and the ability for people to travel easier and an increase in population in western states that are the primary drivers. If everyone boycotts social media in 2022, people are still going to hunt, still going to apply for tags. If you look back east, the national forest lands are significantly less crowded than they used to be. Yes, there are less deer per square mile because of timber practices, but still a lot less hunters abound on those public lands. In twenty-years, I can count the number of other hunters I see back in a mile+ on one hand...the hunting is tough, but it is still good. I think it is the limited tags out west, ability to see long distances and the increase in population.

It might be true, but I kind of doubt the majority of what his brother Steve Rinella sells is to non-hunters wanting to become hunters. I watch his episodes, buy his books, listen to his podcasts and I am definitely not a non-hunter, just a guy who loves to learn about hunting, listen about it and go and do it by myself on public ground and eat everything I shoot.
 
nripepi said:
Matt Rinella definitely makes some good points and I respect his opinion, but I don't think social media is the driving force for overcrowding or more hunting western game. I think it is the economy and the ability for people to travel easier and an increase in population in western states that are the primary drivers. If everyone boycotts social media in 2022, people are still going to hunt, still going to apply for tags. If you look back east, the national forest lands are significantly less crowded than they used to be. Yes, there are less deer per square mile because of timber practices, but still a lot less hunters abound on those public lands. In twenty-years, I can count the number of other hunters I see back in a mile+ on one hand...the hunting is tough, but it is still good. I think it is the limited tags out west, ability to see long distances and the increase in population.

It might be true, but I kind of doubt the majority of what his brother Steve Rinella sells is to non-hunters wanting to become hunters. I watch his episodes, buy his books, listen to his podcasts and I am definitely not a non-hunter, just a guy who loves to learn about hunting, listen about it and go and do it by myself on public ground and eat everything I shoot.
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It’s not the driving force but has much more influence than any other broad cast involved with/for hunting by a lot!

It absolutely has people want to apply more and more and I don’t even think I know it causes more people to apply that would never typically apply. That’s ok because it’s good for the sport to grow but we need good hunters/people to be part of this! To often tv depicts this image things are much easier than what they are and it drives the ethics of hunters down, expectations up and effort down. I’m all for new hunters who will put in the work and give it their all whether be with a savage axis, bear bow or a Sitka clothing set up and Gunwerks custom.


Hop on YouTube and type back country hunting. Hundreds. Maybe not in certain areas of Nm as it’s not needed but for certain animals/hunts and locations it’s common.


I do wish the people would make the most of their tags as more and more it’s harder to draw and I know a lot of people feel like at times people don’t deserve that. And partially it’s true but it’s also fair game unfortunately. People bring their bows in a week before there hunt, don’t shoot their guns and it winds up making hunters look bad as they wound animals or postings of bad shots or unnecessary things that non hunters use as fuel.

I was listening to a podcast on the way to California and they said the dopamine you get from social media likes to a new profile pic is the equivalent of doing a line of cocaine. The social media hires casino experts on making social media platforms addictive. I never thought of things this way since this site and archery talk are as far as I go but sounds like it can be a real issue!

In the end you can never make things perfect and you’ll always have some half empty glass nay sayers and the battle of good and bad. I just try to make those battles be outside of what I love which is hunting, fishing and shooting!

Good luck this year!
 
Got rid of Instagram, don't post any new videos on YouTube unless it is unlisted, then I just share with family and friends. Don't post anything on this site really anymore. You hunt for the wrong reasons if you are posting on social media often.
 
There, I chopped you a line.

I post pictures here because I think some people enjoy them, especially the guys who are chasing the cheese in the rat race and don’t get a chance to see the sun come up.

I don’t think stuff like this forum makes you an ahole. I just think it created the perfect arena for the ones who already are.

I come to observe the shenanigans. Much better than reading the paper.
 
you guys remember the bulletin boards at the gas stations, bait shops, hardware stores, where people would put pictures of their successful hunts and fishing trips? they are still there and this could be a nice alternative to social media.
 
To me it just shows weakness as hunters to let others control anything that is the norm. Social media is not going away and letting anyone side control it will only hurt us all in the end.

New times and we either change with them or slowly lose the war to keep hunting and all outdoor things we love. Be proud of your hunts and share as you wish but dont let a few scare you from posting what your proud of.
 
Listened to the latest Meat Eater podcast this am and he is on there in a heated discussion with the entire Meat Eater crew about this. He said Black Rifle Coffee Co. picked up the article and it will be coming out on their freerangeamerican.us page.
 
OCHO said:
I was listening to a podcast on the way to California and they said the dopamine you get from social media likes to a new profile pic is the equivalent of doing a line of cocaine.
Click to expand...
clearly someone who's never dipped into the booger sugar
 
llamapacker said:
While there are interesting points in this article, I dislike his style and over generalization. Public land is "uninhabitable" for wildlife? Public lands are too crowded because of social media? Everybody is posting photos to make money? I don't think so.

Clearly, there are slob hunters and some social media people with the wrong motivations. All it takes is to see how many "celebrity" hunters run afoul of the law each year. And while I am a social media neophyte, the number of paid "influencers" can't be more than a tiny fraction of 1% of all hunters. Most never think of starting a blog or getting endorsements.

Yes, we could do without many of these influencers. Others, like his brother Steve Rinella, are great ambassadors for our sport. And yes, I'm sure he makes good money with this hunting show and endorsements. The article smacks of jealousy more than anything.

I remember running into landowners demanding trespass fees in eastern Montana in the late 80's. Sure, prices have gone up, just like everywhere else. There wasn't social media back in the 80's unless you consider magazines like Field and Stream. The changes in access have little to do with social media, and more to do with an increasingly affluent society that can afford to spend money pursuing their passions. This is true in every leisure activity today. Our growing wealth as a society has impacted the supply and demand market - and this has impacted the hunting community as well.

Again, an interesting article, but mostly argued from an emotional standpoint, and many facts are omitted or obscured.

Bill
Click to expand...
Loved your post. I agree and disagree. Mostly disagree about emotions. I think you are missing his point. No hard feelings regardless fyi. Just comments here.

Hunting to most is emotional. Few can separate hunting as a hobby and a good time out Vs hunting as a means of providing meat.

It gets emotional when you sacrifice time with family time from work, kids and wife..etc and have your one opportunity ruined (speaking as an archery guy too) having a person ride up a non motorized road in a sxs during prime time hunting.

It’s emotional seeing ppl have loaded down sxs’s ripping down roads between prime morning or evening hunting time rip to a tank and kill a big bull and never get more than 100 yards from the sxs all when you leave camp at 430 am or earlier.. hike.. listen.. hike some more and get to walk back empty handed and even get asked by your friendly neighborhood road cruiser if you want a ride back knowing they ruined your opportunity.

Another emotional button… NM lottery for draw odds. Folks go years without drawing. Let alone a drawing a unit with a good amount of animals. And when we do we don’t like having those days siphoned away from us because they expect a Rocky Mountain elk foundation type hunt with buggling elk around every tree. So yeah I think we are just as entitled to be emotional as every other person is entitled to hunt.

You don’t make business decisions based off emotion. But competitors do. There are compassionate competitors. Fair competitors. Aggressive competitors. methodical competitors And unfortunately cheaters but competitors all the same.

To your point no not everyone is looking to post hunts on social media to get rich and famous but.. hunting has been marketed hard.

Yes, there is grace to the newbies.. how else can they learn but there are non spoken rules of hunting too. I’ll be the first to admit I’m guilty of saying ,”they have no business hunting.” But I’ll also admit my great passion hunting is taking someone that has never hunted and teaching them. Getting their first animal.. watching them shake and completely miss multiple shots on an animal because of buck fever. Greatest feeling to witness.

I’ll go camp where I hunt if I don’t draw.. because we love it right. We want to be there. To help others that did draw.. but you see ppl that won’t hike. Drive all day cruising roads.. sleep in.. hunt only a day out of 14 day hunt or something. That sort of site to see is frustrating.

Hunting like any other industry is marketed that anyone can do it and even everyone should do it. It only takes a handful of anyone can do it ppl to talk about a location or post it somewhere and every Tom, Dick and Harry flocks to it for a free easy already scouted location to hunt.

I can’t speak for Matt but I can speak for myself and my fellow hunting party. It’s emotional to us and My fellow outfitters out trying to make a living. Even success rates and harvest rates reflect this. Less pressure equals time. Time allows a hunter to pattern animals.. get a high percentage shot (closer and lethal). Right now.. time is not a luxury we have in most states . Better take a shot before someone comes to hunt the area you are in. Hunting pressure does provide opportunities too. Don’t get me wrong.

OTC hunting is dying. NM Hasn’t has otc hunts since the 80’s. It won’t be long (hopefully not the case) before Montana, Colorado etc can’t do it either. Montana and Wyoming hunters are already competing with wolves, grizzlies and non resident hunters for decent and accessible elk and deer.

Western hunting is hard work. Everything about it. Prep. The hunt. Packing out. Everything is tough. And we love it. But yeah.. it’s emotional when our opportunities shorten whether by age, access, animals.. whatever. It’s a commitment.
 

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