Still don't know how detrimental the sensationalistic hunting shows are to hunting. Would love to see some research on this, or to be pointed in the direction of such research.
I'll play devil's advocate on this one . . . . We don't have tv, so I don't watch these shows regularly. But I remember when they first came out (10-15 years ago?) I thought that they were a net positive for hunting. At the time, hunters were routinely being told to "cover their deer carcass up in the truck" and "don't wear camo in public." I believe that such advice simply drives hunting further underground and out of the public eye. So I was glad to see hunting shows on the outdoor channels--and moreover, I was glad to see the kill shots. Any attempt to mask over the kill would have been an unnecessary sanitation of what goes on in hunting.
Now, with that said, it may in fact be the case that the majority of hunters shown on these television programs are morons. Whooping it up at the kill, high fiving it, etc. As they say about such displays in football, when you get to the endzone you should act like you've been there before.
Does such behavior give the non-hunting public a skewed view of hunters? Perhaps. But perhaps not. I would like to see some social science research/evidence that demonstrates such an effect on public attitudes. I doubt it's there.
Compare the hunting shows with the cooking shows, e.g., "Hell's Kitchen" and the like. The cooks on those shows are all morons--every other word out of their mouths are expletives that are beeped out. Do these shows have much impact on the general public's view of people who cook? I doubt it.
Same with other shows--Project Runway is one my kids and wife watch. Again, morons who sew and the morons who direct them. Do I care if they don't speak well and can't seem to utter a sentence without swearing? not really.
So I don't know that the outdoor media issue is as big a problem as some of the "hunting intelligentsia" makes it out to be. A bigger problem is kids not going outdoors and increasing urbanization so kids can't walk out the door and hunt squirrels and rabbits after school.
anyway. I'm probably in the minority on this one. And perhaps I have a blindspot because I don't watch the outdoors channels all day. But I think there are probably other more important 'problems' facing hunters.
Monday, November 29, 2010
The "Problem" of outdoor media
I posted the following as a comment on Galen Greer's blog in response to a post titled Responsibility in Outdoor Media. I originally saw Galen's post mentioned on Albert Rasch's site.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Already posted a photo on the other blog, but who knows, someone may stumble on this one as well.
Got into my elevated stand around 3:00 yesterday afternoon, and there was a strong northwest breeze, so I was basically looking to the southeast corner of the field for most of the afternoon. Somewhere around 4:40 or so, this little guy came sneaking in from the northwest thicket, cruising with the wind, and popping into view less than fifty yards away (I'll have to laser it later). No real hesitation, I haven't seen any bucks since last week, so I aimed low behind the front shoulder and pulled the trigger. He did the hind leg kick thing, which was good, and bolted off toward the creek through the apple trees. I found him just on the other side of the shrub line, stone dead.
Was happy to see the points, I didn't even glass him given that he was so close.
Not a heavy deer, and I was able to get him into the truck myself. But it was dark by the time I got him to the butcher. Ordered more processed items--kind of a sampler of everything, which the kids will like.
Now it's hurry up and wait for muzzle-loading season.
Was happy to see the points, I didn't even glass him given that he was so close.
Not a heavy deer, and I was able to get him into the truck myself. But it was dark by the time I got him to the butcher. Ordered more processed items--kind of a sampler of everything, which the kids will like.Now it's hurry up and wait for muzzle-loading season.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Honor the hunt by hunting with honor
Been working on the following piece for Orion. Thanks to Cagey for providing the bulk of the eye-witness testimony about what happened on that fateful day in the "illegal Riegel" blind.
Cross-posted from the Fair Chase blog.
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Fair chase and ethical hunting are usually what come to mind when people think of Orion. Although these terms probably don’t lend themselves to strict definition, I think that fair chase and ethical hunting can be summarized by the maxim, “Honor the hunt by hunting with honor.”
Now, I recognize there are rhetorical pros and cons to the idea of hunting with honor. It is almost an old-fashioned notion. Advantages include the positive connotations with fair chase; the respect for game animals and for the sport of hunting; and the positive idea of “honorable behavior” or hunting honorably when no one is looking.
Negative associations, on the other hand, may include the elitist or aristocratic connotations of the term “honor,” as in “Your honor” and deference to high rank.
Although some of the Orion members I have spoken with are sensitive to the negative connotations of “honor,” they argue that allowing some interpretation of what it means to hunt with honor isn't necessarily a bad thing. They point out that to some people, honor will mean respecting the animal, whereas to others it may mean respecting other hunters and landowners, and hunters being true to their own value system.
To me, honor as an ethical term carries more positive than negative associations. When we speak of an honorable person, we think approvingly of an honest and trustworthy individual who is able to follow his/her convictions and act with integrity. In this way, honor and integrity function as moral virtues. “He is a man of honor and therefore will keep his word.”
In one of the few sustained book-length works on the topic, Honor, anthropologist Frank Henderson Stewart argues that honor is best understood as a right to respect. This interpretation, too, has certain advantages to hunters. Ethical hunters command the respect of their fellow hunters. At the same time ethical hunters ask that society extend the same respect to them and to ethical hunting.
I believe it makes sense to examine the ideals of respect and honor in the traditional terms of sportsmanship. Sportsmen do not take advantage of the animal—rather they give it. Fair chase is all about giving every possible advantage to the animal within the limits of the hunter’s own individual abilities and skill level. Novice hunters begin on a more level playing field than experts. Experts accordingly limit their advantage over the game with ever more restrictive techniques, including stricter rules, less efficient technologies and voluntary restraint. Advanced deer hunters may forego the gun for a bow, impose antler restrictions, and hunt only by stalking their prey on the ground rather than using a tree stand. Each of these voluntary, self-imposed choices confer advantage to the animal while removing advantages from the hunter.
These voluntary choices are born of respect for the game animal, but they are also in an important sense born out of respect for the hunt itself. Hunting does not take place in a cultural vacuum, but instead occurs within an ongoing historical tradition that identifies the moral bounds of honorable and ethical hunting.
Fair chase is sportsmanship, therefore, in an important sense. Honorable fair chase hunting is hunting with honor, but fair chase hunting is also deserving of honor—that is, the honorable fair chase hunter is someone who has earned the right to society’s respect.
I believe this is the image of hunting that Orion - The Hunter’s Institute wants to communicate and promote. We should embrace the fact that ethical hunters deserve respect.
We also should acknowledge ethical hunters deserve a kind of “deference to high rank.” After all, the ethical hunter who holds to a high standard of fair chase is truly elite, in the best sense of the word.
Ethical hunters are worthy of our respect and deference. In the same way we defer to skill and knowledge in other contexts—dentists and doctors come to mind—we should hold up the example of good hunters as models to follow. We can and should defer to the experience of skilled hunters, and we should hold their hunting knowledge in the high esteem it deserves.
But to be absolutely clear: elite hunting is not simply about having superior knowledge or the most refined technique. Most importantly, the term elite refers to moral character. Derek the grebe shooter was hardly elite in terms of knowledge or technique—after all, he sluiced a grebe on the water. But he stands above other hunters in his ethics and character. He made a mistake, admitted his error, and accepted the consequences of his actions. Derek, too, is an elite hunter—an ethically elite hunter who has learned from his past mistakes, and this makes him a better hunter in the long run.
Orion strives to make better hunters. No hunter is perfect, but every hunter can strive to improve. In this way, Orion the Hunter’s Institute can promote a vision of admittedly elite hunting, and of elite hunters. Why wouldn’t we? Elite hunters, that is to say, who honor the hunt by hunting with honor.
Cross-posted from the Fair Chase blog.
____________________________________________________________________________
One opening day on Cayuga Lake several years ago, a friend of mine accidentally shot a grebe, mistaking it for a coot.
Derek had recently trained a new puppy for waterfowl hunting, and the hunter and his young dog were having a fine morning. The birds were flying well, and a mixed bag of puddlers and divers was hanging by 10 am. As the action slowed, a flock of coots swam through the decoys, and he ignored them.
But seeing how eager his dog was to retrieve, he began to regret that he did not shoot a coot for the dog, so he resolved to shoot one if they came by again. Ten minutes later, a lone bird came swimming up the shore, bobbing its head a bit and meandering through the decoys. It was promptly dispatched and retrieved.
A little while later, a pair of conservation officers could be seen making their rounds, from blind to blind, through the marsh, checking bag limits, ammunition, licenses, and duck stamps. When the officers arrived, Derek listed his bag: two mallards, one black duck, one bluebill, and one coot. The officer asked to see the bag. The stringer of birds was handed to the officers, who scrutinized the birds.
“Well, that’s a nice bird, but I have bad news for you,” said the senior officer, pointing at the smallest bird. “What’s that?” my friend asked. “Your coot is a grebe.” Derek answered, dejectedly, “I was afraid of something like that.”
“Then why didn’t you get rid of it?” the younger officer interjected. “Most guys would have.” To which Derek responded: “Because I shot it, and my dog retrieved it. And because it would be wrong to just kill something and throw it out. I wish I wouldn’t have shot it, but I did. I thought it was a coot, and that’s my mistake, which is bad enough. But I wouldn’t want to make matters worse by lying and cheating.”
The officers proceeded to inform Derek that his mistake was a federal offense, but they also seemed to recognize and respect his efforts to honor the hunt, the dog, the birds, and the traditions of hunting. I think that in the end they were somewhat easier on him than they could have been.
Fair chase and ethical hunting are usually what come to mind when people think of Orion. Although these terms probably don’t lend themselves to strict definition, I think that fair chase and ethical hunting can be summarized by the maxim, “Honor the hunt by hunting with honor.”
Now, I recognize there are rhetorical pros and cons to the idea of hunting with honor. It is almost an old-fashioned notion. Advantages include the positive connotations with fair chase; the respect for game animals and for the sport of hunting; and the positive idea of “honorable behavior” or hunting honorably when no one is looking.
Negative associations, on the other hand, may include the elitist or aristocratic connotations of the term “honor,” as in “Your honor” and deference to high rank.
Although some of the Orion members I have spoken with are sensitive to the negative connotations of “honor,” they argue that allowing some interpretation of what it means to hunt with honor isn't necessarily a bad thing. They point out that to some people, honor will mean respecting the animal, whereas to others it may mean respecting other hunters and landowners, and hunters being true to their own value system.
To me, honor as an ethical term carries more positive than negative associations. When we speak of an honorable person, we think approvingly of an honest and trustworthy individual who is able to follow his/her convictions and act with integrity. In this way, honor and integrity function as moral virtues. “He is a man of honor and therefore will keep his word.”
In one of the few sustained book-length works on the topic, Honor, anthropologist Frank Henderson Stewart argues that honor is best understood as a right to respect. This interpretation, too, has certain advantages to hunters. Ethical hunters command the respect of their fellow hunters. At the same time ethical hunters ask that society extend the same respect to them and to ethical hunting.
I believe it makes sense to examine the ideals of respect and honor in the traditional terms of sportsmanship. Sportsmen do not take advantage of the animal—rather they give it. Fair chase is all about giving every possible advantage to the animal within the limits of the hunter’s own individual abilities and skill level. Novice hunters begin on a more level playing field than experts. Experts accordingly limit their advantage over the game with ever more restrictive techniques, including stricter rules, less efficient technologies and voluntary restraint. Advanced deer hunters may forego the gun for a bow, impose antler restrictions, and hunt only by stalking their prey on the ground rather than using a tree stand. Each of these voluntary, self-imposed choices confer advantage to the animal while removing advantages from the hunter.
These voluntary choices are born of respect for the game animal, but they are also in an important sense born out of respect for the hunt itself. Hunting does not take place in a cultural vacuum, but instead occurs within an ongoing historical tradition that identifies the moral bounds of honorable and ethical hunting.
Fair chase is sportsmanship, therefore, in an important sense. Honorable fair chase hunting is hunting with honor, but fair chase hunting is also deserving of honor—that is, the honorable fair chase hunter is someone who has earned the right to society’s respect.
I believe this is the image of hunting that Orion - The Hunter’s Institute wants to communicate and promote. We should embrace the fact that ethical hunters deserve respect.
We also should acknowledge ethical hunters deserve a kind of “deference to high rank.” After all, the ethical hunter who holds to a high standard of fair chase is truly elite, in the best sense of the word.
Ethical hunters are worthy of our respect and deference. In the same way we defer to skill and knowledge in other contexts—dentists and doctors come to mind—we should hold up the example of good hunters as models to follow. We can and should defer to the experience of skilled hunters, and we should hold their hunting knowledge in the high esteem it deserves.
But to be absolutely clear: elite hunting is not simply about having superior knowledge or the most refined technique. Most importantly, the term elite refers to moral character. Derek the grebe shooter was hardly elite in terms of knowledge or technique—after all, he sluiced a grebe on the water. But he stands above other hunters in his ethics and character. He made a mistake, admitted his error, and accepted the consequences of his actions. Derek, too, is an elite hunter—an ethically elite hunter who has learned from his past mistakes, and this makes him a better hunter in the long run.
Orion strives to make better hunters. No hunter is perfect, but every hunter can strive to improve. In this way, Orion the Hunter’s Institute can promote a vision of admittedly elite hunting, and of elite hunters. Why wouldn’t we? Elite hunters, that is to say, who honor the hunt by hunting with honor.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Followup: Courting Controversy with a New View on Exotic Species by Greg Breining: Yale Environment 360
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
Courting Controversy with a New View on Exotic Species by Greg Breining: Yale Environment 360
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Saturday, November 13, 2010
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