Grizzly Adam wrote:
Certainly there is wisdom in not needlessly offending the non-hunting public with our actions or accounts. I believe most every one of us would agree with that.
But what is it that really offends the non-hunting public?
I think that's a good question for consideration, and I think it will be something interesting for us to talk about. I also think that what really offends some of the non-hunting public may not be what some of us think!
Because of my job I have a huge advantage when it comes to addressing the general public on issues they may have on hunting, or at the very least get some insight on how an average family views hunting and hunters.
I do animal control, I advertise "humane animal control" for part of my business, so 90% of my calls at some point will have my customer saying "so the animals wont get hurt, right?"
At some point before I start my job I will be at their spam table, contract in hand and almost everytime I am welcomed like a family member, if not in the beginning than I know I will be by the time I am done talking.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
We talk about families, kids, their part of town...
I have a lot of knowledge on urban wildlife, and I can make the most stubborn anti see the light in just a few short minutes. Again, I have an advantage, I was invited to their home to discuss animals, and people have a greater comfort at their own home and feel more comfortable to open up.
Many times I will bring up hunting simply for the shock value, and I can see my customers expression change from the friendly "can I get you a coffee" to that look you get if you have to rush in to public in hunting gear to get a forgotten item. Then I bring things back in to perspective for them, explaining the benifits it has to the enviroment, I watch their expression start to change back, then I start explaing how my wife and kids hunt too and soon they have accepted it and will discuss it with a little less tension. I do this everyday, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day.
Never, not once in over ten years of doing this have I had an agitated person, at least not for very long.
Again, I was
invited for the discussion, I am in an animal control uniform and I have been known to present myself very well when needed.
Sometimes I get lucky and the home already has a hunter in it, so that usually leads to a tour of someone elses guns and gear. Sometimes it is a frail old man who only has hunting memories and stories left, those are my favorite, I will give him all the time he needs to tell his stories. In the end I usually offer to return with game meat if I happen to have some at home. I enjoy watching him forget his problems and re-live something he can no longer do.
Public is the same thing, when I get one of those "you must be a hunter" types in a store and get the old "do you enjoy killing animals" statements, and I seem to attract those types, they expect me to say something dumb, hold my head down and walk away. Instead, I get their attention so they know I am going to actually address their statement, I introduce myself, and see if they really want to engage in that particular conversation. It is almost always the same, I say "I didn't mean to offend you, my name is David, I own one of the largest humaine animal control companies in S/W Ontario, I am also a licenced wildlife rehabilitator, my company is responsable for saving thousands of animals a year, and has been for a very long time, Is there something else that
you think I should be doing?" Half the time they walk away humbled, the other half it leads to a good conversation, enlightening for both people, sometime it even results in more business.
So my opinion, there is a difference between an anti and the general public, the public can be won over 100% of the time is handled correctly, anti's can too if you allow them to speak their mind and have the knowledge to offer a different opinion without
offending them.
I have a million stories, from PITA bugging me, to turning people around, even if only for a while. It is about ignorance, their simple lack of knowledge allows them to form an opinion on something they know nothing about. A little education is all that is needed to make most of the public understand and accept our sport.
To think that how we present dead animals in a picture is going to make a difference is so far from reality I try to avoid these threads. To a non hunter dead is dead, they see the blood in the pictures we don't.
Your fooling yourself if you think otherwise.
If you are not willing to learn, nobody can help you, if you are willing, nobody can stop you.
A bowhunter with a passion for shooting firearms.
WMU 91
Boo string