What You Do in the Field, and How You Share it With Others Matters

What is the first thing we do after we kill an animal we have hunted? Various hunting regulations will tell you to tag it which is correct. But most of us take photos of the animal or of ourselves and whoever helped on the hunt with the animal and then we tag it. Which is also perfectly acceptable. Then, depending on the specific animal, size, location etc., we field dress it, make it into packable pieces and pack it out or we drag it out whole.

Successful hunt photos do not always need to include the entire body of an animal.

Most all of us have been there. We are excited. We want to share our success with our friends and family. And social media platforms have made it easy to tell the entire universe what we do 24/7.

Be mindful of what you show and tell.

The fall hunting season is a particularly difficult time for me to be engaged with social media. While I like to see stories of memories being made and people finding success, every season brings more and more posts, photos and tales of flat out morally wrong, ignorant or illegal things too.

All in the name of fake social media stardom.

This is not a piece about how you should practice so you do not make poor shots and poor decisions. In reality, if you have hunted or fished long enough, poor shots happen. Incidents happen. Mistakes happen. Perpetuating unlawful or unethical behavior should not happen.

Please learn the laws of your state or territory where you are hunting or fishing.

Please, regardless of how you personally feel, do not post photos, videos and stories that give the anti-hunting community evidence to further deteriorate the rights of the majority of sportsmen and women. It really pisses me off and no, you are not welcome in camp if I see you doing it.

The reality of what we as sportsmen and women do is a hard pill for some to swallow. But it doesn’t have to be shown in an inappropriate way.

It is only the middle of October and so far I've seen and heard the following:

*photos of naked humans with dead animals

*multiple stories of knowing it was a bad shot but taking it anyway

*photos of dead animals or their parts in people's mouths

*tracking for a few minutes but giving up and shooting another animal anyway

*trespassing

*taking shots that were well beyond the capability of the person pulling the trigger

*shooting the wrong species

*outfitters describing their client's poor shots at 20 yards with a bow and finding the animal the next morning still alive

*outfitters posting videos of extremely questionable shots and abilities and lauding it as success

*boasting about previous game violations exclaiming you were in the right, which you obviously were not, and starting a GoFundMe to pay your fines

*a woman with an obvious staged bloody shirt munching on an animal heart with blood running down her arms

*well known companies marketing teams promoting hopping fences with knocked arrows because the background was cool... yep... safety while hunting is just stupid I guess.

*"influencers" attempting to defend their illegal kills. If you cannot read the management unit number on your tag, it is no one's fault but your own and you should 100% accept the punishment you are administered. You are responsible for knowing the boundaries and knowing where you are at all times. With today's technology, it is not difficult to know a unit boundary or private property boundary, especially in the lower 48. And if you do not know, ask or find out before the hunt starts.

*disregarding wanton waste laws, or even ethics in general, because it was a really tough pack out or you just don't like the meat. Don't hunt the species if you are going to be this epic of a douche. This one in particular pisses me off.

Not every state or territory has a wanton-waste law and every place has different laws and definitions of such. If you are not familiar with the term, wanton waste is behavior that intentionally wastes something negligently or inappropriately. For example, you just hunted waterfowl, breasted it out, or didn't breast it out at all, and just dumped the carcasses in the ditch on your way back to the pickup. I've seen this happen with dove hunters and javelina hunters in Arizona. It is complete disregard to the animal, the hunting community as a whole, and in fact disrespectful to every citizen in this country (United States) that you wasted a resource held in public trust. Learn to process and cook the animal or just don't hunt it. Or, give the parts and pieces to someone who will use it.

Have a tough pack out? Call some friends. Or, between trips take a nap, have a snack, and go back in for the rest of it. Head, horns, antlers and hide always come out last if you have broken that animal down. Your excuse is just that. An excuse.

Moose hind quarters can weigh in excess of 125 pounds making the pack-out tough in many conditions.

Here is the kicker…

All of the posts I listed above have hundreds if not thousands of likes and comments in support of and praise for the atrocity.

The like is as disgusting as the post. The continued support of this behavior is what drives it to be considered entertaining and positive when in fact it is 100% the opposite.

So what do we do about it?

Maybe you just saw the photo and did not read the caption... sometimes the caption is all you need in order to hit that unfollow button and propose that hunting and fishing isn't a game of clowns. Question the content creator if you think they could have portrayed the event differently.

Do you ever wonder why some of your friends, I said some, not all, do not like what you do? Ever wonder why we cannot keep or recruit youth or adults to hunting and fishing? Ever wonder why more and more laws are made restricting seasons, tools, land access and rights?

It is ok to show your hard work, dedication, source of food. Not everyone has to like it. But do not be a fool about it.

If your attitude is that you do not care what anyone thinks so you will just keep doing it anyway, it is time to find a new hobby. Everyone with a license and tag in their pocket has the ability to, without embellishment, non-fictionally portray hunting and fishing as a positive, naturally authentic, dawn of time enduring lifestyle.

It is beyond time to make a difference and push the perception of sportsmen and women back in the correct direction.

Written by ReelCamo Girl ProStaff Jessica Manuell.