# Sticky  Please read



## ND trapper

I saw this article on another trapping website and thought I would share it with you. It shows why we need to use our heads when posting on a public forum.

From: Field and Stream, February 2007 Volume CXI Number 9
A Sportsman's Life by Bill Heavey

MORONS AMONG US
How we are helping the Antis

Ever wonder why so many folks have a less-than flattering image of Hunters? Let me explain it to you: There be morons among us. What's worse, the rest of us generally tolerate them. So if the antis ever succeed in banning hunting, it will be thanks to our generous support. We don't send them money, of course. But make no mistake: We contribute to their cause.

Imagine yourself a newly minted strategist working for an anti-hunting group. Within half an hour of starting your job, you'd be rubbing your hands with glee and telling your superiors, "These guys are a dream come true. We don't even have to think up ways to portray them as Neanderthals who are just after the thrill of the Kill. They're already doing that for us!"

Visit enough hunting chat rooms and you'll see how. I found one in which a hunter was complaining that the buck he'd shot had died before he could taunt it with a dance he'd choreographed specially for the occasion. "I'm really into sports, "the guy wrote. "I based my dance on some of Terrell Owens' moves after he scores a touchdown. It's this really in-your-face, I-own you sort of deal. I worked pretty hard on all the moves, and I thought it would be cool for it to be the last thing some deer saw, knowing that I'd beaten it. I've done it for my friends at a bar, and they all thought it was hilarious. I'm hoping next year I get to do it for real." As sportsmen, I'm sure we can all share his frustration at a game animal that has the nerve to expire before a guy gets his chance to humiliate it. And it sure would be nice to meet his buddies.

On another site, a bow hunter wrote that he had always wanted to take a deer with a brain shot through the ear and that he had been waiting for just the right opportunity. His patience payed off, and everyone in the chat room was treated to a photo of what looked to be a yearling doe with a shaft angling out of the right side of her head. Forget that such a tiny target makes this an ethically indefensible shot. Forget that it shows no respect for the life of the animal. Forget - if you can - the grisly image itself, which brings to mind Saddam's torture-loving sons. No, the important thing here is that this hunter's wish to kill in a novel and satisfying (for him at least) way was fulfilled.

There are unethical slobs in any sport, of course. And it's unfair to tar a whole group because of a few bad apples. But in both cases, these posts were met by a resounding absence of anger or censure. In fact, some who responded were admiring, even sympathetic.

Am I missing something? Are we hunters now convinced that the only thing that matters in the debate over our sport is numbers - so much so that we welcome anybody who hunts, no matter how twisted, into our ranks?

I hesitate to saddle up my high horse here, yet this stuff both scares and sickens me. We would do well to remember a few facts: Hunters are a minority in our country. There are a lot of people who want to abolish hunting. There are probably even more who are still forming opinions on the matter. The future of hunting depends on the actions of hunters and nonhunters alike. If we don't police the morons and slobs ourselves, we invite outsiders to step in and do it. I'm guilty myself. I was so distressed by what I saw online that I just walked away from my computer at the time.

Politics aside, there is something about crude behavior in a hunter that is not just offensive; it also eats at the soul of any true outdoorsman. These guys are cheapening something we love, something sacred. The longer I hunt, the more humbling I find the experience. Each time I walk into the woods with my bow, I rediscover how infinite nature is and how transitory and small I am. My carefully maintained suburban identity falls away like a dry husk. I become more alert. My consciousness opens up. I am focused, aware, alive. I am hunting.

Everything around me comes alive , too: the earth beneath my feet, the water in a brook, every leaf on every tree. The slightest tremor in the air is like the blast of a trumpet; the squawk of a distant wood pecker, a siren. Each step cracks open a new world. I am seeking an animal whose knowledge of this place is greater than mine will ever be. I come in humility precisely because no one is watching me, because I alone must live with the consequences of my actions here. Should I be granted a killing shot on a buck, I will kill. This is the confirmation of the hunt, the thing that makes being here so elemental and important. What I love beyond all reckoning, beyond my ability to explain even to myself, is the felling of being more intensely alive than I've ever been.

As for the next moron hunter I bump into, fair warning: The gloves are off.


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## weasle414

Great post ND Trapper! I'm glad you got this out here. I got a packet and a flyer from a PETA member today in the hallways at school so apparently I've offended someone, somehow... I'm sorry if I've ever been that "moron among us," it's not something to be proud of but I'm sure I've been guilty of it.


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## M*F

*sticky!*


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## carp_killer

M*F said:


> *sticky!*


yep


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## ND trapper

Sticky it is!


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## Snowshark

Couldn't have said it better myself! EXCELLENT!


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## coyote_buster

A girl in my class is all antihunting so me and the wrestling coach had to inform her about mange and how keeping the population in check keeps them from dying slowly and painfully. But before we said one kid said it is because coyotes are dumb so my notebook had fun with his head for being the moron among us.


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## tsc3894

I've been saying this for years!! I teach hunter trapper ed. for the P.A. game commission and ethics are a big part of what we do. As a trappers and hunters our actions speak for everyone in the sport weather we like it or not. So for everyone out there watch what you say and who you say it too and for god sake close your tailgate when your truck is full of fur or meat! There was a pic of a buck hanging out of a truck on the front page of my local paper that had slid out and caused a accident on interstate 80 a few years ago. The hunter was quoted " I just wanted everyone to see what i got" this is the stuff antis love so play it smart or will end up like California!


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## Steelpuck18

I agree, ethics are the most important thing in the woods. if hunters didnt have ethics, then hunting wouldnt last long, and neither would the animals.


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## Cherry Reds on Snow

Where do theses people come from? I think that I was raised and grew up right&#8230; I can't even imagine these two- "The dancer" and "The head shooter".
Unfortunately, and I don't speak for everyone here of course, but I think that we as sportsmen seem to be soft spoken by nature&#8230; There has been numerous times when I have listened to conversations like this and should have spoken up. I'm guilty too; for the most part, I just shake my head and keep my mouth shut.
Thanks ND trapper for not keeping your mouth shut.


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## Trapping God

I agree with ND Trapper 100% If we want trapping to stay around for future generations we need to act more responsibly.


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## Crazycowboy

Bill Engvall said it best...stupid people should have to wear signs that say "I'm Stupid"....


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## bigsky

one guy complaining that his quary died too quickly....another guy made a brain shot...sure beats watching all the antelope and deer around here starve to death because of too much snow..ever see a deer die of the blue tongue? hit by cars and mortally wounded but not killed quickly? the reasons the tree huggers are going to make hunting illegal has nothing to do with our ethics. they believe we are unethical for what we do...saying a prayer over the animal after it dies, and paying the utmost of respect to the critters will never garner favor in the antis eyes...no the reasons we will loose our rights to hunt is because we do not take the fight to the antis. we dont proudly display who and what we are...we dont organize as well as them...antis need to be treated with disdain, and given as much disrespect as they give us. i have watched mt forests devistated by beetle kill because of antis lawsuits...i hate them for the damage they cause to the earth, and the wild life..i support a brain shot deer...more than i support one damn idea proposed by bunny huggers.


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