I am an American hunter. I am not a warrior. I am not a thug.
Contrary to what seems to be a huge marketing push these days in the outdoor world, to feature hunters as brave warriors and/or thugs, neither of these terms applies to why I hunt and frankly, it bothers me that this is the perception.
Recently, we ran a news ditty here about the surge in women hunting, and how some have attributed that to the “Sarah Palin” effect. My pal, Holly Heyser, aka NorCal Cazadora, a duck hunting enthusiast extraordinaire, picked up this news, too, and wrote about why this bothers her – this whole notion of Sarah Palin representing women hunters – at her excellent blog. Basically, she believes that to equate Palin with hunting might be polarizing, and in some cases, not helping the cause.
Even less splashy, but out there and possibly in the subconscious of the estimated 60 percent of Americans who really could like or dislike the whole idea of hunting, is this notion that we must sell hunting as machismo. Especially when women are leading the hunting pack in numbers, where is that coming from? So, thank you marketing world … we see an introduction of warrior and thug brands.
Warrior mom, Gretchen Steele.
Believe me, my pals and I know what warriors are … like Gretchen Steele, a photographer from Illinois that contributes to the Shoot to Thrill department here and also a carp fishing, field-dog testing, hunting “fool,” who is getting ready to bid her son goodbye as his Marine Corps unit prepares to head back on another deployment. She ain’t no warrior, but she raised one.
Or, Tammy Ballew … our Camo Mom, who is an accomplished hunter. Her son, and my son-in-law is a warrior and continues to drill one weekend a month with his Marine Corps unit, after his return in 2009 from Iraq.
Warrior mom, Tammy Ballew.
Warrior mom, Melita Ellington.
Or, my buddy Melita Ellington, who writes reviews for our Gear Court and teaches NRA-certified firearms courses, whose Marine son came home safe last year from Afghanistan and intense combat.
And, closer to home, I lived with a warrior for several years as the military dictated where our family lived. There were many nights when the kids’ daddy wasn’t home for supper or bedtime stories because he was on duty somewhere in the world.
And, dearer to my heart these days, Baby Boy is a warrior in training at the Combat Engineer School at Ft. Lost in the Woods, Missouri. Just this week, he was incommunicado, as he spent three days in the hypothermic cold and rainy weather in the field – setting charges, learning to blow bridges and take down doors.
Baby Boy covered in clay after setting charges and learning to blow bridges. Submitted photo.
So, this notion of being a warrior because you throw a dang dead turkey over your shoulder, makes me sick.
And then, even worse, there’s the whole “thug” aspect. Take the new show, Turkey Thugs,” described like this: In a game built entirely upon stealth, silence and secrets, where hard facts and solid information run few and far between, often with no true help to be found, Mossy Oak Productions’ newest series delivers. Turkey Thugs separates the warriors from the wannabes and takes hunters new and old inside the minds of those most obsessed with the rites of spring.”
Oh, and there’s that word again, “warriors.”
Last time I checked, a thug was defined as a “violent person or criminal.”
Nice connotation and so appropriate, don’t you think, for associating a hunter as a thug? Especially in light of, what Holly wrote about in her blog, too, the fact that the anti’s are watching, but even more importantly …. Some folks just haven’t made up their minds yet about hunting, or swing back and forth.
Weekend warriors and turkey thugs are not promoting the concept that hunting is an American tradition, offered to a free society, and part of our efforts to promote conservation, eat healthy and get outdoors.
You don't see photos such as this one very often. It's not machismo. It's a doe, of which we have enjoyed a winter's worth of stews, spaghetti sauces, tenderloin puff pastries, etc. Yes, I am an American hunter. Prois Hunting Apparel Pro Edition pants in Realtree AP HD. Prois Sherpa vest in Realtree AP HD. Prois Baselayer shirt in Realtree AP HD. Muck (Woody Max) boots. Photo by Jason Baird.
Is that too girly?
How would you promote hunting?
Twitter: http://twitter.com/babbsbaird
Facebook: http://facebook.com/babbsthewon
To see camo in photo, go to Prois Hunting Apparel’s website.
About Barbara Baird
Well said everyone, thank you. Exactly what is Mossberg and Mossy Oak thinking, pursuing such a sales and marketing model?! Totally inappropriate. Rather than give them any more press, I filed this one where it belongs, way down the list on one of our more obscure pages:
256. Women’s Outdoor News tells Mossberg and Mossy Oak WTG.
http://www.turkeydog.org/tales.html
Thanks again.
Thanks, Melita and Kirstie. Yep, what are they thinking when they promote the tradition as a blood sport?
Bravo, Barb! I love this post! I am somewhat disheartened by the new ‘in your face’ and ‘commando’ approach to hunting and hunting shows on T.V. and overall marketing campaigns. I also encourage you all to check some of the Facebook pages on some of these shows…I have more often than not found pics that are inappropriate and disrespectful to a harvested animal. In addition…these dudes would scare the bejesus out of me if I ran into them in the field! EEGADS>
Before entering this world of hunting, shooting and teaching women responsible gun ownership, I hadn’t a clue about the great lengths people would go to take something so basic, so fundamental and beautifully unspoiled and turn it into something so vulgar. And for what? Money? Market share? Ratings? Thank you Babbs for telling it like it is.
All you commenters are spot on … couldn’t agree more with you. Should we form an agency to advise or consult with current marketing firms about how to sell to women?
Dare I bring this up? If approached with the correct attitude, hunting (and fishing) can be a spiritual experience.
Aha. That tingle just ran up your arms, too. It’s not just the power-trip dominion thing, or the Deerslayer thing. It’s re-enacting the predator and the prey story in person. It’s matching your wits against the wits of a wild thing. It’s having respect for the wild animal and its species. It’s taking fewer than the species needs to continue, and using what you take. Outstanding game specimens are impressive, but I personally have less respect for trophy hunters or fishers than I do for a nice pot of deer stew, or a mess of crappie filets.
It’s understanding that, by realizing firsthand where your food comes from, that food becomes you, and you should respect the animal who continues your own animal life. This doesn’t need to devolve into some faux-Indian thing…it’s enough to be who you are, let the animal be who it is, and realize down in your gut, that nature isn’t nice, but its all we got.
A lot of the rift between moderate hunters, fishers and enviro types could be healed with this sort of a respectful attitude, and spiritual cherishing of the activity.
I’m afraid there’s no conversion to be made of either the drooling blood-lust or plastic-sandal wearing PETA types. But the middle 80% of both the pro and anti hunting people could agree on this middle path, and it could engage those who are truly apathetic towards the whole activity.
P.S. Want to share your venison Puff Pastry recipe?
Great post Barb! I truly enjoy your writing style and agree with you 100% about being an American Hunter and not a Thug. ~ Beth
Great post, Barbara!!! I hadn’t heard about “Turkey Thugs,” but there is another show out there that Hank and I can’t stand watching because the title, tone and music makes it sound like they’re a bunch of commandos.
Can I add to your list of irritants? Products with names like “Rage” and “Extinction” don’t do us any good. I spend so much time trying to tell non-hunters that we are not angry with the animals we kill, and that hunters have not driven one animal to extinction since we implemented the North American Model of wildlife conservation.
It’s like all the marketing for hunting is being run by a bunch of 19-year-old boys … Oh, I’ll stop here because I feel I’m about to write a blog post of my own about this.
Great post and great picture. Women hunters have the added burden of walking the line between being accused of wanting to be guys, ar being seen as sex objects to sell hunting gear to guys. Sites like WON are are not just nice- they’re necessary to break those stereotypes.