A Hunter’s Worst Enemy

hunter's worst enemy

hunters enemy

Who are the hunter’s worst enemy?  In most cases it’s other hunters.

It’s that time of year again when the success of some brings out the hate of many.  It’s deer season all around and it’s when the worst in hunters really shows its face.  It never fails when a lucky hunter shows their success, there will be several that instantly criticize it or the hunter. It can be big or small, some people just have to find something to complain about.  Heaven forbid someone shoot a giant.  Then the real bashing begins.

Jealousy of others success and egos from hunters that think they are better than all others are the main causes.

Jealousy I can understand.  It’s only human nature to be jealous of someone else’s good fortune.  We all as hunters dream of that Booner as it comes walking towards us from a distance and laying down that perfect shot.  Some dream of it for different reasons.  It could be for the true challenge and success of the hunt or for many, it’s the 5 seconds of fame and endless sponsors they think they will get or deserve because they shot one buck.  Ok, I am getting onto a whole different topics that is wrong with hunters today.  Back to our worst enemy.

The egos of hunters these days is the worst problem.  Everyone is a pro and the way they do it is the only way it can be done.  That guy says you’re dumb if you shoot any deer that is less than 6 years old.  This guy says that any deer with a G2 that is less than 12 5/8″ long is too small.  What about those guys that criticize others for the type of weapon they use?  All the compound shooters that complain about the crossbow shooters because they can shoot deer across mountain tops like James Bond does.  Or how they manage their heard a top secret way that produces world record deer every year?

But to top it all off, we got the criers. We can’t forget the ones that rank right up there with the big egos.  These are the ones that will point at everyone’s success and cry foul.  Every hunter out there that comes home with a monster must have done it illegally.  These are the ones that will say you must have poached it or that deer came from a high fence.  Some of these guys will go as far as reporting pics on Facebook and other social media pages because they can’t stand seeing someone else having success.  Now I know that in some cases, maybe more than we want to believe, some of these big deer are poached, spotlighted, high fenced or whatever deer.  We hear these stories all the time and these hunters are truly giving the rest of us a bad name.  But that still doesn’t mean all the others are doing it wrong also.

We as hunters are and always will be in a bigger than life battle with many people in this world that don’t believe in what we are doing.  We need to stick together and support each other as a family.  Don’t judge another hunter with how they do it as long as it follows the rules.  Those hunters have just as much rights as you do.  They own the deer just as much as you do.  They support conservation just as much as you do.  With the direction our country is going and what’s going on in the rest of the world, we are reaching the point where we need to stick together more and more every year.  So instead of judging others, support them.  Stand beside them as we all believe in the same thing.  Don’t be your own worst enemy.

7 Comments

  • steveknife November 17, 2015 at 8:09 pm

    It is exactly like that. I prefer to hunt during the week to avoid the big crowds. It’s more fun and makes for a better time.

    Reply
  • A Hunter’s Worst Enemy - Canadian Bow Hunting January 14, 2016 at 6:47 pm

    […] Read More at AverageHunter.com […]

    Reply
  • doe2703 January 30, 2016 at 11:02 am

    Great article! And, you are so right. Instead of sticking together, we tear each other apart.

    Reply
  • Amanda Payne August 29, 2016 at 11:11 am

    Very well said! For most of my hunting life, my family and I have hunted for farmers. For example, farmers let us hunt their land for free in order to cut down the deer population on their property because they were destroying their crops. Sometimes we would bring home a small deer–a grown deer, but small and we got a lot of insults. It was 100% from other hunters, too. I tried to explain why the size didn’t matter and that we were helping the farmers and got made fun of even more, which to me, shown how ignorant they were. I wish all hunters would read your post and stop being so bad-mannered toward each another.

    Reply
  • Wild M Ranch December 9, 2016 at 8:11 am

    It wasn’t like this before social media and we had to go to the store to develop film.

    Reply
  • Raised In Alaska January 17, 2017 at 7:52 am

    Well said. This sport can bring out the best and the worst in people. I think hunting is very personal. We each choose to hunt for our own reasons and we choose to harvest game for reasons only know to ourselves. I have hunted for meat, for challenge and on quests for that one specific animal that I’ve played chess with for seasons. Hunting is really about personal satisfaction: if I’m happy with my season then others should be happy for me. I’ll return the favor? Thanks for the article.

    Reply
  • Chris Kenyon November 15, 2017 at 7:21 am

    I don’t care how big or how small someone’s deer is as long as they take it home and harvest it legally. All deer are trophies no matter the size of the rack. We should encourage others to hunt, not discourage them from being proud of the deer they bring out of the woods.

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Salt Life