A Hunter’s Worst 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.