One Common Goal

  Hey everyone! Welcome back to another installment of the Johnson.Outdoors Blog. Today I'm going to write about something that I've noticed growing throughout the hunting community and that's hunters bashing and putting down other hunters for their choice in how they choose to hunt.
  Let me begin by saying that I am in no way an "expert" on any of what I'm about to say, so there could very well be some inaccuracies in what I write. That being said, this is just my opinion so you can take it for what it's worth.

  First let's talk about weapon choice. Many bowhunters it seems bash people for using a rifle or crossbow, so I'm getting this out of the way right now. I began hunting with a rifle, I loved being able to reach out to 200+ yards and smacking a doe and watching her drop where she lay, and I still do, however, I also bow hunt, the reason? Because it's what I love to do! I love getting in close to an animal and getting to watch him get right on top of you before you can even draw, it's not as simple as point and shoot, its more intimate. So I know all too well the allure of bowhunting, but as long as it's legal, I won't bash those that use rifles, because I know there's nothing like getting sighted in on a buck that you've been after all year and having it all come down to that slow squeeze of a trigger. Rifle hunters tend to contribute more than bowhunters in regards to economic advantages. How? Their lethal projectile can't be cleaned off and re-used again and again, whereas our arrows can. They also usually have to wait longer to enter the woods, whereas bowhunters get to be the first in the woods for the season. As for crossbow hunters, I believe crossbows have their place as well; though I don't own one, I know many hunters that do and they use them for a variety of reasons. Most have shoulder issues or are simply too weak to pull back the necessary poundage to hunt in their respective state, so they use a crossbow. Crossbows are great for helping to introduce someone new to the sport as well, because after about an hour of shooting, they can be dead-on and ready to hunt. Why would you fault someone for becoming proficient with a new weapon that will allow them to effectively harvest their game? If it's legal and used ethically, then why should anyone care what weapon someone chooses to take to the woods? Practice, shoot often, become proficient, then go enjoy God's creation.

  Now let's talk about game choice. I was never one for "trophy hunting", my concern was always to fill the freezer, however now that I understand more about effective management strategies, I like to be more selective on what I choose to take. It seems the largest target of controversy are those that choose to travel across the pond to hunt African game. Just today, I saw a post bastardizing a family that successfully harvested an elephant and a post attacking Kendall Jones for her lion kill and praising the suicide of international hunter Melania Capitan, worse was one of those posts was shared by a hunter here in the states! How can you support the legal harvest of one animal and not another? Let me make this perfectly clear, plain and simple, all animals need to be managed. Some have been managed well enough by Mother Nature, and others call for the intervention of man. African game hunters contribute more than we could ever know to the local populations and their economies. The game keepers hand select which animal is to be harvested, whether it's because that animal is sick, can no longer breed, is damaging to the local populations farms and livestock, or even threatening the lives of those that live in the area, it is chosen to be the animal to be hunted. Now, the hunters pay thousands and thousands of dollars to hunt this one particular animal, and all of that money goes back into the preservation of that species and helps pay the game wardens in the area, along with supplying a source of income for the villages that have claimed the land. Even more so, once that animal is harvested, the majority of the meat is donated to the village to feed its inhabitants. So that one single elephant or lion that you get upset about being killed, not only died to help prevent the spread of disease throughout the herd or the  destruction of an entire village's livelihood, but also fed that village and provided income for the entire area, I don't know about you, but I feel like that's pretty cool to me.

  Speaking of game choice, I also often hear or see hunters bashing others in the forums and elsewhere about what someone chose to kill. I've shot button bucks, I've shot does, I've shot a few mature bucks, and I've shot some that could've probably waited another year, point is, I made the decision to pull the trigger, meaning that I chose to harvest that animal. I didn't ask someone on what I "should" shoot, I made the decision to put meat in the freezer and to put my tag on that animal, meaning that I am proud that I took that animal, so who is anyone to judge me? That being said, I personally am not one to pass up a bunch of does just to shoot a spike or a fork horn for meat (unless that was the only legal option); but I won't fault someone for killing what made them happy, maybe their management plan called for thinning of younger bucks to keep a balanced age structure. I talked to an old man once that told me he refused to shoot does and would shoot young bucks all day, when I asked him why, his reasoning seems fairly solid, he said, "Why would I take a potential estrous doe out of my area when a monster buck could possibly be following her? Does are good to have around when they don't have the younger bucks running them ragged. On top of that, if I shoot a doe, and she was pregnant, now I've killed more of what could've been my future population." Like I said, the man had a point, I didn't necessarily have to agree with it, because it was his management strategy, but it definitely made me think.

  At the end of the day, we are all on the same team. We all love to hunt in different ways, with different methods, as long as its legal and ethical, why shouldn't we support one another? It's as Fred Bear said, "If you aren't actively working to protect [all types of] hunting, then you're working to destroy it." Shoot what makes you happy, don't worry about another's trophy, who cares what it scored. Be happy for them and rejoice in continuing our tradition and the fellowship that comes with it.

-Chris Johnson