How do you live your life? To impress and please others? Bending over to every opinion and naysayer? Nope. You do your best to be the best by yourself, your family, and your God. That’s your business.
Why do people feel the need to search for controversy, believe everything they see on social media, or put their own twist on the matter? Oh ... better yet, why do they want to lash out at those they disagree with? Social media has given a platform to people who should not always have one. It also has taken the humanity out of society. Some do ask questions to attempt to understand, and those people I appreciate. Most, unfortunately, are not so kind.
You deserve to die. I’m going to hunt you down and kill you. I’m going to kill your dog. I’m going to kill your family! I’m going to cut your body in little pieces! You deserve to be raped and hung! These are only a FEW comments that have been made to me by self-proclaimed anti-hunters. I am also not the only victim to this hate speech, other hunters from all walks of life have received them as well.
I also can’t forget the nasty “memes” created with my pictures, images of guns and knives sent to threaten me, addresses posted and shared where they think I might be, my friends and family harassed all hours of the night, . All of this harassment has become a normal part of my life since I have begun sharing my hunting adventures on a social platform.
What are they trying to prove? They say they don’t hunt, that’s okay, it does not make them any less of a person. They say they don’t eat meat, or that they are vegans. Okay, once again that does not make them any less of a person. They boast that they don’t hunt because they are more humane, or have a bigger heart than I do. They are going to live longer than I will and here’s the best part ... Jesus loves them more than me because I hunt. News Flash! Y’all doin’ things all wrong! I’m not sure what page you’re on, but it’s not the same page as Jesus, matter of fact it’s not even in His book. I can promise you that. Condemning, harassing, and wishing harm on others is inexcusable, regardless of your differences of opinion.
Anti-hunters are irrational and can be so loud, if you let them. They make themselves known on every platform available. These people cannot only be out of control, but they seem proud of it. They are proud of the way they attack people, harass people, and spout off uneducated lies that they have convinced themselves is the truth. As a proud ethical hunter,, I can honestly say I’m so thankful that we as a whole do not react that way to people with varying opinions from our own. We strive to exercise the same respect and morals towards the human race as we do for the wildlife that we love and appreciate. We try to educate those that are uneducated on the reasons behind conservation and hunting. Hunters and their affiliated organizations put forth more effort and money into the conservation of wildlife and its habitation practices than any other organization boasting wildlife advocacy. We as hunters are proud of what we do for wildlife and proud of our accomplishments made in conservation, that we go as far as sharing our hunting pictures, stories, and adventures on social media with other hunters and those like-minded. It seems that it is inevitable that we are going to be attacked sooner or later, but we cannot be intimidated and should not hide our passion. Ethical hunters should not and will not back down to these types of people. We are going to stand our ground and we are going protect our rights to hunt and will continue to do so however long that we must.
Happy hunting, fellow hunters!! Ignore the hate and backlash. Keep doing what we do, it is working, and wildlife is thriving!