Through social media, we now have deer kill shaming

ALBANY ‒ I’m glad I harvested my first deer before the advent of social media. Although it has been more than a half-century since I pulled the trigger on that borrowed Marlin .35 Remington, I can still vividly remember the joy and details of that hunt. A hunt that today might be tinted with shame.

We knew that the deer club on the neighboring property was going to be having a deer drive, so we arrived before dawn, selecting our stand sites parallel to the property line in the hope that they might run a deer our way. I remember the sound of the hounds growing louder as they approached the site of my stand and the sound of the deer crashing though the brush ahead of them before it broke across the dirt road beside me.

I remember the burst of adrenaline as I thought that I saw antlers rising above the fleeing deer’s ears and the realization that I actually had the opportunity to shoot a buck. I remember raising the rifle and swinging past the running deer and the almost sheer amazement in the deer stumbling after I took the shot.

Approaching the fallen deer, I can distinctly remember the joy of seeing that the deer was in fact a buck with a small set of spikes rising an inch or so above his ears. I remember the celebration following the hunt when a half-dozen friends congratulated me on my accomplishment. Sadly, today, I would be hesitant to post any acknowledgment of this event on social media. To proudly post the harvest of that same deer today would undoubtedly be met with immediate ridicule.

Hunting is not considered a competitive sport by most measures. However, the count in the game bag and the size of a buck’s rack have always been a point of pride for many; pride that, in some cases, outweighs all other measures of the hunting experience. Other hunters measure their success by the volume of meat they have stored in their freezer by season’s end.

Today, social media has created a platform for the exchange of insults and sarcastic comments from those espousing either philosophy. The posting of pictures on social media sites of the successful harvest of what is perceived as a small buck sets off the almost immediate exchange of comments ranging from, “If its brown, its down …” “Just harvested a cull buck …” “Killing tomorrow’s trophies today …” “Another member of the Spoon and Crockpot Club.”

The comparison of game animals harvested by hunters might trace its roots back to early cave drawings and the skull mounts in castles and great halls scattered across Europe. In North America, a more formalized form of comparison and recognition exists with the Boone and Crockett Club. The club was founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. It is North America’s oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization.

Although the organization recognizes the pioneering men they perceived as hunter-heroes who opened our nation’s frontiers, it also recognizes the consequences of overharvesting game and the need for a fair chase doctrine. Today, the organization is best known for maintaining a scoring and data collection system by which big game animals are measured as a means of gauging the success of wildlife management efforts.

However, in some ways these standards, when taken in context solely as the means of measuring hunting success, may have gone a little beyond the intent of the founding members. Sadly, hunters bashing or shaming other hunters has become increasingly prevalent. Suddenly, the deer you harvested, the firearm you used, the clothes you were wearing, the land you hunted or the use of bait is targeted for ridicule. Even the youngest among us is not safe from the ridicule of keyboard commandos. The fact I was almost 20 when I harvested my spike would be literal fodder for ridicule today with no consideration being given to where I was on my path to becoming a successful big game hunter.

With a decline in the overall number of hunters, the impact of open ridicule will certainly have an added impact on retaining new and seasoned hunters alike. In response to this growing trend OKAYEST HUNTER, okayesthunter.com. is a website that was developed as a counter to this growing trend. With the mission statement “to have all hunters — wherever they are at on their hunting journey — to feel welcome to the lifestyle, and make it ‘okay’ to hunt, how you hunt, and for whatever you hunt for. It’s not about the most miles hiked, the biggest buck or the latest gear. We believe hunting is about having fun and making everlasting memories. Hunt for fun, not trophies. Make everlasting memories and make the best use of what you have.”

Now I guess I can sit back and wait for the comments in response to this opinion. Feel free to post them on the SOWEGA Outdoors Facebook group.

Staff Photo: Tom Seegmueller