Oldbloke wrote:brett1868 wrote:It's funny, I work in a corporate environment surrounded by suits but the shooters always seem to know each other. I call it "Gundar", we all sit together in meetings or social events quietly discussing the shooting sports though quickly changing the subject if an outsider gets within earshot.
Being a shooter is a bit like being a homosexual in the 70's, time to get out of the closet I think.
Agree, that is a white collar phenomenon. Blue collar workers are out in the open when it comes to shooting sports. I'm currently working on a construction site and talk about it all the time.
But pretty careful what I say when speaking with for example the MD or finance manager.
That's interesting. I work directly and indirectly with white collar workers almost every day. There's several hunters scattered through the group. It's no secret that I hunt, and many of my clients are very well aware of it. I even have open conversations with two avid vegetarians I work with. One of them, who does not eat meat because of his perceptions of how animals are farmed has said, and I believe he means it, that he would eat meat from feral animals that he has hunted himself. Pretty much all of these people would easily be described as having a strong green bent.
In my experience it's all about the way you engage in the conversation. Familiarise yourself with the ability to articulate the role hunting has in conservation and habitat restoration, the option of ethically harvested meat from feral animals that are damaging the environment rather than farmed animals that aren't always treated well or are fed/injected antibiotics and hormones.
Talk about taking pride in taking responsibility for putting your food on your table yourself rather than paying someone else to do it for you. We eat a lot of game meat in my house, and I have made a point of putting some sort of game meat based meal on the table at family get togethers for the last couple of years. There is never any left overs. Attitudes quickly changed from, "ohh you like to kill things, your a weirdo" to "wow, that is really interesting, how do you cut them up, how do you this, how do you that" .
I give meat to family members and there's not much better than getting a text message with a photo saying we made such and such, it was delicious..........
Simple facts like some states in the US actually mandate how much/what meat you have to take from an animal changes attitudes.
A simple explanation of how taking a relatively small proportion of males from a population has essentially no impact on the long term sustainability of a population are all useful things to know and be able to place into conversations.
I've been amazed at just how many people don't think about this stuff, and when you point it out, their attitude changes pretty quickly. The real haters are still going to hate, but many haters are just ignorant of what is involved in hunting, why? Because we hide away in the closet.......