Not sure what to call this Thread..Evocative....Provocative..you tell me!

7.62mm

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So.......last Sunday, I got together with a few friends. We shot some clay birds and what have you. When the shooting was done, we gathered around the picnic table, had a few cold ones etc., etc..

Anyways, one of my good friends starts recounting this story, which I have heard a few times before, and it didn't sit right with me then, and I finally brought it to a head.

One day he was driving along a fairly prominent highway with another friend, who was at the picnic table, and they pulled up behind a pickup truck with a plethora of deer in the bed of the truck......legs and body parts sticking out everywhere......he said. (It was during the Controlled Hunt in Ontario, a gang could get 10 or more Deer in a single day).

Anyways, he, as a hunter, was quite disgusted at the sight of all these deer in the truck, not because he wasn't admiring the hunters, but because of, and I quote "What the City people might think when they see that many deer in a truck"

I said to him on this particular night, that your views are not helping us, in so much as "Do you want us to continue to hide in the closet, look at where that has gotten us" City people "NEED" to know where their meat comes from, in order to stop the flood of Anti swill that is being thrown around. He was still quite adamant, that they could have thrown a tarp or something over the deer.......but I say.......NO. Why do we, ethical and legal hunters, have to hide. I am proud of the fact that I feed myself most of the year with game I harvested myself........why should I hide?

Is this attitude present in your hunting community? I am not one to hide from what I do, nor am I one to flaunt it. I see no reason to drive into downtown London, ON, with a deer strapped to the hood of my truck, but neither will I hide the fact that I hunt.

Thoughts....Opinions?
 
If there are no conservation issues in doing so (and that does not necessarily equate to the simple fact that it is legal to take 10 (or any number) of deer), then I have no issue with a guy carrying home his 10 deer in his pickup. No different than the fellow who takes his 10 trout or his 10 ducks, etc, etc.
 
I can understand where you are coming from and please don't feel that I am condemming your feelings. I personally would not do it. Not because it is right or wrong, but because city folk are so far removed from the land today, they would for the most part be shocked and some angered. It is easy to say to hell with them, but it could impact on their feelings towards hunters in general and there is enough negativity already. Could turn someone anti gun period and they would vote as such. Easy to put a tarp over it. Just what I think.
 
When I was in Collage walking to school one day I seen a HUGE WT bucks head hanging out of a Pintos hatchback driving down Idlwyld in S'toon. Impressive rack & a good laugh to boot, I can't complain.
 
this is one of the great parts of living in the nw of ontario... when i do make the trip into town in the fall it's nothing to see many guys with moose or deer on trailers with quads,boats and other hunting gear. I think it is awesome. now when i lived down south T.O/london etc i never saw it once in almost 40 years of living. I don't think it's bad some stop to chat and find out a bit about the hunt.
 
I cover an animal up in the truck to keep dust off of it, or bugs, or rain, or whatever, but I wouldn't even think about hiding it!

But then, I don't really live anywhere near a city....
 
CGN has pretty much killed any inhibitions about hunting and firearm ownership I have had in the past. Its very common for me to tell co-workers what I am doing on weekends if they ask (going hunting/going to a shooting match in the states/going to the range).

In my line of work (office job) I feel like there are more sheep/anti's than perhaps in other lines of work. So I take it upon myself now to tell everyone that normal people (namely, me :)) are active in shooting sports, hunting, collecting, etc.

mind you, I didn't always feel that way, this is more of a recent development
 
I don't and wouldn't drive around with animals hanging out unless it's on my route, and then I try to make it lokk a bit clean. i have seen animals going down the mainstreet in the city with bloody heads and blood dripping on the pavement...

I don't think little kids that have never been exposed, should have their first exposure to be an animal hanging out the back dripping blood.
 
No need to hide the fact you got a newly harvested animal around you but... Having said that, is it a good idea to have a deer head hanging off your tailgate with blood all over? probably not... I'd clean my animal up a little bit. It's important that people realise where there food comes from but from a PR standpoint there's much better ways to do it. We don't have pigs and cows bleeding all over when we transport them and the same common respect should be given to the deer. Just put a cover on it or make sure it's not all bloody or disfigured.
 
It's all about presentation. Look through the trophy pix thread for examples of tongues and guts and bloodied up animals and you'll see a bad example of how to present a successful hunt. If the deer in the back of the truck were neatly organized and presented in such a way that indicated they're valued as harvested wildlife (rather than piled in haphazardly) then you're likely to impress less enlightened folks. Should be common sense, IMHO.

I know of a slaughterhouse in downtown Toronto but you'd NEVER guess it was anything other than a warehouse of sorts. Neat, tidy, and not a sign anywhere indicating what it is. The rigs go in full of pigs and come out empty. Perhaps it's not just hunters that deal with this sort of thing.

Presentation is everything. I learned that from years of working in restaurants :)
 
I don't and wouldn't drive around with animals hanging out unless it's on my route, and then I try to make it lokk a bit clean. i have seen animals going down the mainstreet in the city with bloody heads and blood dripping on the pavement...

I don't think little kids that have never been exposed, should have their first exposure to be an animal hanging out the back dripping blood.


Really? It's the perfect opportunity to explain where hot dogs come from!
 
I know of a slaughterhouse in downtown Toronto but you'd NEVER guess it was anything other than a warehouse of sorts. Neat, tidy, and not a sign anywhere indicating what it is.
The rigs go in full of pigs and come out empty. Perhaps it's not just hunters that deal with this sort of thing.

And therein lies part of the problem...it has been sanitized too much.

Some people can't comprehend that meat comes from dead animals. :eek:

I used to home-kill alot of beef, and would invite friends over to watch. Some were disgusted, some were keenly interested.
And it was a free biology lesson for them...showing them the different organs/tissues. :)
 
The only reason I would ever consider covering game up is for the little kids. I've got 2 young girls, and they don't fully understand the whole hunting thing yet. If I bring a duck home, my youngest wants to pet it, and asks me if she can say hi to it when it wakes up. Then I have to try and explain that it will be tomorrows dinner. Someday she'll understand better, but now I kind of see things through kids eyes too since I have 2 of my own. However, that being said, if I lived rural area where not many people will notice or care, I wouldn't cover it up, but if I know I'm heading straight the middle of town, I'm going to do my best to not put on a show. Most people will see the Browning and OFAH sticker on my truck anyways, and know I'm a hunter.
 
I wonder if one of us saw a farmer driving in town enroute to the butcher displaying in the back of his truck 10 hogs that he had killed, what kind of an impression of the farmer would that leave. Probably not a good one. Another farmer might understand and agree or he might not. I expect some non hunters would not be offended to see those dead deer either and some will be appalled.

There are ways and times to advocate and promote hunting. Covering the game animals during transportation shows respect for them IMHO.

Ron
 
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The only reason I would ever consider covering game up is for the little kids. I've got 2 young girls, and they don't fully understand the whole hunting thing yet. If I bring a duck home, my youngest wants to pet it, and asks me if she can say hi to it when it wakes up. Then I have to try and explain that it will be tomorrows dinner. Someday she'll understand better, but now I kind of see things through kids eyes too since I have 2 of my own. However, that being said, if I lived rural area where not many people will notice or care, I wouldn't cover it up, but if I know I'm heading straight the middle of town, I'm going to do my best to not put on a show. Most people will see the Browning and OFAH sticker on my truck anyways, and know I'm a hunter.

When I was 5ish my dad came home and told me too look in the back of the truck and there I saw a road killed wolf. I slept on that wolf rug may a times when I was young. That was the first dead animal I saw. I had a harder time seeing my first deer being field dressed at 24 haha
 
I don't need to hide it, but whether it's one animal or ten, I wouldn't make a messy pile of them in the vehicle with bits hanging out at random.
 
I don`t hide them,I`ve come through my little town with a beauty whitie buck more than once but they are not all bloody and nasty.No sense getting the Greenies all fired up,espesially in a tourist town like this.Common sense.
 
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