Hostility against other hunters....

[redd foxx]

I think this a great topic as well. I enjoy the forums and don't mind most of the banter.

What does get me is the posters who think they've hunted more than everyone else, have more experience than everyone else and try to shove their knowledge down others throats. Sometimes they belittlwe others ideas and opinions because of an assuption that they have more experience than others.

No one knows me or how experienced I am. (or am not) I am almost 60 years old and have lived as far north as Moosonee and as far south as Niagara. I have hunted all the big game in Ontario other than elk and all the small game. This is the last time you'll see me brag (if that's what it may be called, because I don't like that).

I'm not too old to learn from someone 100 years old, or someone 10 years old. I do have my opinions, most based on some sort of experience but a lot based on what I've heard, read and seen and the decisions I've made based on that. I also respect others opinions (I think and hope) even though I might not agree.

When it is all over, the Golden Rule will get us all through just about any conversation. Treat others as you would like them to treat you.

Thanks for starting the thread.

Redd

[scarkner]

Well, I never really made a secret of my name on this board - type scarkner into google and you will get lots of hits and find my twitter accounts, etc. Steve Carkner from Ottawa, I am in my 40's.

I have been hunting for only 9 years. I come from a family of non-hunters, family never had a cottage or really did much outdoor stuff at all. I have always loved the outdoors but traveled a lot as a kid so didn't have much chance to do more than fishing once in a while.

Now I am trying to learn. I read and watch videos to try to learn and have made some good friends and hunting partners on this board. I can say with absolute authority that having someone SHOW you how to do something, weather it is hunting for deer or skinning a catfish, you just can't get the knack from anything you do on the internet (although you can get some awesome tricks).

Do I make mistakes, heck yeah! And it is difficult when other more experienced members on the board jump on you for posting something you did wrong. but on the balance, I have found that the overwhelming majority of people have been great and my love for hunting and the outdoors has only grown since joining up.

No Regrets - And ready to try anything.

Now where's my squirrel gun...

[Hunter300]

Ethics are personal, if enough people believe in these ethics they become law, hence why we now have anterless tags and seasons for all types of fish and game.

Hate to bring it up, but tags and seasons were not created because of ethics. They were created for conservation and sustainment of the species, balance of the ecosystem etc...

Don't kill me!

[TurkeyRookie]

Hate to bring it up, but tags and seasons were not created because of ethics. They were created for conservation and sustainment of the species, balance of the ecosystem etc...

Don't kill me!

Not 100% what the OP was talking about, but Like minded ethical hunters were the direct cause of getting partying hunting for does legal in Ontario

[TurkeyRookie]

Nothing to hide here, google Jason Smith from Timmins, You'll find me on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc, etc, (and about 6 others in town).

I have no hard feelings towards anyone here, sometimes I feel people take things a little to seriously, or feel that they, or their beliefs are being personally attacked during conversations on opinions/beliefs/ethics etc...

However I think you get what you give, if you just come on here to slam everyone and their ideas, then yea, people are going to slam on you.

If everytime someone shares a story or a success and all you do is talk about how you had a bigger or better one, yea you're probably gonna get a bit of resentment thrown your way.

If you... you get where I'm going with all this.

But if you take things in stride, and offer up ideas/suggestions, etc, on topics you know and are able to provide sound data, then I think you'll be considered a respected asset and treated as such.

Sometimes stuff gets blown so out of proportion

(Case in point, MikePal made a great simple post, reminding everyone to throw their tags on) and it turned into a massive debate about how pictures can be miss construde, or what a CO would do if he came across you taking pics etc...

Someone was just offering up a friendly reminder/suggestion and it turned into a pissing match.

Sometimes the best approach is to use the work e-mail rule of thumb, initial response, rebutal, walk away... anything else is just escalating it.

As for me, This is a great place.

I've got to meet and hunt with two great guys, DanDuf and Rustic, My family now has an amazing 4 legged companion thanks to 3BlackDogs, and I met a great friend and his family who opened his home to me for the night (Dythbringer) when I went to get the dog, and PGidley tracking a bear till the wee hours lol.

I'd say i'm battin a 1000 here.

Thanks ood forum.

[Hunter300]

I would like to remain anonymous, as stating my name really isnt going to change to much.

I grew up in northern ontario, and my dad had taken me hunting before I could walk. As soon as I had the strength to hold a gun, he let me shoot it. I was 6 years old. I had been fishing from roughly the same age, probably before I was even born lol.

As soon as I was old enough, I got my hunting license and was hunting with my dad every weekend we could. When I was old enough to hunt alone, I hunted out at our camp for hours and hours on end. I was slow to have any real sucess, but the more time I spent out in the bush, the more I learnt. EVERY trip out in the bush I learnt something new, and nothing has changed to this day. I still learn EVERY day I spend out there.

I eventually started bringing home more and more grouse, and rabbits. I hunted moose with my dad, but we never were really serious about it cause taking a kid into the bush for a week or two just wasn't possible while I was in school, and was so young.

Come spring and summer, we'd spend EVERY weekend out at the camp, and fish every friday and saturday night. We'd do this right up until fall, and when hunting season started again.

Fast forward to this day, I'm now 22 years old, and have almost every game animal and species of fish under my belt, with only a small selection left to harvest. I will say that moose hunting has been the toughest for me (calf hunting anyway). I have harvested hundreds and hundreds of grouse, a fair share of rabbits (50-60), almost every species of duck that one would find up here on an average year, geese, woodcock, snipe, skunk, foxes, crows, sharptail grouse, bears, and moose. Ive caught every fish species up here except for a few. Ive caught : Walleye, sauger, goldeye, pike, suckers, whitefish, ling, perch, brookies, rainbows and smallmouth.

All I need: Wolf, weasel, splake, laker, sturgeon, racoon (never seen one up here, but apparently they're here), aurora trout

(^ thats all lol) Still a good amount of animals I need. I'm sure Im missing something, but its on my hit list for sure.

The older I get, the deeper my passion (obsession) for the outdoors grows. I want to start trapping, and run a line of my own one day. If I cant hunt or fish, life just isnt going the way it should be IMO.

You couldn't pay me to give up anything to do with the outdoors. I also have a passion for the freedom and opportunities in the north. You couldn't pay me to move down south. I'd rather live in a cardboard box up north than a mansion down south.

One day I want to live my dream of hunting the yukon. I want to own a house, and a trapline up there. All I want is to shoot every big game animal up there, and to take a monster grizzly with my marlin guide gun in 45-70. A few rounds from buffalo bore or Garrett ammunition would be grizzly medicine.

[Kilo Charlie]

I try not to be hostile or too judgmental, and I must say I've been treated well by everyone since I joined the forum....well, its predecessor.
I'm a total Grammar Nazi in real life but I try to let it slide here.
My grandpa started me shooting a .22 single shot and fishing in his creek near Powassan when I was about six years old. That was 45 years ago and I'm still at it. My Dad hunted to feed the family but disliked killing animals so he gave it up about that time. My brothers and I taught ourselves to hunt up in Kenora as teenagers in the 1970's.
I like slightly different guns and cartridges and keep buying rifles, shooting them, and selling them for a new toy.
I've learned lots on this site; I used to live in Southern Ontario and I must say I admire the dedication of those of you who hunt down there. I'd be a mental case if I had to put up with the lack of Crown Land and the thieves and trespassers!
I do get upset when a simple poaching thread turns into racist rhetoric. It happens several times a year.

[MikePal]

From my experience here, the problem is not with the anonymity of the poster that creates an issue, guys just get to be known by their Call Sign , some guys post their real first names etc to personalize their post etc, but I don’t think it changes the value of the forum or the post whether there is full disclosure or an alias is used.

The OP is pondering why the hostility, well that has more to do with what I call the ‘Jekll/Hyde’ syndrome ..it’s the same human condition with the generally mild manner guy who lashes out with road rage while in the safe confines of their vehicle. They find the can ‘vent’ their pent up hostility within their lives when not having to deal with a face to face confrontation.

Most of the problems with name calling, insults and hostility on here comes from guys that get involved in a discussion and get challenged on their view or opinion but lack the ability to debate it. It’s a skill that used to be taught in high school, how to defend your opinion with logical well researched facts and presented in an articulate manner without stooping to the level where your lash out against those who challenge you.

In the old school yard days you knew when the debate was lost when one side yelled out “ yea well your mother wears army boots” ….same same.

[LadyinRed]

I agree 100%.

I agree on the "if you don't have anything to contribute, don't comment". This forum is for helping eachother and learning, Not shooting guys down.

Almost everybody on here is very friendly, although I have recived rather rude PM's about how I ask "stupid questions" LOL

Well that's not cool. You should have seen me when I first joined the forum. I spammed the board with all kinds of "stupid" questions. I didn't know a thing about fishing....seriously....I actually held my rod upside down for the first few months...LOL.
But no one was that rude to me. Either because I'm a girl or because I'm so awesome, I don't know....


Any successes I've had on the water are due almost wholly to the information and hands on training I've had from the guys on this board. I can't even begin to detail the kinds of things I've learned here and in the field. There seems to me to be a core group here that keep this place running with their wisdom and willingness to share and teach. Their compassion and humor, generosity and sportsmanship are what make this place so compelling for the rest of us.

On the other hand, it does seem that there is a subset of people who come here spoiling for a fight, or who feel the need to prove themselves or have self esteem issues in real life. Or something. I don't know. They are compensating for something LOL, talking all big and tough on the internet obviously gives them some sort of payback. I ignore it for all but the amusement value

[werner.reiche]

....But no one was that rude to me. Either because I'm a girl or because I'm so awesome, I don't know....

The "because I'm a girl" thing cuts you a lot of slack...

The other thing is that a lot of your "dumb questions" really weren't that dumb - and you are doing quite a bit of thinking on your own.