Hunters Unite

By Andrea Haas

My friend Kinsey and I dove hunting

Every year on social media I see hunters bashing other hunters for their hunting methods. I even fall victim to this myself from time to time. It seems there's always one hunter that wants to criticize others because the buck they shot was too small or too young, they don't agree with the weapons others hunt with, or even the type of animal that is being hunted. The way I see it is, if it's legal and no laws were broken then why criticize them for hunting the way they like? 

Crow hunting is something that I catch a lot of heat for. We have a crow season here in Missouri that opens every November. For some of the benefits of crow hunting, check out this article: http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/AmericanCrows.asp

Personally, I could care less what weapon I hunt with. If it's in season, I'll use it! I enjoy hunting deer with a bow, rifle and muzzle loader almost equally and my main goal is to put meat in the freezer. If that meat happens to be from a big buck, even better! I see a lot of people setting goals for themselves to only harvest deer with their bow, opting to forego rifle season even though their odds of harvesting a deer would be better. Let them! There's no rule that states we all have to hunt the same way and have the exact same goals for our season. And if there was such a rule, think about how boring and uninteresting that would be!

My doe from 2015 Rifle Season

In case you haven't heard of the Sportsmen's Alliance, they are a non-profit organization working to defend hunting, fishing, and trapping against lawsuits, legislation, and ballot issues proposed by anti-hunters. Another thing that they are working just as hard at is getting hunters to unite, stop bickering with each other, and accept each others differences. Last week they shared this photo on their Facebook page, along with this caption: 

"One of the greatest threats to hunting is our own inability to get along and accept each others differences. ‪#‎OurHeritageOurFight‬" 

I couldn't agree more with that statement! If there's one thing that every hunter has in common, I feel it's that we all want to have the right to go hunting. We all enjoy the outdoors in our own way and need to be united against those who are ready to take those experiences away from us! Embrace our differences and, as long as it's legal, respect other hunters' choices. After all, "We're all on the same team."