Buzz, I just got a pm, won't mention who from, doesn't matter. Supposedly your a good egg, why won't you just answer the op and own it?
What was that again?
Not that I care or have to answer for anything.
Since you're the OP, I guess you're the guy that asked. No I don't have any problem with a state tourism board spending their money on advertising any way they see fit.
I also don't have a problem with GF agencies doing the same. The way they fund research, management, pay for vehicles is largely tied to license revenue.
Should we shut down GF websites? Are hunting booklets, regulation booklets, with draw odds, names of biologists, phone numbers somehow all a bunch of bullchit because they give out too much information?
Go look at Wyoming's website...anyone with 2 firing brain cells to rub together can figure out what the top units are, where to hunt, names of any biologist, regional offices, game warden phone numbers, access areas for hunting...
Go look at Montana's hunt planner.
Go look at AZ's hunt planner, they give you information and narrow down things to specific drainages, mountains, etc.
Here's what I think...I think people are making a mountain out of a mole-hill when it comes to a few social media guys or the GF paying for advertising.
If anyone wants to be anything close to intellectually honest, its not the influencers that are impacting the sport...its all of us.
Rifles that shoot 500-600-700 yards with ease, spotting scopes you see distant planets with, alpha glass, better clothing, lighter gear, bows that shoot 100 yards, trail cams, aerial photography, GPS units, inreach, spots, better maps, google earth,. Know anyone anymore that shoots a compound without a trigger release? Know anyone that shoots a rifle with a straight 4 power scope anymore? How about open sights? Know anyone that hunts that doesn't have a 4-wheel drive?
I was talking with a good friend of mine, lives on the Front in Montana...one tough old-school SOB and as hardcore of a hunter as I know. Like he said, "when I backpacked hunt, my sleeping bag weighed more than guys entire camps now"...and that isn't no bullchit. That's a fact.
What's happened is the gear technology and as much as you and others (me included) like to bitch about the flat-brimmers...they have the gear, the technology, and the physical ability it takes to pound the game flat. Like Roy told me, these new hunters are no joke, they're tough and there's nowhere too far for them to reach. Its just a fact. And they have the gear that allows them to hunt farther, stay longer and be more comfortable...just a fact.
Then, throw in the huge increase in outfitters as well as shrinking habit, conifer encroachment, aging habitat types, disease issues, leasing, hunt clubs, ATV's, winter range loss, noxious weeds, migration corridors being pinched off, and just the simple fact that by tomorrow at this time, there will be 400,000 more people on planet earth than right now...yeah, things are tightening up.
So, yeah, I won't apologize for saying its BS to blame youtube while a metric chit ton of other things are impacting the sport way more, impacting wildlife populations more.
Is youtube additive to the problem...sure, but its literally worrying about the mice while the elephants run you over...
Its a joke...and just another thing for guys that hunt once or twice a year to be faux outraged over...its ridiculous.
