The Social Media Influence On Hunting In Our Modern World
Growing up in Pennsylvania, hunting was pretty simple. My family had a camp which we built and had for four generations. I had a couple of buddies I hunted public land with and once I met my beautiful wife, I had a couple hundred-acre farm to hunt. We didn’t carry bino’s because it's Pennsylvania, and if you can see farther than one hundred yards you are most likely standing in a hayfield.
Our clothing was Real Tree or blaze orange bought from Wal-Mart or Gander Mountain. We had those old cotton long johns that were white and had a waffle type pattern to them. Our weapons were all old enough to legally buy a beer...and then some. I’m pretty sure my first compound bow was from the late ’80s or early ’90s. Its draw length was too long for me and couldn’t be adjusted, but I was effective out to thirty yards.
I was pretty successful in those years and I had nothing in terms of high-end gear. Fast forward to the present day and I now live in Washington State. When I first moved here and started hunting, I was amazed by the sticker shock of gear that according to social media, I needed to have to be a successful western hunter. Now before I damn everything to hell and say screw the man, I will admit I have never been so warm, had such a lethal weapon, and seen so many animals, all thanks to gear. But...I’ve learned some hard lessons along the way.
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No Better Time than the Present to Learn How To Hunt
If you are moving from the east to the west, or just starting to hunt, now is the time to do so. The internet and social media have produced some incredible resources to cut the learning curve down substantially. Sites like GoHunt literally tell you what your chances of success are by unit, better areas to look in that unit, and the trophy quality associated with that unit spanning the western states. Basemap or OnX makes hunting new areas and new states even easier, giving you the ability to scout from the comfort of your own home.
New clothes are built to mountaineering quality and are designed to work as a system to keep you dry, cool, and warm from August to December with just a couple of articles of clothing. Guns and bows shoot farther, more efficiently, and with more precision than ever before. I could go on, but things are definitely on the upswing for hunters. Especially if you consider the help of conservation groups like Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, issues on public land access are mainstream and great victories have been won enhancing opportunities.
So far this is all sounding good. More opportunities, better, lighter, more accurate gear, and resources available by a quick Google search. Social media, YouTube, and the tried and true Google search is proving to make hunting more approachable. I cannot state this enough: the digital realm is proving to be one of the best forums for introducing new hunters, who grew up without any hunting traditions, to our complex world.
In the matter of an hour spent on YouTube, a person can find detailed videos on gear lists, bow, and gun tuning, how to find the best places to hunt, how to gut and process your own game...the list goes on and on. I shouldn’t leave out the extra fifteen minutes required to search up an apparel company and easily build a layering system from the base layers out, or the abundant hunting pack companies all producing quality products. The industry is obese with options, and all this makes it easier for the consumers to, well, consume.
The Positive Impacts of Social Media On Hunting
Social media has also played a vital role in protecting our wildlands and waters. These conservation organizations are abundant, covering waterfowlers, deer hunters, elk hunters, fly fisherman, and pheasant hunters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an organization pushing for squirrel conservation. All joking aside, this has led to the North American conservation model being the world’s gold standard. Driven by hunting and fishing interest and dollars. These organizations use social media to address their platforms, rally support on critical issues, and enhance membership. I had never heard of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers until I moved to Washington and started following western hunting pages on Instagram. Then one day, there was a sponsored post from BHA and I’ve been a member ever since.
As much as social media has helped to enhance the rate of adult-onset hunters and bring light to conservation and access issues, it has also done some considerable damage to our wallets, and ideals on hunting. As a new western hunter, the gear list recommended by YouTube-famous hunting celebrities was insanely long and expensive. It adds up to thousands of dollars. But how's your success rate? Maybe you are like Aron Synder, and kill more animals than a slaughterhouse, or maybe you are like me and have gotten one deer in the past three years. Or maybe you haven’t gotten anything, ever. All I know is my freezer is pretty empty, and I’m kicking myself for not investing more into knowledge rather than gear.
The Negative Impacts of Social Media On Hunting
The problem with social media and YouTube is anyone can do it, regardless of their experience level. Hunting, as with most things, is growing across social media, leading to tons of people trying to get a paycheck. The lines between expert and novice information are getting blurred. People are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel to make their page stand out, and this can lead to some horrible information.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Other big-name social media and YouTube platforms push products. This isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon considering hunting TV has done this for decades, though I believe the volume at which we see marketing nowadays is substantially higher. At least with the Outdoor Channel once you turned off your TV it stopped. Now we have devices that travel with us everywhere, marketing to us every second we pick them up.
Pages that market hunting education has strings attached with sponsors, leading to bias. Sponsorship isn’t a bad thing, but there is a difference between suggesting a product and claiming that the product is the best. Rarely anything can be dubbed the best outside of a situational moment. Brands or pages that market like this can have a high following. With that comes trust, and with trust comes imitation. If you see someone you like wearing a certain brand, you are going to want to wear that brand too, even if it’s outside your means.
Social media makes it too easy to seem like you're the only guy or gal that doesn't have that product. Typically, the products that are being pushed are of high quality, but that doesn’t mean they make you a better hunter. This is the fault in social media; it only shows the end result, not the journey.
Acquire More Knowledge, Not Gear
I know I paid a lot more attention to buying high-quality gear than I did learning about elk hunting and the consequences suck. Steve Rinella has mentioned going to Army-Navy surplus stores and getting cheap gear because that’s all he could afford. Now you see him using nothing but the best, and that didn’t happen overnight. Spending more money on tags and experiences will yield much higher results. High-end gear will come later, with much more appreciation.
Ultimately we need to change our train of thought. We have been programmed to look at new cool gear, buy it, and then force it into our individual systems. We look up to people who may not be focused on true education, rather education structured around the brands that pay them. We buy things to look the part of a hunter without the knowledge to be a hunter. We skip out on actually putting boots on the ground and building real experience-oriented information, for fancy technology to make it easier. And perhaps, as I did, we spend money that we don’t have trying to be successful.
The brands and the media platforms will not change, and they shouldn’t. They are trying to build their business and this article is not meant to take anything away from that. What needs to change though, is the way we go about ourselves within the hunting social community and buying our gear. Focus on your journey and choose your mentors wisely.
It’s Time To Refocus
Social media and other internet platforms have amplified the buying craze. It’s important that we as hunters focus on building hunting numbers and bridging the gap for those you have never been exposed to our proud traditions. It is important to stay within your budget and build upon your hunting knowledge. Not every piece of gear that is put on the market is there for you and your system, and it is critical that we begin to think about the consequences of adding a piece of gear to our kit. Does it really make you a better hunter, or more comfortable in the field, that is up to you to decide not anyone else.
The people we choose as role models and who we get our information from must be experts, as their opinions will most likely influence our own when making purchases. At the end of the day, we are all just trying to get out and hunt, and no piece of gear is going to make you any more successful than another. Just ask your grandpa who is still wearing his wool flannel shirt.