5 Common Misconceptions About Hunters

As a lifelong hunter and someone who works in the hunting industry, I always find it interesting to meet and converse with non-hunters or anti-hunters, especially when they don’t know I’m a hunter. While most of the conversations and opinions shared during these discussions are courteous, some are simply eye-opening and others are genuinely disheartening.

Having been on this earth for a fair number of years now, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from all walks of life, ages, and beliefs. While most people are neutral when they find out I’m a hunter, the really interesting conversations occur when they are unaware of my hunting background or line of work.

These discussions are always enlightening and, over the years, have started to paint a picture of certain common misconceptions or beliefs about hunters in general.

Here are five of the most common misconceptions I’ve encountered about hunters as a whole, and these are in no particular order or level of importance:

Hunters have No Respect for Animals or Nature

In my experience, nothing could be farther from the truth. As a group, I find hunters to be excellent stewards of the land, resources, and animals.

This opinion is most likely tied to one of two situations:

• A negative experience with a “hunter” or “hunters” who actually displayed a lack of respect for an animal or a perception of animal cruelty.
• The anti-hunters who push this rhetoric have a base issue with harvesting any animal in the wild, yet they state that declaration over a hamburger or chicken sandwich.

In many situations where these arguments have come up in conversation, it’s clearly a typical situation where a few bad apples cause issues for the rest of the hunting population that follows the rules and/or helps conserve the land and resources.

95% of the hunters I’ve met or come into contact with operate as law-abiding citizens who adhere to the required rules and regulations. Another fact most anti-hunters miss entirely is the fact that the revenue generated by the sale of licenses in each state plays a significant role in conservation efforts and land maintenance for future sportspeople.

As a hunter, I adhere to legal regulations about the following:

• Season times
• Bag limits
• Tagging and reporting processes
• Disease reporting

Ironically, as a hunter, I’m more in tune with and concerned with the local animal population numbers compared to any anti-hunter voice I’ve met so far. But unfortunately, most of these folks mistakenly based their hunting position or ideology on outdated perceptions fostered from childhood or from incorrectly quoted or completely inaccurate media outlets.

During some of these conversations, I’ve been able to make some of the points listed above, and, in others, I’m wasting my time with facts and figures.

Hunters Destroy and Damage Property

Nearly every anti-hunter that I’ve met has worked some version or variant of this point into their overall anti-hunter beliefs.

Again, I strongly suspect that this opinion is created based on a few problem hunters or shooters who give the remaining 95% of the law-abiding hunters a bad name.

Furthermore, I suspect that the number one culprit driving this fallacy is below…

Most hunters practice conservation by adhering to game limits per season and making sure to leave a healthy species for population regrowth.

In addition, most anti-hunters don’t understand that the opportunity to hunt on private or state-managed land is a privilege that most true hunters want to keep. Personally, on the private land that I’m allowed to hunt, I go to great lengths to ensure that no damage is ever done. If I do accidentally damage something on private land (say a gate), it’s either repaired or replaced out of my pocket.

Hunters leave Injured Game or Animals to an Agonizing Death

Here’s another complete myth busted. Most hunters strive to dispatch or harvest a game species ethically and as humanely as possible.

I routinely pass on archery and rifle shots on deer because I’m uncomfortable with the shot and feel that it could wound the animal rather than dispatching it quickly.

And most hunters will spend hours, even days, trying to locate, track, or recover an animal that has been injured. I’ve spent hours and hours in the woods helping friends trying to find a deer, coyote, or occasional moose that was shot.

Now, are there situations where a game animal is shot but never located? Yes, those unfortunate situations do occur. However, they are few and far between as most hunters will do an exhaustive search to find a wounded animal in an effort to dispatch the animal ethically (if needed) and recover the meat.

Statistically speaking, there are at least 10x the number of deer that are wounded by vehicles and left to die on the side of the road compared to the number of animals that are shot by hunters and then not recovered.

Hunters Shoot Any Animal that Crosses Their Path

I’ve also heard this narrative several times as well, but it’s completely false. Most ethical hunters, who value their hunting privileges, only harvest or attempt to harvest the specific game species they are pursuing.

Now, are there times when some game seasons overlap, and hunters legally harvest more than one species? It certainly can happen. I’ve done it myself several times, especially with situations involving coyotes. Most states don’t have an official season for coyotes as they are considered a predator or vermin species. As such, in those states, a coyote can be harvested or taken year-round. I’ve had a few situations where I legally harvested a deer during deer season and happened on a coyote by chance, which was also harvested.

However, that example is a far cry from the false narrative that all hunters walk through the woods shooting any animal species they see. I suppose this scenario could happen, but if the hunter is caught, they won’t be hunting next season as their hunting license or privileges will be revoked.

When discussing this misconception with anti-hunters, I think I’ve actually been able to make some progress in debunking this myth.

All Hunters Drink Alcohol While Hunting

I can only assume that this idiotic myth stems from incorrect media characterizations of hunters who only drive 4×4 trucks and stand around with a beer in their hands, shooting at street signs, or anything else that will stand still.

Another complete fallacy as hunters come from broad and diverse backgrounds ranging from well-known TV actors to dentists to college students who grew up hunting. Are there some unfortunate real-life examples of the mischaracterization I mentioned above? Probably so, as where did the stereotypical characterization originate in the first place?

However, most hunters understand that alcohol and guns or bows are not a good mix and reserve the consumption of alcoholic beverages until after the hunt is completed. Have I encountered obviously intoxicated hunters in the woods before? Yes, but they are the exception and not the norm. Again, a situation where a few problem hunters created a stereotype that is perpetuated across all hunters.

If you’re a hunter and know anti-hunter friends, feel free to share this information with them or use the information in an effort of honest education and clarification. But unfortunately, most anti-hunters haven’t met a well-spoken hunter who was willing to listen to their positions on hunting issues, and then respond with unemotional data, facts, or just lifelong hunting experiences.

Obviously, some of these anti-hunting folks aren’t going to listen, so it may be a waste of your time. However, addressing these misconceptions and outright fallacies is one of the primary ways to keep our children continuing this great sport.