My girlfriend sent me a picture of this on her way out of New York City — her comment was simply “oh my” to be taken however I was to take it. I am an avid hunter, outdoorsman, conservationist and deeply care about the natural resources we have in our world. I run a hunt club. I teach others how to hunt. I take people hunting professionally. I’m trained to teach people how to get their hunting license in New York.

A little bit of backstory on me -I’m from the suburbs in Maryland originally — with a strong culture of hunting. I now live in Brooklyn, NY — so I’ve never really encountered an “anti-hunter” until moving here. So now that that’s out of the way…

My first thought upon seeing this picture is the idea of hunting mothers and cubs. Mother bears also known as adult female bears are called sows (pronouncedˈ\sau̇\). Do hunters go after Sows or mothers? Do we eat mothers or Sows? What about the female gender embodies the idea that it is somehow morally wrong to go after the women? Why didn’t they use the words fathers and cubs? I just found the choice of words interesting.

My second thought was at how this particular organization anthropomorphizes bears to evoke an emotional response. I could believe people might have anger or sadness at the cruelty of bow’s and arrows as hunting implements. I can see befuddlement as to why someone would feel trepidation for those hunters who spend more days hunting mothers. I can’t speak for all hunters who spend more days hunting mothers but I can give a few as to why I hunt them.

I enjoy spending time outdoors. Many days require scouting, exploring and tracking. Hunting requires a lot of time outdoors, as does foraging (which I also do), hiking (which I also do), fishing (which I also do). I enjoy the camaraderie of being with friends. I enjoy hearing stores about the one that got away. I enjoy hearing about the other wildlife they saw. I enjoy getting enough quality meat to feed a family of four for the next year (whitetail deer). A bear, a whitetail deer, an elk and other big game provide a lot of meat that is not supporting factory farming. I like that the money I spend on licenses goes directly towards conservation in New York and the federal taxes on various hunting items goes to the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (aka Pittman-Robertson). I believe in conservation of a species via use. If people aren’t actively participating in using something — how can we protect it? I love animals. I love eating them (pigs mostly), watching them, learning about their habits, where they hang out, how they interact with humans (usually the ones that survive exhibit fear of humans).

I guess I’m seeking to understand the MO behind someone who is an anti-hunter/animal rights activist? Why is it that bears are the issue they take to heart? Do they have some spiritual connection? They just really like bears?Bears are more deserving of protection than other animals?

Why aren’t they focused on factory farming (affects tens of millions of animals) or deforestation (tens of millions) or urban sprawl (millions)? What about deer in areas that live in New Jersey and New York that are sometimes 2 or 3 times the healthy biological carrying capacity that then starve because they ate all of the available food? The sign just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

I guess if I were to re-do that sign from a hunters perspective it would read something like:

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BEAR HUNTING JUST GOT SCIENTIFIC

NJDEP approves slightly more bears to be harvested this year

Black Bears are overpopulated in sections of New Jersey because of Urban Sprawl

So we need to find ways to deal with the problem of overpopulation and we’re looking for effective ways of doing it.

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Anywho — just my 2¢.