I-90 Car top Buck

[PlateauNDN]

How I get it home is my business as long as I hurry and get the meat off it.

[tbrady]

I tried to talk my wife into letting me take the Outback hunting this year instead of my truck so as to save me about $200 in fuel.  She promptly and firmly said NO!  I even called out how we have the nice rubber mats that catch dirt, mud, blood, innards etc.

[GEARHEAD]

I thought the public display of free range organic meat was "in" these days....im soooo confused

[thinkingman]

As some others have stated, this is about being respectful...to the animal and to others who don't share your views. 

When I see a fellow hunter strap an animal's head to the front of their car and parade around, I merely see someone who needs their ego stroked.  I have never liked it and think it portrays hunters in a bad light.  I have even seen guys with doe heads tied to the front of their vehicle, complete with tongues hanging out.  Tell me how that will improve our image.

When some have commented on public opinion, others on here have had the attitude of, "Screw it, we'll never change their mind anyway!"  Yes, that may be true of those at the extreme end of the spectrum, but the most important group is the huge majority in the middle.  They will be the ones who decide our future.  Quit doing things that will turn them against us.

Absolutely agree.
Well said.

[Stick em]

If it's taught in Hunters Education and Hunters decide to not follow the teaching, what are we teaching our youth. If we show young hunters that rules can be broken and justified then we are really opening a can of worms to the future of hunting.  This is only my opinion and I'm not telling others how to conduct themselves but remember that you are always an example to people. Displaying your kill is your right, honor and privilege but don't we have a lot of forums and outlets to do that tastefully. You can post your pics and tell stories tons of places that welcome it and will enjoy it. Personally, I have hunted in lots of different vehicles large and small. The meat always comes home in a cooler, the head (if it's worth mounting) in a plastic bag. There's no need to take everything home to make a mess there. Learn to process your animal and leave the rest to the forest creatures that will benefit from it.  This is a great thread, glad the topic is being discussed openly.

[rtspring]

As some others have stated, this is about being respectful...to the animal and to others who don't share your views. 

When I see a fellow hunter strap an animal's head to the front of their car and parade around, I merely see someone who needs their ego stroked.  I have never liked it and think it portrays hunters in a bad light.  I have even seen guys with doe heads tied to the front of their vehicle, complete with tongues hanging out.  Tell me how that will improve our image.

When some have commented on public opinion, others on here have had the attitude of, "Screw it, we'll never change their mind anyway!"  Yes, that may be true of those at the extreme end of the spectrum, but the most important group is the huge majority in the middle.  They will be the ones who decide our future.  Quit doing things that will turn them against us.

Absolutely agree.
Well said.

Alot of you are missing the point.  Here is the issue with anti's..  They don't like and never will like the fact that we hunters KILL any animals.  You are never going to change their mind.  Never, no matter what we do.. Showing a deer head is part of hunting.. 

Hunters ed teaching? No sir! There is no law that says you can't display your animal. They teach alot of stuff that I don't agree with. So following what they teach is a real grey area.  They teach not to shoot running game. I disagree, it can be done..  They teach dont take long shots. Again, I disagree..

When are we as hunters going to quit hiding te fact that we are in blatant terms Killers, some may like it and SOME never will..

I sat in bumper to bumper traffic in LA with a bug bull rack up on my tool box a few years ago, I had families getting out of their cars to take photots of their kids with the elk antlers. Lots of them.    How many kids would of never got that chance in a big city if I had hid the antlers from view???

You will never satisfy everyone. Never...

[bradslam]

As some others have stated, this is about being respectful...to the animal and to others who don't share your views. 

When I see a fellow hunter strap an animal's head to the front of their car and parade around, I merely see someone who needs their ego stroked.  I have never liked it and think it portrays hunters in a bad light.  I have even seen guys with doe heads tied to the front of their vehicle, complete with tongues hanging out.  Tell me how that will improve our image.

When some have commented on public opinion, others on here have had the attitude of, "Screw it, we'll never change their mind anyway!"  Yes, that may be true of those at the extreme end of the spectrum, but the most important group is the huge majority in the middle.  They will be the ones who decide our future.  Quit doing things that will turn them against us.

Absolutely agree.
Well said.

Alot of you are missing the point.  Here is the issue with anti's..  They don't like and never will like the fact that we hunters KILL any animals.  You are never going to change their mind.  Never, no matter what we do.. Showing a deer head is part of hunting.. 

Hunters ed teaching? No sir! There is no law that says you can't display your animal. They teach alot of stuff that I don't agree with. So following what they teach is a real grey area.  They teach not to shoot running game. I disagree, it can be done..  They teach dont take long shots. Again, I disagree..

When are we as hunters going to quit hiding te fact that we are in blatant terms Killers, some may like it and SOME never will..

I sat in bumper to bumper traffic in LA with a bug bull rack up on my tool box a few years ago, I had families getting out of their cars to take photots of their kids with the elk antlers. Lots of them.    How many kids would of never got that chance in a big city if I had hid the antlers from view???

You will never satisfy everyone. Never...

Apparently, you have a hard time grasping what I wrote, so I tried to make it easier for you by underlining the most important section and changing it to bold font.  What many of us are talking about are not the antis, but the non-hunters who can have their opinions swayed one way or the other.  You may not understand this, but those two groups of people are not one and the same.

I'm not even sure what to say about your hunter's ed comments.  I guess they should be teaching kids to throw caution to the wind and just get out there and sling lead.  Who cares about wounded animals?  Of course running and long shots can be done, but deciding to attempt them should come with experience and understanding one's capabilities and limitations.

[JLS]

As some others have stated, this is about being respectful...to the animal and to others who don't share your views. 

When I see a fellow hunter strap an animal's head to the front of their car and parade around, I merely see someone who needs their ego stroked.  I have never liked it and think it portrays hunters in a bad light.  I have even seen guys with doe heads tied to the front of their vehicle, complete with tongues hanging out.  Tell me how that will improve our image.

When some have commented on public opinion, others on here have had the attitude of, "Screw it, we'll never change their mind anyway!"  Yes, that may be true of those at the extreme end of the spectrum, but the most important group is the huge majority in the middle.  They will be the ones who decide our future.  Quit doing things that will turn them against us.

Absolutely agree.
Well said.

Alot of you are missing the point.  Here is the issue with anti's..  They don't like and never will like the fact that we hunters KILL any animals.  You are never going to change their mind.  Never, no matter what we do.. Showing a deer head is part of hunting.. 

Hunters ed teaching? No sir! There is no law that says you can't display your animal. They teach alot of stuff that I don't agree with. So following what they teach is a real grey area.  They teach not to shoot running game. I disagree, it can be done..  They teach dont take long shots. Again, I disagree..

When are we as hunters going to quit hiding te fact that we are in blatant terms Killers, some may like it and SOME never will..

I sat in bumper to bumper traffic in LA with a bug bull rack up on my tool box a few years ago, I had families getting out of their cars to take photots of their kids with the elk antlers. Lots of them.    How many kids would of never got that chance in a big city if I had hid the antlers from view???

You will never satisfy everyone. Never...

I don't want to satisfy everyone.  Ever....

And, I don't care about trying to sway the anti-hunters.  What I do care about is swaying the other 90% of the population that vote, and that are largely uneducated about hunting.  As I said, if your truck is full like Bone's and you put your antlers on top, I could care less.  But if you are strapping a whole animal carcass in plain view just to show it off to the world you should be asking yourself what kind of ambassador you are being to the 90% of the population that may be largely influenced by your/our actions.

[pianoman9701]

As some others have stated, this is about being respectful...to the animal and to others who don't share your views. 

When I see a fellow hunter strap an animal's head to the front of their car and parade around, I merely see someone who needs their ego stroked.  I have never liked it and think it portrays hunters in a bad light.  I have even seen guys with doe heads tied to the front of their vehicle, complete with tongues hanging out.  Tell me how that will improve our image.

When some have commented on public opinion, others on here have had the attitude of, "Screw it, we'll never change their mind anyway!"  Yes, that may be true of those at the extreme end of the spectrum, but the most important group is the huge majority in the middle.  They will be the ones who decide our future.  Quit doing things that will turn them against us.

Absolutely agree.
Well said.

Alot of you are missing the point.  Here is the issue with anti's..  They don't like and never will like the fact that we hunters KILL any animals.  You are never going to change their mind.  Never, no matter what we do.. Showing a deer head is part of hunting.. 

Hunters ed teaching? No sir! There is no law that says you can't display your animal. They teach alot of stuff that I don't agree with. So following what they teach is a real grey area.  They teach not to shoot running game. I disagree, it can be done..  They teach dont take long shots. Again, I disagree..

When are we as hunters going to quit hiding te fact that we are in blatant terms Killers, some may like it and SOME never will..

I sat in bumper to bumper traffic in LA with a bug bull rack up on my tool box a few years ago, I had families getting out of their cars to take photots of their kids with the elk antlers. Lots of them.    How many kids would of never got that chance in a big city if I had hid the antlers from view???

You will never satisfy everyone. Never...

Respectfully RT, you're the one missing the point. Anti-hunters only comprise about 10% of our population +/-. Total non-hunters comprise 96% of the population. That means there is about 86% of the population who don't hunt but don't oppose hunting...yet. No one here is trying to convince the antis of anything. But, what we do need to do is keep the remaining 86% of non-hunters supporting hunting as an ethical activity which benefits wildlife through conservation, the hunter through providing meat and the ability to pursue a hunting heritage and tradition, and the general public by providing the tools necessary to control and regulate wildlife populations in a way that keeps them healthy and limits societies exposure to problem and/or dangerous wildlife because of overpopulation.

Get your back up all you want and it'll hurt us. It already has with the hounding/baiting ban. Hunters stood firm and blustered and lost. Privileges can be taken away as soon as the one allowing the privilege no longer sees a need for it; in this case, the general public. Take Starbucks. They allowed open carry in their stores for years in direct opposition to pleas from the antis to stop it. A few over-zealous *censored*s who decided that going for coffee with an AR-15 on their shoulder was a good idea, upset store employees and other customers enough that the company changed its policy and took that privilege away from open carriers. Go ahead and blame Starbucks or the antis. The end result is that we lost our privilege to open carry at a nationally huge private business. The exact same will happen with hunting unless we all start caring about more than our own egos.

[Elkrunner]

If it's taught in Hunters Education and Hunters decide to not follow the teaching, what are we teaching our youth. If we show young hunters that rules can be broken and justified then we are really opening a can of worms to the future of hunting.  This is only my opinion and I'm not telling others how to conduct themselves but remember that you are always an example to people. Displaying your kill is your right, honor and privilege but don't we have a lot of forums and outlets to do that tastefully. You can post your pics and tell stories tons of places that welcome it and will enjoy it. Personally, I have hunted in lots of different vehicles large and small. The meat always comes home in a cooler, the head (if it's worth mounting) in a plastic bag. There's no need to take everything home to make a mess there. Learn to process your animal and leave the rest to the forest creatures that will benefit from it.  This is a great thread, glad the topic is being discussed openly.

Not to point it out but doesn't your avatar contradict your last statement?  Both of those animals are whole...

[bradslam]

Pianoman, you make a great point with the Starbucks issue.  A very good friend of mine works at Starbucks.  She could care less if someone is carrying while they are in the store.  However, she wasn't very happy when the open carry guys tried to make their point.  The way they went about it and how some of them treated other customers felt like a "hostile takeover" and did not help their image.  A perfect example of turning a neutral party against you.

[magnanimous_j]

When I took Hunter’s Ed in the 90’s, we had a whole module about transporting game with an emphasis on doing it in a way that doesn’t offend non hunters.

The thing is, you’re never going to convert the anti’s, so it’s not worth worrying about. But there are a vast majority of people who don’t hunt, but don’t really care one way or the other. With the local food movement, a lot of people are curious about wild game, even though they will probably never hunt themselves.

We should do our best to avoid antagonizing people who are currently neutral toward hunting.

[pianoman9701]

If it's taught in Hunters Education and Hunters decide to not follow the teaching, what are we teaching our youth. If we show young hunters that rules can be broken and justified then we are really opening a can of worms to the future of hunting.  This is only my opinion and I'm not telling others how to conduct themselves but remember that you are always an example to people. Displaying your kill is your right, honor and privilege but don't we have a lot of forums and outlets to do that tastefully. You can post your pics and tell stories tons of places that welcome it and will enjoy it. Personally, I have hunted in lots of different vehicles large and small. The meat always comes home in a cooler, the head (if it's worth mounting) in a plastic bag. There's no need to take everything home to make a mess there. Learn to process your animal and leave the rest to the forest creatures that will benefit from it.  This is a great thread, glad the topic is being discussed openly.

Not to point it out but doesn't your avatar contradict your last statement?  Both of those animals are whole...

That doesn't mean he transported them strapped to his front bumper or on his roof or hood. Looks like a farm to me. He probably shot them about 50 yards away. 

[bearpaw]

Quote by Bearpaw:  "Would you consider the chicken to have more rights than the houseplant? I see the house plant as an equal to a chicken, it has just as much right to life as the chicken in my mind."

That is absolutely ridiculous.  So apparently, torturing a chicken would be okay.  If, for instance, your kid went around cutting off the legs of chickens, it wouldn't set off some alarm bells?  That type of behavior could land someone in jail, as it should. I'm sorry, but a chicken is a living animal with a brain and is not the same as a plant.  That is almost as ludicrous, on the other extreme, as Ingrid Newkirk's quote about "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."

That's not what I said, you know that I said nothing about torturing anything. 

We will just have to disagree, I think the carrot has just as much right to life as the chicken but the simple fact is that both will eventually become food for another living creature. 

[boneaddict]

When non-hunters see a buck/bull strapped to a car there is a good chance a tape starts playing in their head of the stereotypical redneck slob hunter (or maybe the millionaire trophy hunter). They see horns, spoiling meat (it's not refrigerated like in the store after all), and blood lust.

They don't see reverence for the animal and food that will feed a whole family for the winter.  They don't see the time put into harvesting the animal, the money put into conservation, habitat protection, or local economies. They don't see the lasting friendships, family connections, and new friendships formed over hunting.

I like the idea of Loki's sign. If your animal has to be transported in the open something like this could go a long way to hitting pause on the stereotype replay and maybe even get them look positively on the subject.

When it comes to hunting, shooting, and even fly fishing I view myself as an ambassador to the sport. I don't hide the fact that I participate in these sports and when I encounter a non-sportsman and I want to leave them with a more favorable opinion of my chosen sport(s) than before I met them so the next time they see a truck with horns in the back they think of me and not some ugly stereotype.

  Some really good points in this thread.   Thanks for keeping it civil even with differing opinions.