The moment that thousands of people, hunters and non-hunters alike, waited for finally occurred on Jan. 10.
That’s when the Pennsylvania Game Commission filed charges against the two individuals who recorded themselves torturing a wounded buck to death in Jefferson County.
By now everyone has seen or at least heard about the infamous video, so I won’t go into all of the disgusting details.
But as I followed the story from the date that it broke – not long after the incident occurred on Nov. 30, 2019 – to the day that charges were filed on Jan. 10, I hoped that hunters would get in front of the issue and vehemently denounce the despicable act.
That’s why I was concerned when I read a few comments on social media from hunters urging the hunting community not to share the video and don’t pass along the newspaper stories.
Keep it quiet, they said, as it could hurt the image of our sport.
In my opinion, that’s the worst thing that hunters could have done.
For the majority of us who do hunt in an ethical manner and prioritize the importance of a clean kill above everything else, it would be devastating if this incident was linked with our sport by the media and the non-hunting public.
What happened in that infamous video had nothing to do with hunting. For hunters to turn a blind eye to the incident and remain quiet would do more harm than good, as it would allow those without an understanding of the sport set the narrative.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
On Dec. 1, the Pennsylvania Game Commission posted to its Facebook page that the agency was aware of the video and an investigation was underway. The post generated more than 8,200 reactions, 8,100 comments and 7,800 people shared it.
Many of those comments and reactions were from hunters, who were just as upset as everyone else about what was shown in the video.
I was happy to see such a reaction.
By speaking out and denouncing the heinous act, hunters were united and led the charge in calling for the individuals involved to be held accountable.
By voicing their disgust, hunters actually staved off an opportunity for the anti-hunting crowd to pounce on the incident and use it as fodder to attack our sport.
And, just as important, because hunters were vocal, we were able to remind the general public that the images captured in the video were those of torture, cruelty and sickness, and not legal, ethical hunting.
When it comes to those who don’t hunt, such a distinction can easily become blurred. That’s why we need to be open about our sport rather than stay quiet, like we have something to hide.
Those hunters who follow the law and respect the game they pursue have nothing to be ashamed of, and we need to tackle the tough issues when it comes to defending the sport.
We can’t sit on the sidelines and hope the media will offer a proper portrayal of our hunting. That’s too risky.
I’ve worked in several newsrooms throughout my career, and the overwhelming majority of the reporters and editors weren’t hunters.
Through no fault of their own, they knew nothing about the sport beyond the difference between a deer and a duck.
That’s why, when I see a newspaper story refer to a poacher as a hunter, I cringe but I’m not surprised. The writer simply doesn’t know better.
Still, when I read a few stories that referred to the individuals in the video as hunters, it was upsetting. They might have been hunting up until the time they shot and wounded the buck, but everything that occurred after that was something drastically different.
Hunters don’t repeatedly kick and stomp a wounded animal.
Hunters don’t giggle and laugh as an animal suffers.
Terms like “torture” and “animal cruelty” have nothing to do with law-abiding hunters.
The two teenagers in the video… they’re not hunters and they’re not representative of our sport.
It’s up to us to be vocal and point it out.
- This story originally appeared in Pennsylvania Outdoor News
