Thread: Social influencers/bloggers/utubers and the effect they have on our sports

Now I realize this is a huge can of worms,but due to recent happenings I have decided its time to put down my thoughts.
a few years ago while watching a duckshooting DVD it suddenly struck me how different what was being shown was to anything I had seen in person over 40 years of waterfowling...and I pondered why.
The biggest difference was the amount of shots fired per bird....3-4-5 shooters all with semi automatic guns all firing 4-5 shots EACH,to drop 3-4-5 birds
gangbanging its been called....
so who wins from this behaviour/way of doing it...simple the folks who make and sell ammunition..so how do they promote it??? they gift ammunition to folks who make videos etc and because its free..woohoo keep shooting.
vastly different to the folks who pay for their own ammunition out of the already tight family budget. not to mention the whole trailer load of decoys..then flocked decoys,then mechanical decoys,then electronic callers...it goes on and on...
I do know of a number of folks who have seen the light and gone back to using the old U/O or SxS and still bagging just as many birds.
I got a pump when steel first came out here as finishing off woundies was hard yakka...now its not so bad,with much fewer finishing shots needed.
right thats duckshooting.
troutfishing has always had a degree of snobbery.... discount or sponsered rods and line ..yip its there too
Back when semi automatic rifles were legal here I recall seeing magdumping used to cook bacon on a suppressor......again only fellas making or selling stuff benifit from that sort of tom foolery.
now in big game hunting the influence is more subtle but its still there,in order to show what I mean I will need to go back a little bit in history.
1940-1950 we had a huge number of deer,MOST people were using open sighted 303brits usually SMLE or a commercially suoped up one...or a post WW2 mauser that had also had a trip through gunsmith..or not.....
then we got better optics but for 20 years it was pretty much the same. the meat hunting days saw the introduction of some really neat cartridges and awesome rifles,lighter and more accurate.... the 4" at hundred that was normal.....changed to a lot of rifles now capable of 1" at hundred,handloading improved a huge amount and became more commonplace,rangefinders and dial up scopes changed the picture more again
fast forward to this century and we now have a huge selection of accurate rifles,a vast amount of great optics,huge pool of knowledge,thermal and night vision is now common place too in advertising,last 2 magazines have more adds for night vision/thermal than anything else....
so what does it have to do with influencers????
well just like duck shooting above..the folks making videos etc are using the stuff a lot..are being ifted or loaned it to try out/use and be seen to do so

what this leads to is a new to sport person THINKING this is how its done..this is normal... watching the Duleys put novice shooter behind rifle and cleanly snot bull thar/tahr at 3-4-500 yards with single round is a pretty thing BUT it doesnt tell half of,let alone the full story..... those rifles and loads have been worked on and worked out to the tenth degree and with known range and dialable optics its doable BUT when you stop and do an add up even roughly..the amount of $$$$$ tied up in gear is absolutely gobsmacking.
to give the Duleys credit less anyone think Im picking on them..which Im not (huge fan) they did a duckshooting episode a year or two back with one crew using old school gear Vs new gear on other crew...and young Willie has done a couple of retro hunts..sako vixen 222 and 4x scope on one and open sighted 303 on another couple.... just showing it can still be done on a budget..using older gear.
I would hazard a guess to say that 60-75% of all deer filmed being shot are now in excess of 300 yards ......slightly different to what I believe is the normal range an animal is taken this disconect works in favour of people selling new flash rifles/scopes/rangefinders/thermals/custom hot ammunition etc

to all you young fellas/new hunters out there..if you take nothing else from this rant,remember this YOU DONT NEED THE FLASHEST NEW EXPENSIVE GEAR to fill your freezer and enjoy your time in the out doors..recently did two polls..one shows that something like 75% of deer are shot under 300 yards and a similar % are shoulder/chest shot....... both of those figure would SUGGEST a rifle capable of 2"/50mm at hundred (yards or meters) will keep your freezer full...if animal is further away,just like Granddad did,you will have to stalk closer.
I sincerly hope this helps someone make up mind or be happy with 2nd hand gear