[National Review] Do you know what scares an American outdoorsman more than a grizzly bear? Twitter.In the late summer and early autumn, the hunting world had its eyes on the courts: The Trump administration had issued new guidance that would permit the hunting of brown bears (popularly known as grizzly bears), including in the areas around Yellowstone National Park. A lawsuit supported by animal-rights activists and anti-hunting ideologues was under way to prevent the planned hunt. As the proposed hunting season neared, it was unclear whether anybody would actually be permitted to shoot a brown bear, or whether a judge would put a stop to the hunt.
Sports Afield, the venerable outdoors magazine, went to press with the question unresolved, but issued a remarkable plea to its readers: If, by chance, one of them should have the chance to act on one of the handful of brown-bear licenses that had been issued, and if that hunter should be successful ‐ then, for the sake of the hunting community, please don’t say anything about it on social media, and please, please don’t post any pictures.
Other similar warnings from other hunting advocates have become commonplace ‐ not just in regard to the controversial prospect of grizzly hunting but for hunting in general. "We need to be very, very careful and intentional about what we post and what are in those posts," Adam Janke, the editor of the Journal of Mountain Hunting, told CBC News’s Karen McColl. "The problem is the damage some hunting photos ‐ particularly those featuring a dead animal front and center ‐ can do to the public’s perception of hunting," McColl wrote.
The problem with that line of argument is that dead animals are necessarily front-and-center when it comes to hunting. That is, ultimately, what hunting is about ‐ and hunters should not apologize for that. Hunting is one of the most ancient of organized human undertakings: Hunting, and not that other thing, may very well be the world’s oldest profession. And whether one thinks of it as sport or ritual ‐ or simply as gathering protein ‐ it is part of an honorable tradition, and a pursuit that can be, at its best, profound.