Being a member of the hound hunting community, it is clear that there is a significant amount of people who are against our practices. It seems every year, the number of groups seeking to outlaw hound hunting continues to grow. As a community, we all face challenges in maintaining our way of life, which can seem absurd. In order to effectively overcome this challenge, we must first comprehend the perspective of the opposing side. It’s important to remember that our actions and out of context videos uploaded to social media may be used as evidence against our lifestyle.
Knowing and understanding the adversaries is crucial in effectively dealing with those who are against hunting with dogs. Many losses in battles occur because we are limited by our own perspectives and beliefs while advocating in an echo chamber. Understanding the opposing side’s concerns is crucial as it will allow us to refute them, as many of the foundations of their arguments are flawed. If we try to debate without acknowledging their key points, it will come across as ignorance rather than passion or knowledge.
Each hound hunter must behave as a representative of the sport. The presence of anti-hound hunters is undoubtedly a source of frustration for all of us. The larger public is mainly interested in the reactions and mistakes coming from the hound community. Portraying ourselves in a respectful and dignified manner is important, as many criticisms directed at us are rooted in perceptions of lawlessness, savagery and “shooting fish in a barrel.” Challenging the negative perception and demonstrating pride in the hound hunting lifestyle sends a powerful message to those involved in the anti-hound arguments. It’s easy to lose our composure when discussing because we are deeply invested in the topic. However, maintaining a calm and rational demeanor when talking about these issues will ultimately help us succeed in the long run.
The anti-hunting crowd tends to focus on criticizing pack dogs, rather than upland pointers or retrievers. This happens because by nature it is displayed more as an art of the working dog displaying its training. However, houndsmen understands that this situation is no more unique than a pack of dogs cornering a cat or a group of beagles trailing a cottontail. Understanding perspective requires time and thorough explanation. The hound hunting community is often criticized by anti-hunters who are unable or unwilling to empathize with their perspective. Providing them with that viewpoint has the potential to shift many opinions at the beginning of the discussion.
Maybe by giving people a peek into our way of life, we can alter their perspectives before a discussion about a new law takes place. If something valuable exists, there will always be individuals seeking to destroy it, and this applies to the practice of hound hunting as well. It’s important for us to be ready to address these challenges collectively as a community head-on.
At Cat Hunter we believe that aside from every houndsman being a good ambassator and educating the public, getting folks out hunting with hounds is the best way to combat anti-hound-hunting innitiatives.