Why Ya Gotta Be So Mean?

So how can a negative situation turn into a positive? Please read the story below:

Yesterday I stumbled upon the Miss Huntress USA 2011 contest.

According to their info page:

This page is for cheering on your favorite huntress contestants . Members and contestants may post pictures and/or post a comment about the contestant only and about women in the outdoors. Members/Contestants who post a comment WITH THEIR LINK/WEBSITE to advertise themselves and/or their business or post their business will be banned unless you are a sponsor for the huntress contest and have permission. This causes heads to turn away from the original focus and I want the attention on the ladies.

The contestants may post photo’s of any talent on the Miss Huntress 2011 page such as wildlife photography, taxidermy work and any other artistic accomplishment they feel would give them a greater success rate in the contest.

This page is for the MISS HUNTRESS USA TEAM MEMBERS AND FRIENDS 2011. Join for future voting in April, use it to cheer members on for your favorite Huntress 2011. Write on the wall about your favorite Huntress, post photo’s of Huntress Contestant‘s ONLY, and to find out details and rules for entering, and why you think your favorite Huntress should win. The first place Huntress Contestant will win a hunting package valued at $7,500. (YOU WILL NEED TO PAY YOUR FLIGHT) You will be picked up at the Airport! Hunting Dates will be set up when you win. Discrimination against other Huntress contestants or members will be removed from the contest and/or page. That includes stalking and rude comments about our contestants and members also.

I have included Canada in this contest, which is already filled.

So I checked it out. I found a slideshow video of 92 women hunters and the animals they killed. Very cool. Each of them also had their photo posted with a short “About Me” blurb underneath. There were tons of comments supporting these women. Awesome.

Next, I shared the Miss Huntress USA 2011 contest on Twitter, Facebook and even posted a short blog about it. I loved seeing so many women share their love for the outdoors and wanted to show my support.

When I saw New York had 3 ladies in the contest and all of them were trailing the leader in votes, I went to one of my favorite New York whitetail deer hunting forums, HuntingNY.com, and added a link to the contest.

The reaction I received was not what I expected:

My initial gut reaction was, Are these guys serious? I really wanted to defend these women and get on the offensive. But I did not. I took a deep breath and said the following instead:

I’m happy I did. As what followed was a little friendly sparring:

What really impressed me and made me proud to be a part of the HuntingNY forum was the next few comments:

Click here to read the thread in it’s entirety.

So why did I bother to blog about my experience?

Because as a father of two daughters, I thought those initial reactions were horrible. I thought to myself – Is this how the majority of male hunters feel about our female hunting companions? I did not like the thought of that. In fact, I knew it not to be true. So I was patient on the thread and low and behold, some gentlemen arrived in support of our lady hunters. They pointed out how much we need more women and children hunting. At this moment, I was proud. Proud of my fellow NY hunters for crystalizing the situation on this short thread, which at the end of the day, may not have meant a thing to most. But it meant something to me.

I do my best to treat others as I would want them to treat my family. No one is perfect. Give people a chance. Good things can come out of it. Together, we are stronger.