What in the hell is this sport/SD coming too

teyhan1

Well-Known Member
Given that I believe that SD covers a broad spectrum of the types of people that frequent our sport I'd like to know what or when the sport turned into a whining, free loading, tattle telling, kill it all-everyday sport.
Some of the questions asked beggar belief and would simply be answered if the OP could be bothered to educate themselves about the sport.
On an almost weekly basis now we seem to have people who have failed to get the hunt they were expecting or failed to shoot something on every occasion they have been out.
Where has the sportsmanship gone? Where has the joy of just being out gone? Is it only to do with killing things so they can make themselves feel like the 'great white hunter'?

To those people who are in this sport because they just want to kill things, please stop whining when you don't. And remember you can only shoot them once
To those people who post daft questions, please educate yourself on your quarry. You will be a better hunter.
To those people that the above doesn't apply to, please accept my apologies.

Bloody rant over
 
Don't get me started.....

I put it down to the "me" generation. Whether it's the Internet, social media or whatever, people have become more and more demanding - I want it, and I want it now - the natural result of which is that people end up being incredibly selfish. Why should I volunteer to help run something? I've paid my subscription to a society or charity, whose employees all get paid a wage, so they should dance to my tune. If they don't answer my query within 24 hours, or give me an answer I don't like, then obviously they are all wasters. What me, get off my fat ar5e and volunteer to help them? No, my time is too precious. Why should I spend 30 minutes of my time researching something, Google it and get an instant answer!!

And whereas in the past people were prepared to wait for things - remember how you used to save pocket money to buy stuff - now they expect instant gratification. And once they've got it, they move on to the next thing....trophy deer anyone? It almost seems to have become like an addiction, in that gaining the thing you want is now the reward itself but, once you've got it, it's forgotten about and you just have to go out and get another fix. So we end up cluttering our lives with expensive but useless stuff. Criticise my stuff, though, and you might as well criticise my choice of car, football team or wife. Criticise my stuff and you criticise me, and I'll teach you to insult me.......

And do you remember how, to become proficient at something, you had to spend time learning about it, practicing and improving? Well not any more apparently. These days we all demand to be, or at least want to appear to be, instant experts. Hell, I've paid my money, bought the kit and done the course, so don't insult me by suggesting I don't know all the answers.

And then there's the blame culture, where everything just has to be someone else's fault. Any idea of personal responsibility has gone out of the window. Why should I sign a petition or write to my MP, that's what I pay those organisations my subs for. If you can't guarantee me a deer every outing then obviously you're just in it to rip people off. Why should I read the instructions - I'm an expert - it's your fault for the cr@p design.

But then you see the other side of things; people offering something for nothing, supporting charities, offering words of encouragement, helping newbies get into the sport, and you realise there are still good people out there, they're just sadly becoming more and more the exception.

willie_gunn
 
I need to know NOW why this site has failed to ensure a positive outcome to my "Wanted" demand for a mint pair of Leica 8X56 range finder binos for no more than the BDS membership fee.

Oh, and don't ask me to collect as its obvious that at that price I expect FOC fully insured P&P.
 
Last edited:
Well put Teyhan & Willie gunn
Could not have put it better & yes I believe it's an age thing we were brought up proper.
 
Well teyhan going by your symptoms you have I am affraid to say forumitis,after recently being banned for ukv I joined another forum and low and behold the reception I got wasnt too good as it was the same users as ukv so I finished it and got myself banned instantly :D, sd now and thats it, alot of newcomers to the sport have high expectation, nothing wrong with being exited about your sport,there is alot to learn and nobody knows it all, maybe you need a break from the forums mate, it does become a habit or even an addiction to some, maybe you should use your knowledge wisely and educate the newbees, atb swaro
 
Last edited:
Yes Swaro BUT a lot of the stuff he is on about, is our basic field craft and attitude to stalking and shooting.
To be responsible in our sport we all should be taught or self taught over the years to a point where we know what we are doing in the field and not solely relying on just hints and tips.
I started by learning from the old school keepers who knew so much and had so much enthusiasm and love for the sport it was infectious reading proper books on all aspects of our sport and remember it is a sport not a kill game. any clown can kill what we do is manage and maintain
Finally we all should look after newbies they are the future of what we do now so educate and teach anyone who asks I was 56 on Sunday I've been stalking and shooting since I was 15 and still learn and listen to anyone who knows the craic
rant over
 
I would also like to add that the current trend for stalking rifles to look like something an SAS sniper might carry and must have a scope that can see Neil Armstrongs' footprint on the moon ( and therefore make it more shootable) is starting to get right on my T'ts
 
Well said T &WG definately an age thing.

As a complete novice (yes still to get my first deer) i am willing to do it the hard way, my ground is not the perfect place as it is rather flat with scattered farm buildings so safe arcs of fire are limited in places so mostly high seats are used and if i get them in the wrong place well thats my fault for not putting in the home work time. But you know what sitting in the seat watching the hares run past and the small song birds going about their daily duties more than makes up for not getting a shot at a beast because i messed up. Also if the deer see me and do a runner off my ground well thats my fault too. Oh god I must be getting old time for a nap:zzz:
 
Although I can't comment from experience on stalking, I disagree that it's the younger generation responsible for society's general slide towards lazy, selfish, diminished responsibility, etc, etc. I'm 26 and it sickens me just as much to see the way some people's mentality has become. I certainly wasn't brought up that way, and neither will my children (yet to come) be.
 
I would also like to add that the current trend for stalking rifles to look like something an SAS sniper might carry and must have a scope that can see Neil Armstrongs' footprint on the moon ( and therefore make it more shootable) is starting to get right on my T'ts

"Tactical", I've always wondered what makes these folks tick...
 
Just in general - :tiphat:

At risk of dilution, appreciate what you meant by stupid questions, but I'd caveat that no genuine question is ever stupid.
 
Just in general - :tiphat:



At risk of dilution, appreciate what you meant by stupid questions, but I'd caveat that no genuine question is ever stupid.

Thats right. Some people dont have acess to some old leather skinned master of stalking who has tramped the hills for decades to mentor them, therefore a question may not appear stupid to them. Too much derision of supposed stupid questions can put a very keen new starter off and they miss out on good advice on this forum.
 
I think it's because our society today is very "disconnected", if I may use that word.

For me, field sports and field craft are/were simply an added level of interaction with the environment that I already lived and worked in, from infancy. The people that I learned from were the people around me in that environment and they had learned from their forebears. That is not to say that knowledge from books or from other sources, outside of the immediate circumstances, wasn't sought out and assimilated because it most certainly was. However, there was a definite natural progression and organic nature to my own involvement and immersion in these activities and that was the norm. If you wanted "in" and you did not have connections to this world you pretty much had to find someone who was already "in" and let them lead you into and through the whole process, by degrees. An apprenticeship, if you will.

Nowadays we seem to have many people entering field sports from a completely detached point of view and from utterly "disconnected" life circumstances. They may do a little or a lot of reading, watch a few tv programmes or whatever. They may harbour the desire for many years too (or five minutes) but have no contact with this world they fancy a shot at (and in). Until either, one fine day they determine to change their situation or else have a perchance encounter with someone in the sport and find that is their stimulus to take things further. They may then get the notion that some training would be good... No training course I've ever seen or heard of, in any field, whether recreational or professional, truly replace the process of serving your time. Sadly, many don't even seem to bother with training they just get a FAC and find somewhere to use it.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying you can't get into these things responsibly and properly through other routes and from detached lifestyles. What I would say is, given that the above is a reasonable and true depiction of what often happens these days, is it any wonder their are many with the wrong mindset?
 
Some people have a completely unrealistic expectation of what is the norm.
And this is evident when reading some of the threads on SD.
It's human nature to tell only the interesting stories which result in a great shot
or a long successful track with the dog, what isn't so interesting is the four hour stalk
in the mist and dampness where a deer isn't as much as seen let alone shot.
This is the reality of stalking for many, me included.

There is also the I want it now attitude from many just entering the stalking
world .. I want cheap stalking, I want my own lease, why won't the FEO
authorise a 30-06 for muntjac on my 20 acre plot ... Much stamping of the
feet because someone had the audacity to say no.

Which brings me onto the cost of stalking .. which is forever the topic of
complaint ...

Unless you are the landed gentry you are going to have to pay ..
whether that includes stalking fee, shot fee, spying fee, wet feet at the end of the day fee or whatever ....

It is up to the buyer to check reputation of his guide before booking and clarify
the terms and conditions, and if you don't like them go elsewhere.

The same goes for syndicate spaces, you are paying for the authority
to shoot deer on a particular piece of ground ..
It is up to you to decide whether the ground actually holds any deer and
whether it's worth the price asked prior to parting with your funds.

Deer signs are easy to find if you know where to look, and if you dont, take
someone with you who does.

With sites like SD there is no need for anyone being ripped off these days...
and an unsuccessful stalk does not automatically equate to a rip off ..
Keep the expectations realistic lads.
 
Last edited:
Just in general - :tiphat:

At risk of dilution, appreciate what you meant by stupid questions, but I'd caveat that no genuine question is ever stupid.

I will go one stage further. As someone who spends half their professional life teaching, I will say that the worst teachers are those who are intolerant of stupid questions: it belies insecurity and a desire to impress by appearing to only be concerned with 'real' questions. It too is a sympton of the instant gratification culture the OP decries: I've qualified, I've done my courses, now let me stand up here and dispense my pearls of wisdom. Don't waste my time with your trivial queries...

If you really want to change the prevailing attitude, rather than haranging people, engage with them constructively and gently explain that there are other, more appealing and productive ways of doing things. Otherwise you just come across as an opinionated and self important old fart.

Unless, of course, what you really want is to signal to the other opinionated old farts that it's time for bit of communal harrumphing.
 
Back
Top