I've noticed the farther away from wildlife people get and the more expensive and rare hunts become, the more fixated they are on getting exactly the right round. The real hard-core local hunters I know just grab the same beat up thing they always use. Usually light weight and oftentimes underpowered according to conventional wisdom. But it works.
This is something I refer to as the "Air-Jordan" effect. From the Nike ad campaign years ago, we gained the short-lived phrase "It's gotta be the shoes."
You know, you can sky up like MJ if you just buy the shoes.
The same thing happens with hunting gear.
Nearly every single hunting show I flip past now is, ostensibly, an infomercial selling a product. So, new hunters are introduced to a world where the challenge of hunting is met by a huckster in camo with the nice facial hair of a trucker or farm hand, and that guy almost always has a thick country accent. And, he's selling you the answer to your problem.
(the exception to this is Jim Shockey, who is groomed to look like the pastoral ideal of a modern counterpart to Peter Capstick or Kenneth Anderson)
Anyway, these guys tell us "hey, look at me. I have this rifle/caliber/feed and I have success in the field. So can you, if you just buy the rifle/caliber."
I've been hunting for a long time and even turned away from a career as a guide. And, I've seen hunting change in just the last 15+ years or so into something entirely different thanks to the web and advances in advertising.
I certainly do long for the days of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom coming on TV. And, I miss the days of not having hunting shows at all, since everyone just hunted and didn't need to be sold a bunch of stuff to make them feel better or jack up inexperience with technology.
But, I suppose that once people watch the current programming, buy the shoes, then find out they can't jump like Jordan they look around at all the other people with the shoes and ponder that a lot of people have been taken in by the myth of the carefully tailored ad campaign- and it's spokesperson whom they assumed was the salt of the earth/country as cornbread type Joe they thought he was (or the noble and courageous bwana-be).
And, then they wander in to The High Road to hopefully get advice from people who aren't being paid by RealTree, Ruger, Hornady, or any of the other people selling shoes. You know, real live average people who have success that isn't televised or paid for by a corporate entity. And, they hope that you'll pass on to them what your mentors passed on to you for the same price, without the carpet bagging approach of the Air-Jordans.
Everyone has to start somewhere. And, after they start hunting, I hope they keep going and narrowing their list of acceptable sources while upping their common sense quotient that only improves with experience. And, zeroing in on what the real truth of hunting is: software beats hardware any day of the week. It don't gotta be the shoes, the rifle, the caliber, the brand of bow, the bullet, or the camo. You don't have to reach out and touch a deer with a belted, non-belted, short, or whatever kind of Magnum someone carries if you can get close with a less powerful caliber, or even with an arrow you made at home.
Are there a lot of knuckleheads on forums like this? Yes. Probably quite a few who don't even hunt but keep their ballistics charts bookmarked so they can argue over trajectory and ft/lbs- mainly because it's nice and finite and they can argue forthewin (ftw! lolz). And, it's likely they haven't any skill at hunting so they talk ballistics only.
(ballistics are important, but not the quagmire you'd think.)
Do these knuckleheads tend to post more on the board and shout louder in the gun shop than anyone else? Yes. They don't hunt, so they gotta have a hobby.
You learn to walk through a cow pasture with your eyes open after you stomp through a few patties and get chased by a bull or two.
It's just the neophyte's turn to learn who to listen to and who to tune out or nod politely to as he/she yammers away.
And, it's our turn to pass something on, learning something ourselves.
So, it may be redundant, but the neophytes need people who have btdt to answer their questions with real answers interwoven with experience. That's how I got into hunting and that's how most everyone got into hunting.
We're all around the campfire. It's just not the same one my mentors had.
