Snapshot:The Drag
Mark Kenyon of Wired To Hunt drags his recent kill.
Many things have changed in my last 17 years of deer hunting. I’ve been hunting deer since the age of 12. I was 13 when I shot my first buck; a 3 point. I remember being so jacked up I nearly fell out of the tree. A few minutes later, I called my dad on the walkie-talkie to have him come help me track it. He was just as excited as I was. He hugged me and told me how proud he was. I remember holding the buck and feeling an immense amount of pride after the work I’d put into hunting that season. After my dad taught me how to gut a deer, we loaded the buck up and drove around the neighborhood. Stopping at the neighbors and friends houses and everyone was just as excited as I was.
I’m sure a lot of people have a similar first buck story but that’s not the point of this. Over the years and with the advent of social media, things have changed. People get bashed because the next guy might not consider the buck a shooter and the “let him go so he can grow” comments show up frequently on pictures people share. In my opinion, this is pretty discouraging for new hunters wanting to share their success.
Work goes into everyone’s hunt, successful or not. As long as that individual hunts with passion and respect for the sport, jump aboard and support their pursuits; small buck or giant, we need to support one another.
While we’re on the social media topic, there’s been a lot of conflict around the grip and grin and trophy shots over the last couple of years. I can see both sides of the argument. The tough guy expressions and others faces people make all lack the authenticity of the story. Just be authentic with the pictures. Happy, sad, grateful, proud, the emotion doesn’t matter but the authenticity of it does. Folks can spot bullshit a mile away and for the ones that don’t hunt, that tough guy look could change their opinion.
We’re in a different time now than we were when we’d cruise the neighborhood and show off bucks in the back of the truck to our few close friends. The whole world can see us now.
Photo Notes:
Yes, this buck is huge but that’s not what I’m trying to show in the shot, nor base this article on.
The expression Mark is making and the situation as a whole shows me the amount of admiration he has for this buck. Technically I darkened the shadows because I find myself getting sucked into the blacks of an image. The lines in the bean stubble also help draw the viewer through the photo.
