I understand. I'm not asking for billboards, but to censor a gun forum and a hunting subforum is a bad idea. Yeah anyone can logon. Anyone can also log on to banged up dot com and see a lot worse. Don't blame the internet. Kids need supervision.....
I can't offer any of you a scientific study, but I can offer a good case example. Last year I shot a decent 8 point and brought pics into my office. The executive director hung an 8x11" glossy in the main lobby. This is a non-profit facility working with kids and families. After 13 months, not one person has complained. The deer's eyes are glazed, there is blood on the hide and horns and the only comment I've heard from a client was "Is that you with the deer?". Well...yes it is.
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~jefwolfe/deer1.JPG
How can this be ok? Well, culture plays a large part and what we do and do not show as normal can play a lot in shaping a communities future viewpoint.
The local papers in PA also still show a lot of undoctored shots dead trophies every year. Schools still get days off in hunting season.... If it's accepted and
understood it tends to be protected.
I'm glad to see armedtotheteeth using an AR to hunt with. It just goes to show you
can hunt with a 15lb+ rifle with a brake the size of my fist. It would go a long way to protect gun rights if everyone hunted with evil black rifles and they were accepted as hunting tools by the public. As such, the right to own one would be better preserved.
Unfortunately, on several hunting style forums, it does not fit the status quo to use "magnum" calibers, use large optics, muzzle control devices, non bonded bullets or to make precision shots. I found the muzzle flash arguement interesting, but exactly how well recieved would a Remington Model 700 be with a Vortex or Phantom screwed on the muzzle? I mean...what could possibly be the down side? Yet, the status quo of the hunting community (largely influenced by the sanitized gun rags) would reject it in my opinion....effectively locking out and refucing to protect another effective feature that the anti's have focused on attacking (being one of the evil features in the Assault Weapons Ban).
With the stle of thought that there is only ONE way to hunt correctly and that includes only one style and/or a particular type of weapon, the firearms community has helped to dig it's own hole.
Which brings me back to one of my original posts....if you know as hunter that you can make the shot without any extraneous variables cropping up (which are part of fair chase), then take it with my blessing. That continues to be the heart of ethical hunting.