Are Antis gaining the upper hand?

[mole catcher 1]

What im about to say is just my own opinion.

 

After being on this and other hunting forums one thing has me a little bit perplexed. We as felow hunters seem rightly proud of our skills or of our dogs abillities out in the field. Of course this is only natural and why shouldnt we be? We as humans suffer a thing called an ego, unfortunately others more than some. It is when we as the owner of an ego let it out of its box and let it run rampant that it has the potential to do harm to both ourselves and others. On a more worrying note, this ego also has the potential to do harm to fieldsports as a whole.

 

Ive only been on huting forums for the last 4months and can see the great wealth of knowledge that many have and are willing to share.I can also see that this can lead to a few inflated egos and a few clashes of personalities. Sadly that is a fact of life i know,cant change it. Hell im guilty of being drawn into a pointless argument or two.

 

It is only when you take a look at the larger picture and see how we conduct ourselves on this forum that you begin to get an idea of how we as individuals must conduct ourselves out in the real world. Most im sure conduct themselves in a manner be-fiting the situation.

 

It is only when an ego is on the loose or an opinion is held with such high regards to it being either the right one or the only one, that the cracks within fieldsports begin to show. Splits within areas of fieldsports happen and drive one sport away from the other. Long held friendships and alliances are torn beyound repair. The more this happens the weaker fieldsports become as a whole and the more likely it is that we will be picked off one by one.

 

So, going back to the question at the start of this post, are the antis gaining the upper hand?

 

Personaly i think they are getting stronger in their organisation as we are getting weaker. There isnt a need for them to disscuss whos right and whos wrong umoungst themselves as they fight a common cause. Their actions are hardly ever seen by the mases as being on the wrong side of the law where as soon as a hunts man is seen chasing a fox allsorts of bad media exposure is gained, its never for the good of fieldsports.

 

Lets not be fooled for one moment that all antis are tree hugging hippies, some of the top antis are very inteligent people who carry a lot of weight in some of this countries wealthiest companys. These arnt the people you see out in the field campaining against fieldsports, these are the financial motivators who have the power to sway political changes.

 

The united stance that i have seen over my 25 or so years involved with fildsports and hunting, seems to me to be getting weaker as there resolve gets stronger with everyone of their succsesses. This to me is a worrying turn of events, but what i find more worrying is the amount of rifts that are becoming apparent within fieldsports.

[Guest ceredigion bull cross]

if that is a poke at childish back biting then i agree well said

[Kay 3,709]

if that is a poke at childish back biting then i agree well said

 

Yes i also agree about backbiting , its just plain silly

[swamper 11]

i dont agree mc that the antis have one common cause...thay have as many fractures

as the hunting commuinty has

i pretty sure that not all of the antis agreed with digging up a dead grandmother

and some of the other intimadateing actions that thay use

 

Lets not be fooled for one moment that all antis are tree hugging hippies, some of the top antis are very inteligent people who carry a lot of weight in some of this countries wealthiest companys. These arnt the people you see out in the field campaining against fieldsports, these are the financial motivators who have the power to sway political changes

 

that i very much agree with....but how many lords hunt....hell the royals hunt

where were thay in the battle...nowhere!!!!...thay were lookin after there own intrests

and companys and letting us down

 

as for the egos...well people are people what can i say...im pretty sure the antis have there

own people trying to get one up on each other

but the one thing that thay are winning at is there organised....we arent!!

but i do agree that the bickering does us no favours at all..if people nead to go at it the it should go to pms or the phone if its going to be personal....but nowt wrong with a good debate imo

[Aled 506]

I agree with mole catcher, i tried with little success to motivate certain groups of the angling community to support hunting. "we are different" was the cry. I think recent events are proving me and others right.

Well written mole catcher.

Cheers

Aled

[mole catcher 1]

Your right there is nothing wrong with a good debate and im sure they do have there own battles within.Its just that on a whole they seem to be more organised than most give them credit for.

 

The point i was trying to make was for people to take a moment to think about their actions and look at the bigger picture.

[david2363 42]

I agree that the antis are growing in strength as we get weaker with every month that goes by since the ban.

We all make a lot of noise about how "we wont stand for it" and how we will "overturn it" - and I am as guilty of this empty bleating as the next man or woman.

Sure , we had the big demos at the start, but now we have settled into life under a ban hoping we dont get caught.

 

The way to win a fight against a larger more powerfull enemy is to be persistant,consistant and let them know that we are not going to take this lying down. Because I'm afraid thats what we are doing lads and lasses -

lying down with our collective trousers unbuttoned around our knees.

 

What we are suffering here is a major breach of our basic human rights .

I don't want to get rascist here but if Asians and Black people hunted in numbers a fraction of ours, a ban would be out of the question.

 

My Grandfather and Father were Labour men all their lives and I have been too but no more. I will go against my politcal convictions and vote Conservative next election.

 

But don't get too cosy thinking that the Tories will be our saviours, a total repeal is in my eyes not going to happen. There will be clauses and exeptions, so in other words not much change to the average hunter.

 

So what can we do? How can we regain some lost ground?

Surely with our combined numbers and cunning we can come up with something?

 

 

 

Dave

[mole catcher 1]

WELL SAID

[borderterrier 0]

With LACS recently setting up a prosecution unit, to work closely with the police and the CPS, with the aim of getting as many "illegal hunters" to court as possible, i would say they were as determined as ever.

 

And i believe david2363 is spot on with regards the Tory's.

If you're with a registered pack, i think things will go back to as near normal as possible.

However, the rest of us will be left out in the cold, in my opinion.

 

I can't recall ever seeing on TV or hearing on the radio anything other than members of the local hunt being interviewed, never ever seen someone with a couple of terriers and a lurcher being asked for their thoughts.

 

But hey, don't sit and wait for Mr Cameron to act, get out now and let you're dogs do what they do best.

[MATTI 34]

I agree about them having people in top places. I was flicking through one of those asda magazines the other day, on one of the pages its going on about animal aids veggie month and how a vegetarian diet can be beneficial. Joe

Being a vegetarian does'nt immediatly make you an"anti" my wife was raised on a farm (her brother still run's) and she chose at an early age to be a "veggie", she come's lamping quite a bit with me if i'm going for rabbit's, but draw's the line at fox retrieval :whistle: not because she is "anti" but because she can't stand to see NED get bitten

All the best.

MATTI

[Guest Macnas]

One of the problems with taking a certain stance against anti-field sports pressure is that traditionally, there is a reluctance to bite back as hard as you're being bitten. There still exists some kind of notion that "one does not do" or "one does not say" certain things.

People who enjoy field sports are often quiet-spoken about it and are loathe to start shouting about anything.

 

Then there is the "keep it quiet" way of thinking, where nobody wants to say anything in case what they have will be spotlighted and put at risk.

 

Our enemies have no such qualms or considerations, the director of PETA once said that the advertising and reporting of PETA activities should be like "a carcrash", they get in first and shout louder and will tell as many lies as they can get away with.

 

The enemy is proactive, while we are reactive and always on the back foot when it comes to preserving and defending our sport.

 

I know things are different here in Ireland, for the time being, but the time will most surely come when we find ourselves in a similar position to the UK a few years ago, with our sport under concerted attack.

We are in a slightly better position right now due to the belief in self-regulation, for instance, who better to regulate coursing than the people who actually course.

 

I used to think people like Robin Page were too bolshy, but not anymore, we need people who can speak for our sports in a clear and intelligent manner and who are not afraid of engaging the enemy.

[mole catcher 1]

The enemy is proactive, while we are reactive and always on the back foot when it comes to preserving and defending our sport.

 

 

 

this has to be our biggest fault surely? But where are all the organisations that you and i dig in our pockets to fund when you need them? surely the pro hunt support hasnt ran out of steam already has it?

[mouse 282]

made myself look daft the other day when on about riflemen but as far as i am concerned nothing is different now then when it was before the ban.you just have to be careful what you are saying and work within the law.as far as the antis are concerned then i think they are getting less and less and the public understand that the money they give to organisations like the rspca is not going to save a injured animal but into somebodys pocket as payment too protest against fieldsports in general.they will never take our sports or jobs away as long as we stay clever.cheers mouse.

[Guest MOLLY]

Good thread.

I also feel the frustration not being allowed to talk about my dogs achievements and failures, not just because of the anti threat but because of the bickering from fellow hunters as discussed, im afraid i feel both camps are sometimes as bad as each other

Can the government ammend the law as it stands? Because what worries me is when people put up posts with the quite obvious nudge, nudge, wink, wink, air about them. If we are exploiting the loopholes in the law (not that anyone on here would) can it be identified through evidence gathered from hunting forums and be used against us in the future? People are very quick to forget we also have Antis, RSPCA, police, media reporters etc on these forums taking notes and copying everything we write and show.

Im not sure that the antis are getting bigger and we are getting weaker though....antis now have the law on their side, that is the biggest problem for us, not neccessarily the antis themselves. Perhaps we are becoming stronger because we have worked through this rediculous law and are still doing what we have always done. The only weakness is within our own camps by allowing this law to divide us.

 

Good post Macnas

MOLL.

[Guest baldie]

Your right Moll, the anti,s do , now have the law on their side. However, its become quite clear, that the police know who the decent people are [even if they are accidently killing foxes] and the scumbag dreadlocked pierced cockatoo anti, is still scum, and is still getting locked up, because basically, they are scum, regardless of whether the law is on their side initially, they are so stupid, they cant help but break another one.