Feb 21, 2024

Welcome aboard!

The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model. Our mission is to restore our cherished pastime.

New Developments

Matt Rinella gave a presentation at the Montana Wildlife Society Meetings in Butte, MT on February 7, 2024. The theme of this year’s conference was “Cultivating respect for nature without destroying what we seek.” Matt’s talk will air as an upcoming episode of the Hunt Quietly podcast.

Also, on May 18, 2024, Matt will be presenting at the Wyoming Outdoor Weekend in Lander, WY.

Lastly, this the inaugural edition of our newsletter. We would appreciate you sharing this with any Hunt Quietly-minded folks and invite them to subscribe and join us in restoring our cherished pastime.

Join Us

We at Hunt Quietly have no sponsors and derive no income. However, mission-related expenses are piling up for our website, an email service, travel to events to give presentations, petitions we plan to start, and other miscellaneous items. If you like what we are doing and want to see more of it, please consider contributing financially by clicking here.

Thank You!

Hunt Quietly would like to thank all those that have supported and sent us messages over the last few years. We are grateful for the introspective, respectful, and ethical hunters that are fighting the erosion of our heritage. Access and hunting have become hyper-commercialized. Ethics have become secondary to the need for “Content.” Vanity and greed have been elevated above community and conservation. Now is the time to pay attention to what you consume with your eyes as well as your purses and wallets. Denying hunting entertainment an audience and prioritizing companies that align with your values (see end of this newsletter) will allow us to leave the selfish divas behind and restore what is being lost.

Why new hunters should care about Hunt Quietly

by David Fontenot

If you’re thinking about taking up hunting, your first stop is likely to be Google and YouTube. I can’t blame anyone for starting there…You could build a house by starting there. Hunting, however, is not just a task to be accomplished. It is a deeply personal pursuit… Some may even say it is sacred or spiritual. If you’re reading this and are new to hunting, I believe there is already a hunter deep inside you, and I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to model an online personality to find it.

If you ingest much hunting content, it’s likely you’ll gather there is some sort of expectation regarding what hunting and hunters “should” look like. As if hunters are just another clique like the nerds, goths, and jocks in the hallways of your high school. This is because influencer content is a formulaic stream of one-size-fits-all generalizations designed to give you the entertainment and answers you seek, but it lacks the substance that makes a hunter.

Beyond the superfluous expectations around appearance and persona, there are the expectations of success. If you see someone do something a certain way online, you will undoubtedly expect some kernel of that to be true of your own experience. But the content you see online is edited and shot with the intent of achieving a final product, not an honest reflection of the entire journey. If you model this, your pursuit becomes the result you see online (big bucks, big piles), and you missing out on what hunting really is: the pursuit of game. Not the pursuit of piles. Not the pursuit of scores. Not the pursuit of content.

If I’ve learned anything in my first 5 years as a hunter it’s that hunting public land is never as consistent as content. Approaching the land with the expectations of consistency would be like a farmer expecting scheduled weather. And in hunting, at least real hunting, there are no irrigated fields. If you are rooted in externally sourced expectations, you set yourself up for disappointment because the experience of hunting is not linear or formulaic. You must be prepared to adapt when things don’t go your way, and you can’t afford to sit around sifting through YouTube videos hoping the next one holds the answers you need. There is no substitute for boots on the ground experience, scouting, and perseverance.

There is also great power to be found in cultivating the independence required to finding your own success your own way, rather than following another’s formula. I’ve heard dog trainers say “wild birds make a bird dog,” and I believe that is equally true of hunters. Watching and reading content is no substitute for getting into the field and letting the game teach you. Even in the off season, wandering the woods will teach you more about the game you seek than any influencer can.

If you can find your own reasons, your own expectations, and your own way; you will find fulfillment. Stepping into the woods aimlessly may seem like a pointless beginning, but even the most famous works of art started as a blank slate. You can start simply by knowing this: the hunter is already within you.

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work.

It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” – Michealangelo

Hunters for Access

Nearly all of the Hunt Quietly crew are also working on a new 501c3 nonprofit called Hunters for Access. Hunters for Access was founded by Montanans John Kunz, Matt Rinella, and Miles Muscha when they realized there were no hunting nonprofits whose sole mission was working on hunting access. Hunters for Access works toward restoring and protecting public hunting access by showing appreciation to landowners enrolled in state-run hunting access programs, such as Montana’s Block Management Program. In addition to Montana, Kansas and Minnesota started chapters in 2023. Some first-year accomplishments include giving gifts (gift certificates, calf shelters, pneumatic post pounder, etc.) to landowners enrolled in the programs, as well as conducting work projects (fencing, construction and building demolition, yard work, weed scouting) and teaming with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers to replace a stock tank damaged through bad “hunter” behavior.

Want to learn more about Hunters for Access, volunteer for a work project, or start a chapter in your area, then please visit us on Instagram or at our website.

Hunter Number Confidence Intervals

Most likely estimates (dots) and 95% confidence intervals quantifying the U.S. hunter population over time. These estimates are from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys conducted every five years. When the confidence intervals overlap, it cannot be concluded the hunter population differs in size. Therefore, baring 1975 to 1985 (red dots), when there was less development and more huntable land, there may now be more hunters than ever according to the 2022 survey. Prior to 1960, the U.S. population was much smaller, so hunter numbers were presumably smaller. These estimates counter to the prevailing mainstream view that that the hunter population is shrinking.

Hunter Age Study

In addition to bemoaning a shrinking hunter population, news outlets including The Washington Post, The Denver Post, NPR, and Outdoor Life have been sounding the alarm about the aging hunter population for decades. The narrative has been that as older hunters retire from the pastime there will be nobody to replace them. Now, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there is ZERO evidence the hunter population skews older, and the media outlets are silent.

Newsletter, 1st