Hunting Sense

I spent a large part of the day yesterday over at the Ted Nugent website on The Nuge Board where Jim Zumbo was to do a Q&A session with members. The thread started off with a second apology from Zumbo.

posted 02-22-2007 11:49 AM

The last few days have been an educational experience, to say the least. My ill-conceived inflammatory blog, as all of you now know, set off a firestorm that, I’m told, has never before been equaled. I’m not proud of that.

Let me say this at the outset. My words here are from the heart, and all mine. No one can censor me, and I answer to no one but myself. And I have no one to blame but myself. Outdoor Life, a magazine that I worked for full-time as Hunting Editor for almost 30 years, fired me yesterday. My TV show was cancelled yesterday. Many of my sponsors have issued statements on their website to sever all relationships. This may cause many of you to do backflips and dance in the streets, but, of course, I’m not laughing, nor am I looking for sympathy. I don’t want a pity party.

They say hindsight is golden. Looking back, I can’t believe I said the words “ban” and “terrorist” in the context that I did. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that. I can explain this as sheer ignorance and an irresponsible use of words. What I’ve learned over the last few days has enlightened and amazed me. As a guy who hunts 200 days a year, does seminars on hunting, wrote for six hunting magazines, had a hunting TV show, and wrote 20 books on hunting, how could I have been so ignorant and out of touch with reality in the world of hunting and shooting?

But I was. I really can’t explain it, maybe because I just summarily dismissed the firearms in question in my mind when I saw them in magazines and catalogs. I saw one “black” firearm in a hunting camp in all my 50 years of hunting, and I shot one last year off a boat when fishing in Alaska. To tell the truth, it was fun and I enjoyed it immensely, but I never considered one for use in hunting. I have to tell you that I have had a revelation. I’m learning that many of my pals own AR-15’s and similar firearms and indeed use them for hunting. I was totally unaware that they were being used for legitimate hunting purposes. That is the absolute truth.

My biggest regret is not the financial impact of all this. I’m almost 67 and retirement is an option. The dreadful impact here is that I inadvertently struck a spear into the hearts of the people I love most…America’s gun owners. And, even though this huge cadre of dedicated people have succeeded in stripping me of my career, I hold no grudges. I will continue to stand as firm on pro hunting as I’ve ever done. But what’s different now is that I’ll do all I can to educate others who are, or were, as ignorant as I was about “black” rifles and the controversy that surrounds them. My promise to you is that I’ll learn all I can about these firearms, and by the time this week is out, I’ll order one. The NUGE has invited me to hunt with him using AR-15’s, and I’m eager to go, and learn. I’ll do all I can to spread the word.

I understand that many of you will not accept this apology, believing that the damage has been done and there’s no way to repair it. You have that right. But let me say this. I mentioned this above, and I’ll repeat it. I’m willing to seize this opportunity to educate hunters and shooters who shared my ignorance. If you’re willing to allow me to do that, we can indeed, in my mind, form a stronger bond within our ranks. Maybe in a roundabout way we can bring something good out of this.

Jim Zumbo

No doubt, this was a much better apology than the first one he posted at his now-pulled Outdoor Life blog and many people accepted it. And there wasn’t a shortage of people, I promise you, seeing how Ted’s board was the only place Zumbo was going to be fielding questions. The page count on the thread jumped quickly as people posted their thoughts, opinions, and questions.

This morning, I checked the new page count and it stands at around 34 pages. Unfortunately, only about five of those posts were actually Zumbo answering questions or commenting. Granted, the flurry of activity may have been overwhelming, but it was disappointing that Zumbo was graciously handed this oppurtunity by Ted and seemingly blew it. Maybe he will come back and actually weed through all the inflammatory crap and attacks and answer those questions some put forth, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.

The one thing that I noticed that bothered me a lot was the fact that shooters kept loudly proclaiming that ‘the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting’. I know that the comments that Zumbo made affect more gun owners than just hunters, but to me it seemed that the hunters were being picked on because that was the context in which they had chosen to own weapons. I know that I, as a hunter, will stand up for anyones right to bear arms, even if they don’t hunt. Maybe that isn’t the case with all hunters, but I think the majority feel the same as I do. It is simple logic that once one gun is taken, it is only a matter of time until another is, and then the weapons that we hunt with will be next. Simple domino effect.

As you read through the pages of comments, it’s apparent that there is a rift among gun owners. Many want to lay the blame for that on Zumbo and his comments, but the truth is, it isn’t his comments that created it. Maybe they helped highlight it, sure. The problem lies in the people on each side of that rift too stubborn to bridge the gap between the two sides. That, my friends, is where the problem is at. And until we find a way to build and strengthen that bridge, we are doing more harm to ourselves than Jim Zumbo’s comments ever did. Divide and conquer is the prefered method of the anti-gun movement, and we are playing right into their hands as long as we keep it up.

One blog post sparked this latest frenzy and thousands upon thousands of angry internet replies and posts have continued to feed the flames. Now we’ll have to see if this becomes a raging wildfire that can’t be controlled or one that can be contained through working together to battle it.

Ted has paved the way for the healing process to begin, now it is up to Zumbo and us to decide how we’ll move forward.

hunting, Jim Zumbo, Ted Nugent, controversy, gun control, anti-gun laws, Second Amendment, Right to Keep and Bear Arms, legislation