The outdoors offers a special bond to outdoorsmen and women that is not seen in other parts of life. Sportsmen and women have an important job, which is to protect and cherish this way of life. This is hard to accomplish when outdoorsmen do not stand united.

   The outdoors way of life is to enjoy and protect this nation’s natural resources. Outdoorsmen and women are the true conservationists. Hunters and anglers are supposed to be united to protect their hunting and fishing rights against those who want to take it away from them. This is a hard task to do, especially when they are so divided. Sportsmen are very divided right now because they criticize everything about each other.

   “[Division] is a sign of our society in general,” host of Mike Avery Outdoor Radio, Mike Avery said. “People tend to be looking for a way to be offended and/or divided these days. It’s a problem because a divided outdoor community is more vulnerable to attacks from the outside (anti hunters). We fix it by bringing attention to the problem and trying to convince the more militant and vocal members of our community to try to work together.”

   Another reason why this is becoming more of a problem is because of social media. Social media allows anyone to post anything on social media platforms. Outdoorsmen use social media to share pictures of their catch or harvests. Fellow sportsmen and women then respond with positive and negative comments about the post. An article by Outdoor News reported that the decline in outdoorsmen is in part due to sportsmen’s social media posts being criticized all of the time by other sportsmen and women. It is sad that any outdoorsman or woman can post a picture of their catch or harvest, and then in turn, other outdoorsmen post negative comments discouraging the original person. What should happen is the comments that follow the post should be positive and encourage the outdoorsman or woman to continue to participate in the outdoor sports.

   “It’s just the world we live in today,” Angling and Fishing Edge Co-host, Al Lindner said. “Social media… it’s given everyone a platform to share their opinions that has never been there before, it’s both good and bad depending on how it’s used. I don’t believe it’s really a problem as long as it’s done respectfully, everyone has a opinion and has a right to share it.”

   Being nicer or more positive does not only apply to outdoorsmen, it applies to everyone. Everyone needs to become less divided as an outdoor community and as a nation. People need to lift each other up instead of tearing them down. As for outdoorsmen, they need to do a better job of not criticizing each other for everything. Everyone can be a better person by putting opinions aside and becoming united regardless of who they are and what they stand for.