Some great food for thought, Clark.
In our "we're-always-too-busy" world, everybody seems to gravitate towards dedicating the free time they have to the things they are most passionate about. As is obvious with this group as turkey hunters, we can get "tunnel-vision" to other similar interests.
For me personally, my biggest concern with the shooting and hunting community is that too many of us do not understand the importance of presenting ourselves and the proper image of what we do to the general public.
Too many times, we introduce new hunters and shooters to our world without the accompanying guidance towards the right mental, moral, and ethical attitudes that should,...no, must,...be included in that introduction.
For hunters, that means making sure anyone we introduce to the sport understands the act of taking another animals life should not be done without a proper mind-set of due respect for that animal and the entire process. We must make them understand that the non-hunting community around us is "observing" what we do, and many of them do not understand why we do it.
Those folks hold the key to our future as hunters and shooters. It is imperative that all of us understand that, and also understand that they expect a certain level of moral consciousness and an unwavering ethical standard from us in doing what we do.
As I stated, too often in our enthusiasm for trying to get others involved with shooting and hunting, we skip right over much of the philosophical and ethical aspects that have got to be a part of it.
