"I've gotten 400 hateful and ignorant comments in 30 minutes and today I've blocked over 2,000 rude and awful people."
No hunter is immune from the wrath of the anti-hunters. We've seen it firsthand with the likes of Kendall Jones, Eva Shockey and most recently, Steve Ecklund. And, truth be told, the vulgar threats and the hate are downright shameful.
Hannah Finley posted a series of pics to her Instagram account in early November, showing the results of a successful bear hunt.
It was the true definition of fair chase—a big boar initially glassed high in the mountains while feeding on acorns, and ultimately put down cleanly with a 611-yard shot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba_qRZVBTRv/?taken-by=hannah.finley
Fast-forward to New Years day. Finley's account experiences a maelstrom of hate-filled messages, many of them highlighted with threats.
The following UK-based animal rights activist looks to be the first to fan the flames, after she re-posted Hannah's original post:
Other anti-hunting pages quickly followed suit.
We'd love to share all the hate-filled messages the members of these anti-hunting groups posted to the above two pages, but almost every one is filled with vile profanity. Finley did share a screenshot in an IG story of some of the tamer messages she received:
As of Jan. 2, at least 10 anti-hunting pages have shared her pictures, resulting in thousands of hateful messages and threats. She decided to address the situation in this post to her Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdd0S0XB4WW/?taken-by=hannah.finley
Threatening to do harm to someone is never okay, and it's illegal. If these anti-hunters genuinely cared about life, they wouldn't wish death on a human. That's a no-brainer.
We know there are folks against hunting. That'll never change. We know it isn't for everyone. However, you don't see are hunters threatening vegans or anti-hunters and starting smear campaigns against them.
What the majority of us do, if questioned about the sport we love, is offer educated information in regards to conservation, habitat restoration and the value of wild game on the plate. We don't troll or attempt to take anyone down. That's just not who we are.
Finley responded in a mature fashion, which some of her critics could take as a lesson.
Keep doing what you're doing, Hannah! Just like you said, never apologize for being a hunter!
NEXT: STEVE ECKLUND'S KILLING OF CANADIAN COUGAR SPARKS ONLINE OUTRAGE