If you’re friends with hunters on Facebook then you’ve probably noticed more than a few of them change their profile pictures to something like the above image. Hunters seem to believe that this is “trolling” PETA, subverting their message and making a mockery of their anti-hunting campaign. But here’s the thing: this is exactly what the PETA-philes hoped they’d do.

A few days ago PETA put out a Facebook “frame” — a template that you could use to change your profile picture, much like those that became popular following [INSERT TERRORIST ATTACK HERE]. Ostensibly the idea seems to be that people would post their gore-free selfies using the frame and show their support for the PETA’s anti-hunting message.

Hunters (being the anti-PETA bunch they are) decided that it would be fun to ruin PETA’s party by posting trophy selfies instead. Shoving bloody carcasses in front of tree huggers to “trigger” them. Turning the tables on PETA with their own campaign.

But is it trolling? Or is it playing into PETA’s quinoa-flaked hands?

Generally speaking, most people are fairly rational. The average person understands that hunting for food and for animal population control reasons makes sense. While they may not participate, most don’t really see an issue with that.

Until, that is, they are confronted with the reality of what’s happening. People love their steaks when they come in small white shrink-wrapped packages in the supermarket. But seeing a Porterhouse “on the hoof” — and with someone covered in blood grinning over the carcass — the emotional response takes over.

PETA depends on just that emotional response in order to spread their anti-hunting message. Logically they don’t have a leg to stand on. Instead they rely on the outrage of their membership to drive their funding and contribute to what few successes they have combating hunters’ rights. These pictures, people taking selfies with freshly murdered animals, are fodder for PETA’s campaign.

This is exactly the kind of “red meat” content that will enrage their base and polarize “fence sitters” who may not have had an issue with the abstract concept of hunting, but are appalled by the bloody reality of the practice. Hunters don’t see an issue because they understand and have accepted this reality, but to someone who has never been outside their sanitized urban environment these pictures are nothing short of shocking and disgusting.

Hunters might be having a grand old time poking fun at PETA, but in reality they’re doing a much better job of spreading PETA’s noxious animal rights message than they ever could have done on their own.

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33 COMMENTS

  1. So, always give in to leftist organizations like PETA, publicly agree with them, don’t speak up against them, hide your activities in case it “triggers” a leftist, got it. You know, in California, very few people dare to speak about firearms in public these days because of crap like that. The thing is, the battle lines are quickly becoming drawn and folks really need to decide which side they are on.

    • Nah, what he’s saying is that you should try to keep the conversation rational instead of helping the other side make an emotional argument against you. If I used Facebook I might be tempted to put up a selfie of myself with a burger. That would be a much more subtle way of trolling them. You don’t have to be aggressive with your message.

    • Exactly, TTAG is worthless when it comes to the culture war, milk toast hand wringing is about all they are good at, that and virtue signaling while shooting right. Never bring a moderate to a fight, all they will do is spend all their time attacking you instead of fighting the enemy.

      TTAG (and a whole lot of others) are just convinced they can keep their lefty politics and their guns and it just isn’t going to work like that.

      • Oh now Rufusdog, kind of harsh. As a second amendment absolutist that has OC’d for the last 8 years and as a born again Christian that believes abortion is murder; I feel free to express my all of my views with no restriction from the blog staff here, with only some “lively” ie (debates to outright adhominem attacks) from other posters, but not from the staff.

        I would consider that Robert and the other staff would be considered more moderate, but only in comparison to some of the other posters. To the anti-freedom gun phobists, we are all a “basket of deplorables”.

    • Right, if we just grovel enough they will leave us alone. Appeasement is the key, English prime minister Chamberlain demonstrated how it was done! /sarc.

      Seriously, i think society needs to see the whole picture. Hunting is natural, humans need hunting, denying that is wrong. Peta isnt the only anti hunting hate group out ther, the so called “humane society” spreads it’s lies and misrepresentations too. Make no mistake their goal is to “transform” society into their perverted image, and hunters have no place in their make believe utopia.

  2. HAH! Hell, if I didn’t loath Facebook with a passion I’d be sharing photos of ANTIFA protestors as my contribution.

    Shadilay, my dudes! Never stop sh*t-posting.

  3. The only poor tactics being used here are Nick’s, shoot left Nick.

    If Nick was correct, animal rights would be a major polarizing political issue, it isn’t and isn’t going to be. The gun rights battle isn’t going to be won over or lost over hunting.

    These guys are doing an awesome job in the culture war, showing their friends and neighbors that the people that they love and care for, good people, are hunters, all the while shoving it right back in PETA’s face.

    There is only so far down the irrational rabbit hole any healthy (read not mental) human being will go, the vast majority of Americans eat meat, if PETA could win their cause with shock they would have already won, those hunting pics are nothing compared to PETA’s propaganda videos.

    If you want to look at it from another angle, if shock and disgust over the bloody reality would win the day, abortion would be illegal.

    • Yup. Sounds to me like TTAG has a bit too man ‘Fuds’ in it’s editorial staff.

      Take a less from Milo Yiannopoulos. They’re going to hate you no matter WHAT you do. Might as well have fun giving them the finger.

    • I reject the myth of the “fence sitter” these days. Every has by now, already picked their side. But if there is someone on the fence and they happen to fall into PETAs yard over these pics, then it was only because they were leaning that way. So screw ’em.

    • Trust me on this: They already have the photos. They have discovered that using them doesn’t work beyond a certain, small part of the population.
      What does work, and on a larger part of the population, is emotion. Far too many people have little ability to process facts, but are far more able to let emotions rule their lives.
      Consider: Why do you see so few pickups painted bright blue, instead seeing little chick cars that color? Emotion. It works.

      I’m still not getting response posts in my email. Something is still broken.

  5. I think it is hilarious

    PETA folks will nwver like hunters (or probably any human).

    Turnabout is fair play

    Boost the signal….. i just dont use facebook so thanks for letting me know this is happening.

    I disagree with the poster. Just not that big a deal.

    If it upsets some people, hopefully they are young enough that they will get over it.

  6. These pictures, people taking selfies with freshly murdered animals, are fodder for PETA’s campaign.

    You’re an idiot for using that term.
    Using that term raises the status of animals to the level of humans which is only done by immoral fanatical animal rights zealots.

    Animals can’t be murdered, only killed. Only humans can be murdered.

    Prager provides the clarity.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RENPaY043o

    • Agreed.

      Nick, if you’re going to mock PETA’s pathetic misuse of the English language, at least put quotes around “murdered.”

      Otherwise, I can’t tell you from them.

  7. Hunters are doing the right thing by counter signaling. But the best memes are hilarious and absurd. Photoshop in some cartoons and slogans in there for maximum effect.

    • the video says Judeo-Christian values make people infinitely valuable, because they are created in the image of God, but “humanistic” values make people worth only the scrap value of their carbon atoms. (literally, that’s what it says)

      so tell me why this God gruesomely tortures people in Hell, for basically, the one sin of not worshipping him?

      and “humanistic” or not, what’s wrong with valuing a loving, loyal dog that can be a lifelong friend, over a stinky, lying, violent simian creature that tells me it should value it above all else while at the same time it would steal from me, beat me up or kill me over words, and otherwise doesn’t want anything to do with me?

      you can drink the kool-aid. I won’t, it makes me vomit. dogs>>>people and their stupid God they made up.

      • If have to agree you, you sound like somebody that would be better off only interacting with animals.

      • Wow, ok you convinced me. If I ever see you and a dog drowning in a body of water I will save the dog.

      • Hmmm, well Bob; Christ said there is only two laws he was here to teach. Love G-d with all your mind, body and soul, and love your neighbor and your enemy as your self.

        Along the way, he also teaches that there are absolutes; that there is right and wrong, there is good and evil, and the path of righteousness is narrow, and the path to hell is wide and grease slicked.

        Yaweh, the I Am, is a loving creator, that gives us the freedom to surrender our will, to be guided by the vast loving intelligence of the universe, or the freedom to be guided by our small, lonely ego, that keeps our infinite soul, imprisoned in our tiny boney skull.

        Until I experienced the transcendent presence of G-d, I to believed like you. But once I experienced the complete unconditional love of the universe, I realized that I was living in my own little hell of personal separation from the source of all life and truth. You see, G-d is not punishing you by placing you in hell for not believing in him, he is simply stating the fact that until you voluntarily surrender your ego control to G-d, you are already living in your own personal hell. He is also simply stating that this hell will continue for enternity, if you refuse, out of your own arrogance and fear of surrender, to acknowledge this truth.

        Knock, and he will answer, but each person has to come to the place of their own moment of vulnerability, and the willingness to open to the infinite, a willingness to open to the mystery called life, a willingness to open to unconditional love and he that will guide you on this path, which is the Christ.

  10. feel free to use these –I do all the time!!!

    There is plenty of room for all God’s creatures.– Right next to
    my mashed potato’s

    God made humans and animals but why did he make them (the animals) so tasty when cooked “just” right and their skins so warm and soft for me to wear?

    People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.

    P eople
    E ating
    T asty
    A nimals

  12. My grandfather, a farmer, occasional hunter and sometimes fisherman insisted that animals were a gift from God. He believed God intended for us to make use of them. If you weren’t keeping a fish you returned it to the water carefully. If you kept it, you cleaned it promptly and made use of it. If you had to kill a fox raiding the hen house you did it to protect your flock and saw that the pelt was used. Do tasteless trophy pictures intended only to goad some left wing, atheistic humanists really qualify as honoring the gift?

  13. Do you like how well I trained these animals to “play dead”? All at the same time and we got a picture.

  14. PETA is dangerous. A PETA numbskull tried to blow up my company many years ago, and they haven’t changed.

    A couple of weeks ago, PETA paid $49,000 to a family for killing their pet chihuahua. And why not? PETA run the biggest kill program in the US. They just love to kill pet dogs.

    Total scumbags.

  15. I agree with Nick. As a shooter, not a hunter, I could see how this kind of bloody display could turn people that are on the fence away from both the hunting community and the firearms community. How does it further the firearms community agenda to offend people that might otherwise enjoy the sport and help our cause?

  16. I’m not a hunter now, but will probably do it in the future. Not against putting meat on the table in that manner. I have to admit, the first PETA hunter pic I saw scrolling through Facebook made me laugh. I think Nick’s article is wrong, that’s just my opinion.

  17. Only the best Democrat retards get to be PETA {“people eating tasty animals”}, most are Anti Christian atheists that do not believe in The creator nor that the Creator gave man dominion over the Earth!
    So these mentally loose people will eat fish and meat but not partake in the natural stuff that has less additives than commercial processed stuff! how come they are not at the slaughter houses complaining.

  18. As a septuagenarian I must confess to having consumed many portions of cow, pig, sheep, deer, and a few other animals in my lifetime. I shall further admit that NONE of these animals were alive at the time of their consumption. In the eyes of PETA I am unquestionably guilty of accessory after the fact to murder. I shall further aver that I don’t care.

  19. Yes, put the hunting pics out there – “normalizing” something normal.

    It’s much like matter-of-factly open carrying a gun in the normal course of living your life: “Can I have an iced-coffee w/ no room to go for the range?” “Oh, this? Didn’t want to leave it in the car; might get stolen.”

    Self-defense and the tools to do it are a normal part of being human, are they not?

  20. If I were the sort to spend the time and effort, I would change the PETA frame just a tad….
    “Shoot selfies with dead animals. Proud member of PETA (people eating tasty animals)”

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