Buzz Hayes/Confluence Group Photo

As a lifelong hunter, former employee of the NRA (and still a member despite their current challenges), diehard 2A supporter, concealed carry permit holder and author of a book on AR-15s, and now editor of TTAG, I simply have to laugh at some of the arguments I see on hunting and gun message boards as well as sometimes in our own comments section baring all the animosity between hardcore gun guys and longtime hunters. Some tactically or defensively minded gun guys are quick to judge anyone who hunts as someone who doesn’t understand the purpose of the Second Amendment, loves only old guns and revolvers and should be derogatorily called a Fudd. Likewise, I’ve seen my share of hunters—mostly old school dudes, not so much of the younger class of sportsmen—who don’t get why some of us dig hunting with modern sporting rifles or can’t understand why some so-called “tactards” want to simply crank shots off at paper targets and dream of the day they get to be in a defensive situation with their sidearm or AR.

It seems to me, all of us gun owners are kind of in this thing together with our love of shooting and firearms, regardless of what brings us to the table. God knows, there are enough antis out there trying to take ALL of our gun rights away, so it seems we have a hell of a lot more in common than we don’t.

Here’s a short video from the NSSF on just one such area where we are all in it together. And it’s a good thing, for anyone who buys a handgun or ammo in this country is helping to support—through excise taxes charged on the purchase of those items—conservation.

Conservation takes several forms, but with regard to excise taxes, it goes to state game departments to maintain public hunting lands, maintain healthy populations of game animals (you have to have something to hunt, as my daughter, when she was six once told a nosy anti-hunting woman pressing her on hunting in the aisle of a department store “of course you don’t shoot everything or you wouldn’t have anything else to hunt!”), support hunter recruitment and build and maintain public shooting ranges.

So, it seems, whether some of you like it or not, be ye a Fudd or a Tactard or like me, a good bit of both, we’re all in this together.

Next, we’ll all sing Kumbaya together. What do ya say?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

65 COMMENTS

      • I’m not a hunter. I respect hunters and have no problem with them. I own some hunting type firearms, and would love to start hunting some day. I also strongly believe in wildlife conservation.

        I DO have a big problem with the special extra Pittman–Robertson excise tax on all firearms and ammunition.

        I have a big problem with the NSSF and TTAG continually touting this abomination of a tax.

        It makes absolutely no sense to tax my Ruger LCP or Smith and Wesson J-frame or the .380acp and .38sp ammo they fire to specially subsidize wildlife conservation.

        We already pay taxes on everything! Our income is taxed. Our property is taxed. Every purchase (including guns and ammo) is already taxed with sales tax. Hunters also pay for licenses and tags.

        Still, it’s never enough to satisfy the ravenous appetite the of the state!

        Now, the NSSF and TTAG writers come along and say they love this specific extra bonus tax.

        I love the conservation, but not this tax. The government already takes enough money through income, sales, and property taxes, plus hunting licenses. They should fund conservation out of those funds, and not tax my unrelated handgun ammo purchases.

        The Pittman–Robertson excise tax is immoral and the NSSF and TTAG need to stop promoting it!

        Doug Howlett seems like a great guy, and I
        appreciate him, but he is wrong on this issue.

        • Let’s all get together and repeal Pittman–Robertson excise tax on all firearms and ammunition.

        • Yes, I don’t love this tax nor this concept. Rather than establishing a budget of what conservation or public sportsman activities are needed and then seeking the funding, the tax just comes in. I guess they can set a budget after the money comes in, but there is no refund of surplus money, hah! With guns and ammo flying off the shelves it’s just “cool, look how much we get to spend!”

          I understand when the left is constantly attacking guns simply for existing, all guns and hunting bad, this feels like a positive counter so we can show how we are doing something good, at least something the left would see as good. But a forced tax isn’t charity.

          Using taxes to restrict or punish certain activities, like sin taxes, or feeding off one group to pay for something “noble” elsewhere , these aren’t good policy habits to make. Like lottery money for education, there shouldn’t be a reason to link these. Though I think industries like firearms or lottery, because they do get attacked on moral grounds, I think they are ok with these tax schemes because it gives them some cover. Ban the lottery, kids won’t go to college or have good educations, ban guns, the environment and animals suffer. These taxes are entrenched, it would be really hard to remove them now.

          The left would just like to add even more in the same way, extra gun or ammo tax to give to “gun violence victims and research”, mandatory insurance or licenses, and huge percentage sin taxes on scary assault weapons and ammo.

      • Southern,

        Your post reminds me of that great line from “Blazing Saddles”:

        “Sheriff Bart, we heard you was hung!”

        Sheriff Bart, “And you heard right!”

  2. I agree, the “division,” is counterproductive. Lord knows that I have my preferences in firearms, style, and tactics, but it’s a big table, all are welcome!

    • Huntin’ rifles are sniper rifles. Shotguns are riot guns…turn ’em in fudds.

      That 2 ton pickup truck that can be used to mow down pedestrians by the dozens, those $2.00 ice picks that can be used to quietly stab Walmart shoppers, a rusty machete that can be used by an illegal to chop the arm off a teen in Austin…we don’t mention those things because people might conclude they need firearms for protection…fjb.

  3. Pretty sure Fuddism today has more to do with how you’re voting than what you like to shoot.

    It’s not some stupid nerd fight over cape shit. It’s that you’d think grandpa Joe is correct in saying “just give’em two barrels from the balcony.”

    • The Fudds of the “why would anyone need” variety have really tapered off in relevance or even numerical existence. There will always be a few but it will not be a voting base to be exploited effectively against other gun owners. Between the last AWB and all the nonsense we have seen since most gun owners understand they want everything and are acting accordingly. With that said on to online preference wars.

    • Shire-man,

      Not sure if I agree. When I hear the term “Fudd”, I think of someone who only supports the ownership and use of “classic” firearms (designed explicitly for hunting) only for hunting–and oppose ownership and use of any other firearm, period. And some of the Fudds even oppose using “classic” hunting firearms for self-defense.

    • Fuddism is not only the plaid clothed hunter with their wood stocked Remchesterby.

      There are range Fudds too. At my range there are the full bore shooters who use single-shot target rifles out to 1000 meters. While I do admire their skill to hit bullseyes with iron sights to that distance, they have long-running animosity to the service rifle shooters as a bunch of unsafe yahoos who mag-dump at the slightest opportunity. Even though we haven’t had self-loading rifles in almost 30 years.

      And the SSAA have a reputation for rampant Fuddism with the Silverdale range being the Fudds Fudds. At Silverdale you can only LOAD ONE round only. Bench rest is the only option with a wooden baffle in front to restrict your elevation (and reflect the muzzle blast straight back into your face). If you want to fire several rounds from your magazine you will have 3 or more range officers standing over you glaring at you for such heresy. And they have a long list of banned calibers that makes no sense as similar unlisted calibers are allowed. Finally, any gun that isn’t a Remchesterby is derided as “cheap trash” and “not a real rifle”. Bonus points if it is .270 or .30-06. .308 is considered too new for them.

  4. “… and dream of the day they get to be in a defensive situation with their sidearm or AR.”

    Ummm, no. No, I don’t think anyone dreams of this happening. Considers it, yes. Weighs the consequences and hopes that we get either a good lawyer and reasonable judge/jury or a district attorney who decides not to pursue us in the first place? Absolutely. But, no…I’m not pining for the day that I have to be in a defensive gun use situation. I will be prepared for that event…whether it happens or not.

    • Julio:
      I would only add one thing to what you say: Even though I carry a gun, I fervently hope that I am NEVER faced with having engage in a DGU, not even a DGU where no shot is fired. So far, so good.

  5. FUDDs are not just hunters, they are hunters who are willing to sell everyone else down river in the vain and naïve hope of preserving their hunting rifles, and shotguns, or can’t even conceive that their guns would ever be in danger, except that the rest of us are drawing attention to guns in general.

    Any hunter who personally only wants to own his granddad’s .06, and 1100 but still supports tacttards owing and practicing with a military pattern AR and all the high speed low drag tacticool gear or me collecting old commie rifles and handguns is not a FUDD.

    • Oooh, you know what would be cool, Deb? Get someone to front for us in Washington. Get that person to sit in front of Congress, and testify the exact opposite of what that former cop says in that video. Testify that he/she feels LESS SAFE knowing that if he slaps a woman around, he might get shot. Testify that women are getting uppity, and hard to control. Testify for congress that the last time he pushed a woman out of his way, she responded by BRANDISHING A FIREARM!!

      Yeah, we need a front man to pretend that he’s on the gun grabber’s side, and offer testimony that proves what assholes they all are.

  7. We all have the same basic passions, no matter how you express em. The cretins who would deprive us all of our passions love the fact that some of us don’t agree with some others of us! Let’s not go the way of the rest of the country.

  8. Show me the numbers on what’s taken in and how it’s spent towards “conservation” before trying to rope everyone in on the feel good.

  9. I’m okay with the idea up until I hear/read “I’m a life long hunter and support the second amendment, but……” then it’s over.

  10. As the game warden approaches, “It was a self defense gun use, Officer. I was staving off starvation.”

    I’m one of the old guys who chuckles at the kids with their rapid fire full-semi-automatic weapons of war. I have a pretty good reason. I remember very well tramping through the fields with my single shot .22LR, meeting someone with a semi-auto, and having a shoot-off. Because I had a single shot, I was forced to make every shot count. You didn’t get to reload and try again when you missed either a rabbit, or one of those killer tin cans. You had simply MISSED. Those kids with the semi-autos often couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.

    For that reason, I think everyone should start out on a single shot. Single shot .22, old-timey single shot scatter gun, maybe a double barrel, or an over/under. It wouldn’t break my heart if semi-auto were banned for anyone below the age of 18. It would be wrong, but it wouldn’t break my heart.

    Too many people, including gang bangers, hold all that firepower in their hands, and they can’t control it, they don’t respect it.

    Those of you who are marksmen, and choose to carry a fully semi-automatic weapon of war, good on you. But, you’ll admit the wannabes who can’t even hit the ground tend to give you a bad name.

    • And that attitude there is what allowed the hughes amendment to screw us by closing the NFA registry forever. The NRA was complacent about it, even championed it. How many people were killed by machine guns in the last 50 years? I don’t count gang on gang shootings, they are doing us a favor. Short of Al Capone’s goons in the 20’s and 30’s and Scarfaces goons in Miami, it was exceedingly rare if at all. Most people quit buying them after the 1934 NFA act. No one wanted to pay an extra $200, deal with endless federal paperwork or have to produce it whenever ATF wanted to see it. That was the reason the Lightning link and other associated workarounds were created, and then regulated by the ATF just the same as the smg’s. The more you give these people, the more they will try and take by force of courts. We cannot continue to let them gain ground, lest you wish 22 ammo to be 50 cent a round or more and mostly unaffordable. Cause that is where they went once they realized how badly an ammo shortage could screw us all.

      • “…closing the NFA registry forever.”

        Laws can be amended and/or repealed.

    • paul you heart breaker…You’ve consumed so much Gun Control propaganda you do not realize you regurgitated “banned” like a useful idiot democRat. Look at it this way…using “ban’ in any shape, matter or form on a 2A forum is along the lines of using the N-word at The Apollo.

      Some people experienced or not prefer not to spend time loading between shots. Long ago while reloading people got shot. So after enough people got shot inventors came to the rescue and the auto loader was born. Instead of a beginner single shot being an answer try fixating on the criminal misuse of firearms, bricks, bats, knives, fists, feet, vehicles, etc.
      https://youtube.com/watch?v=wRyVs5deIuI&feature=shared

    • Paul,
      You have unfortunately consumed some of the nonsense propaganda of the leftist. It’s a good thing you weren’t with Jim Jones back in the day, because you are a bit of a cool aid drinker. 😉

      Twice you used the gun-grabber nonsense phrase “rapid fire full-semi-automatic weapons of war”.

      full-semi-automatic 🤔🤣

      Full automatic is a thing, and semi-automatic is a thing. “Rapid fire full-semi-automatic weapons of war” is retarded nonsense fitting only senile liars like J-Biden. The Navy Seals weren’t exactly rocking their Marlin 60’s in Fallujah.

      You have a good point about single shot weapons helping new shooters develop better shooting habits. I agree, and also learned on a single shot .22 rifle.

      Your good point was unfortunately overshadowed by the nonsense propaganda talk. Your preference for slower rate of fire firearms doesn’t give you the right to infringe on the right of others to keep and bear arms.

  11. There are a great many misconceptions about things. Largely because of the improper use of words and language. Much of which is due to public education being controlled by the left. Alot of it is also due to people on the right.

    I’m not a hunter (although that could change) but that only means just so much. There is a click made up of hunters that have been engaged with guns with their fathers before learning to ride bicycles. This group has a tendency to NOT quite understand what a younger generation is and is not. Only a very small portion of Americans grow up with lots of land and in a two parent home. Many young men simply do not know what it’s like to have a loving father at home. Much less someone to teach them about guns and hunting. Most people live in the inner city. Likely places under Democrat control. A person might not ever touch a gun till they are in their 40’s. Atleast not for a legit legal purpose.

    Let’s have that discussion. I’m not convinced that most hunters can even relate to those that don’t.

    The term ‘fudd’ is thrown around without care just like others such as ‘haters’, boomers, and racist. It happens on both sides and these things are often said out of ignorance. It really is’t any different than referring to AR15’s as assault rifles.

    Most people out there DO NOT know what a deer rifle is.

    • The fact is, to the left, it’s no longer a “deer rifle”, it’s a “sniper rifle.” After all, no one “needs” a 30-06 for deer. The true “fudds” need to recognize this. They are coming for YOUR guns not just the world’s best self-defense guns.

      • The average inner city fatherless 28 year old voter isn’t likely to know either. You may as well be speaking greek to them.

        People like what they like but they all serve a purpose. Even if it’s a failed idea.

    • It seems most democrats think a gun is an weapon that fires 1000 rounds per second and has a nearly inexhaustible supply of ammo. You know, the bs they see in the movies. Like a suppressor making a 9mm sound like a wet fart, or a handgun that takes 14 rounds firing 113 times before we see him reload.

  12. Most of the nonsense arguments I see between the “tacticool” crowd and the hunter crowd are simply caliber disagreements. For instance, you don’t need a 300winmag to kill a whitetail deer, unless you are a really poor shot who can’t hit the front 1/3 of a deer and need massive damage to a poorly placed shot to make the kill. For decades I hunted with an old semiauto Remington in .243. It never once failed (via cycling shells or dropping deer). Both of my daughters hunt with .243’s. My youngest killed two bucks for her first kill ever within 5 minutes of each other using said .243. I reiterate that as the .243 is one of the smallest legal and accepted rounds to hunt whitetails.
    On the tactical side, sure I have all that as well. I own a kevlar vest, a full JPC rig basically. That doesn’t mean I run around in it on weekends playing commando or something. (I’m a licensed private investigator, and sometimes we do surveillance from places that, let’s see how to put this, certain races are not welcomed. As such, and after having a gun in my face once, I wear a vest anytime I do any surveillance work. It stuffy, uncomfortable and unbearably hot in summer. (The cop cooler works well though)
    Point to all this being, our uses may be different but our goals should be the same.

  13. I can and do appreciate a older or even newer bolt action rifle with AA or even AAA stock, inlays, finely crafted checkering.
    I can appreciate the functionality of “tacticool” rifle as long as it is not a AR15.
    I like punching paper at challenging distances, striving for small groups.
    And patiently waiting for a chance at a shot at a good sized buck.
    I like some revolvers and some semi-auto pistols. Others, meh.
    To each their own.

  14. I guess I’m an old tactical fudd.

    I grew up hunting, starting with a single shot 22. Hunted enough to be a fairly good shot, learned to use concealment to stalk, ate what I shot.

    Then I joined the Marine Corps and they taught me how to shoot right and turned me in to an expert marksman with an iron sight M1 Garand, issue rifle, issue ammunition.

    I still have, and like to shoot, my old .22, still have an M1, and various other weapons hated by libs, and I don’t care what they think.

    I don’t flaunt who I am or what I have but “don’t tread on me”

    • What years were you in the Marines? The fact that you used the Garand would suggest you are 85+. If you are, and still shoot the Garand, I think that is pretty awesome!

      One of my neighbors who was a Korean war veteran recently passed. I think he was 93. I always enjoyed visiting with him. Other than our 40+ year age gap, we shared a lot in common.

  15. Meh…I’m going on 70. Been sorta hunting once. We were high in the early 70’s. My gun’s ain’t magical fudd talismans. I’m pretty angry I can’t shoot my AR in ILLannoy. Us old men aren’t a monolith. I meet plenty of old guy’s of every stripe,color & ethnicity who never embraced an original thought. I’m not navel gazing either. This world is rapidly winding down. And so is TTAG🙄

  16. AR, Pump Action, Bolt Action, Pistol, Revolver, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 rounds, 12, 22, 30-06, 32, 9, 357, 44, etc…regardless what you prefer, the most important issue; We Are ALL in support of one thing: Our Right Shall NOT be Infringed upon.

    Vote, write your legislators, support organizations standing up for OUR RIGHT.

    While we bicker, states, counties, etc., keep enacting more and more infringing legislation that is unconstitutional, and woking to force our right into history.

    Now they are pushing in many states to enact the requirement for insurance!

    Legal law abiding, responsible owners should not be turned into felons, and forced to pay money as a consequence of a criminal element that our law enforcement and justice system cannot control.

    The SUPREMES need to be awakened and rule once and for all, that all these state laws are an infringement and are to be immediately repealed.

  17. Yesterday my son was at my door before sunrise. The first thing he wanted to show me was his newly acquired Romanian AK. Then he fished out his favorite bird gun from one of the safes. A Remington 870 Wingmaster in 20 ga. We spent the morning hunting quail with two of our best friends followed by a large country style lunch. That table for four was representative of several hundred firearms. Of all types. We better make room in the lifeboat for everyone, or we’re all going to drown.

  19. “So, it seems, whether some of you like it or not, be ye a Fudd or a Tactard or like me, a good bit of both, we’re all in this together.
    Next, we’ll all sing Kumbaya together. What do ya say?

    Nyet.

    We really aren’t.

    The FUDDs cannot be counted on to knee jerk resist government attempts to end the Second Amendment. Seems FUDDs aren’t concerned for individuals who understand the true meaning of the Second Amend, but are very interested in keeping the gun industry funded. Am taking note that FUDDs are all about protecting hunting, not forcing government to stop endless attempts to remove firearms from the public (“I gots mine, you are on your own.)

    And, if somehow govt decided that hunting would be entirely exempt from gun confiscation, FUDDs would breathe a sigh of relief they aren’t treated like “gun nuts” who are motivated by so-called irrational dreams of the opportunity to overthrow tyrannical, rogue government.

    It is discouraging that FUDDs don’t really want to be associated “tactiards”, but are entirely dependent upon 2A defenders for freedom the use firearms, at all.

    Dear Editor, please publish an explanation of how “moderation” works on TTAG. It is important to know what we can trust TTAG for.

  20. Excellent article.
    My pseudonym is an intentional middle index finger extended to all Tacticool fools. My animosity is motivated by the experience of having a marijuana bootlegging, brain damaged, drug addict enable my tenant to get a free pass for shooting at my son by claiming that he is a gun expert then testifying that a 12 gauge shotgun isn’t a deadly weapon. Of course this fraud was enabled by Yamhill County Judge Ladd Wiles (AKA “Amanda S Marshall’s cuckold”) refusing to understand the conflicts between Federal drug laws and Oregon Marijuana law as well as the inherent dangers of indoor marijuana grows. Judge Wiles was also prejudiced against me because he believes that I resemble the evil bastard who impregnated his wife. It wasn’t me. I didn’t even inseminate the famously philandering, perjuring, drug addicted former US Attorney for the State of Oregon.

  21. I like the Pittman Robertson Act.
    .giv likes taxes too.
    More taxes it gets the more it supports how its getting those taxes. Alcohol and Tobacco.
    Besides everytime I buy a box of bullets I always think how I’m helping to keep a woodpeckers pecker hard.
    The Robert Pittman act also helps put food on the table , like, sitting around the campfire, backs turned, out in the woods, dark, nobody around to hear the screams.
    Gumbolah my Friends, Gumbolah.

  23. I hunted (in my youth), and I own and regularly practice with several ‘tacticool’ firearms. Nothing wrong with embracing ALL parts of the 2A community. My only beef with “Fudds”, to the extent I have one, are the types that proudly and loudly buy in to the whole “nobody needs an AR-15” nonsense. I don’t know any tactical shooters who disparage hunters (other than generally good-natured arguments about equipment), but I know more than a few hunters of the “nobody needs” school. Those folks, I don’t care for. On the other hand, as Rodney King famously said, “Can’t we all just get along?”.

    • Nobody needs an AR if they have an M16.
      But fudd nobody needs an M16 if you’ve got an F15, but fudd nobody needs an F15 if they’ve got a nuclear blomb, but fudd nobody needs a nuclear blomb if they’ve got a double barreled shotgunm.

    • I hear you.
      I caught a bit of flak from my hunting buddies for using my Barrett .50 BMG to shoot an Elk from a thousand yards away. To me it’s no different than using a .338 Winchester Magnum to shoot an Elk at 400 yards or a 30-06 at 200 yards or a 30-30 at 100 yards or 12 gauge shotgun slugs at 50 yards.
      They argue that no one needs a .50 BMG.
      No one needs a peni$ that’s a foot long and as thick as a beer can either, but they shouldn’t be outlawed.

  24. There is hop. About 20 years ago I was a FUDD. Since then, so have had the opportunity to learn and grow. Now I am a 2A absolutist. “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. All gun restrictions ate a violation.

  25. I think you misunderstand what a Fudd is.

    it’s not somebody that simply prefers hunting over more tactical things. that Just makes somebody a hunter.

    a fudd is somebody that believes that only their hunting guns should be protected, and occasionally revolvers, 1911s and other historical pistols. they don’t care about ar15s or glocks or any of those, they can be banned for all they care, sometimes they even openly advocate for their banning.

    They generally don’t support shall issue concealed carry laws, they want it to be only for “special” people, which depending on the individual Fudd means middle class and above whites in general. or off duty cops only, which should also only be made up of middle class whites according to them. yes Fudds are typically racist. there I said it.

    they are not our friends and allies, in fact I’d say they are our biggest enemy. far worst than moms demand attention, the Brady bunch and all of those idiots.

  26. Hunters are the best conservationists. I too, don’t understand the conflict among shooting segments. It is a Right/ Tradition/Heritage we all enjoy. It is our most precious right to be protected. “One for All and All for One!”

  27. I’ve never understood the Fudd mentality. The “No one needs what I don’t like/have/want.” mindset. Been a lifelong hunter. Been a lifelong enthusiast and collector. Used to have a class III license and still have a C&R license.
    What is misunderstood is it doesn’t matter if the weapon fires 2 rounds a minute, or 2 rounds a second. Whether it be a 500 year old matchlock, or a 5 day old semi-auto carbine, the basic function is the same. A source of ignition, a propellent charge, and a pellet, single or multiple, pushed by the burning propellent down a barrel/tube in the direction of some target. The rest is ascetics and mechanics. The goal of gun control is the disarmament of the civilian populace. With government and the select elites being the sole arbiters of force.

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