On the one hand, at least with our efforts to protect nature and animals, which can be backed up with figures, euros and other facts. But to put it bluntly, we don’t just hunt to save the world. For me as a modern hunter, it is also legitimate to point out the spiritual connection with the environment and nature, the reverence for hunting and respect for the hunted animals. Hunting is and remains an act that evokes many emotions and feelings. For me, the whole process of hunting is important, not just the final moment of harvest.

The welfare of wildlife and its habitat benefit most from the broadest possible support from all sections of the public, and it is therefore also up to us to seek cooperation and create mutual understanding. I am convinced that we agree on a broad basis on more points than we do not.

We should be fully aware that in modern society hunting is a privilege and not a right. There are a large number of people who do not understand this, who know nothing about modern conservation or the fact that today, as always, it is the hunting community that foots the bill for habitat and wildlife conservation.

In the last ten years, hunters have increasingly made pictures and videos of their hunted animals available to a large audience on social media. I also made a very conscious decision to do this a little over two years ago.

While some claim that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok & Co have spoiled our motivation for hunting and are jeopardizing its future, others, and I count myself among them, are building on making hunting accessible to the general public in a positive way. I don’t think it’s a controversial statement to say that social media has immense power. After all, around 4.47 billion people were using social media at the end of 2022, with Facebook (2.9 billion), YouTube (2.5 billion), WhatsApp (2 billion) and Instagram (1.5 billion) being the networks with the most users.

Admittedly, it is unfortunately impossible to regularly consume social media for hunting without coming across bad and disrespectful images. We hunters need to pay more attention to what we upload and worry less about the five seconds of fame we get with a video on Instagram. You may think this view is narrow-minded and judgmental, but there is no way around it: What hunters post on social media actually has an impact on the future of hunting.

Social media can be a great tool to connect with people you would never have met a few decades ago. We live in a visual age in which images not only shape individual people, but also entire societies and their ideas and attitudes. With good content that is accompanied by appealing visuals, we can also reach those who have a neutral attitude towards hunting and thus have a lasting positive influence on the cultural acceptance of hunting through our postings.

Anyone who decides to publish their own hunting experiences must also be aware that they will be confronted with online hate (threats, intimidation and verbal attacks on life and limb) and should think about how they want to deal with this now. I am someone for whom freedom of expression is one of the most important principles of a democratic society. Nevertheless, I have decided to avoid dialog with these extreme hunting opponents and to block them on my accounts for the future, thus at least depriving them of a platform for their malicious statements.

I would simply like to call on all hunters to make the most of the positive aspects and mitigate the negative aspects as far as possible or remove them completely.

What we publish on social media is seen and judged by hunters, future hunters, non-hunters and anti-hunters alike. It represents a picture of all hunters.

Just as our rifles need ammunition, our shotguns need shotgun shells and our bows need arrows, hunters’ communication also needs ammunition. From my perspective, our stories, the way we tell them, our thought processes on everything around hunting and how we experience it, and the images we present to the public are that ammunition. Each of us can show what we do and who we are.

And despite all this, for me, the priority is and remains to enjoy the moments when I’m hunting, when it’s just me and nature, the cell phone stays in my pocket, and I take the time to do only what I love so much.