While working through hunter stories and interviews in both book projects (D.D. Adams, Empire Limb Hangers,) I comb through the details, mindful of what is useful in telling the stories, story of the hunt vs what might be a privacy issue or reveal too much information. What I hope to convey is some useful tips that you may find helpful.
Privacy issues arise from those looking to move in on our honey holes, either to thwart future hunting efforts or those underway in current season. It may be of those wanting in on great hunting or a big gobbler on your hunting grounds they found out about, the lesser human traits of jealousy, or just a rotten SOB. Over the years I’ve learned of or experienced more than a few instances of it. Other issues come by way of hunter harassment by non hunters or anti-hunters and being deluged with aggressive online marketing that looks at every detail you might disclose or mouse click you make.
Just as we track movements and location of deer and turkey for example, we are also tracked by others in our movements and locations where suspected trophy pursuits take place. There are several tactics we can employ to mitigate this.
Total data blackout- No Disclosure, No Online Postings, Only what is legally required for tagging. Cell Phone only powered on during an emergency.
Diversionary Actions, as executed by astute fishermen- GPS coordinates freely published as decoy coordinates with no discernable displacement or pattern. Post pictures with replaced backgrounds or pics taken on vacation where you never fish or hunt. Take lots of suitable pics in parks, public lands. Ever take a hero pic on your buddies hunting spot to mess with them? Yep, the concept works. I know of hunters that leave at all different times in the morning or get picked up at different times to throw off those following or trying to pin point their hunting spots. Far too competitive in my opinion. Social media is ideal for setting out your logistical decoys.
One thing that many of us do is share their pics of the hunt. It is immediate and is all kinds of fun for story telling and smack talk. However, what some may not know is that a bulk of shared pics are taken with modern smart phones and very convenient. Unless you are diligent in your settings or understand metadata, EXIF exchange data, you are literally providing time , date, GPS coordinates, and all photo exposure settings. Game wardens know this, law enforcement, and your jealous followers may also know this. You can turn off location data on your phone for each photo app you may have, photo files can be stripped of the data on your laptop or desktop computer. Some social media platforms also strip the data. I routinely strip/delete the EXIF GPS data in my projects as I assume that nobody wants that disclosed without an intended purpose. Personally, disclosing a county or plus and minus a thousand acres on state game lands is accurate enough, although I might mix the names up 🙂
Although this reveal can be alarming if you hadn’t given any thought to it, it is an admission that for all the conveniences of modern communication that are beneficial there is some privacy that is directly given up for it, or eventually in the form of big data that is used to decern patterns and activities. It has been in recent years a useful tool in catching poachers, as law enforcement can use cell tower data to triangulate a particular cell phone, and it is even easier to narrow the investigation when in remote areas, during evening hours, and less activity.
What I have found common in the stories that I have captured in the Empire Limb Hangers project, is most successful hunters are careful in their movements and their disclosure of them. I hope this gives each of you pause to think of what you intend to share and what you hadn’t realized that you do.
-MJ
© 2023 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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