“Huntresses,” who are very different from women hunters, are taking social media by storm. Why? And what can we do?

Abstract

Social media platforms have exploded in popularity over the past 15 years. Research for this study was conducted primarily on Instagram, which boasts 1.085 billion active users worldwide. While huntresses can be found on every major social media platform, Instagram has proven to be the outlet where they tend to thrive and exert the most influence. All huntresses exhibit similar patterns and behaviors with slight variance, and it can difficult to differentiate one huntress from another. Huntresses differ greatly from female hunters, however. This difference is easy to spot because female hunters can actually hunt. TAB identified several psychological deficiencies and behavioral patterns that are present in nearly all huntresses, and discovered why these shitty influencers are able to thrive in the modern hunting environment.

Psychological Deficiencies

1. Addiction to Attention

Despite what huntresses write online, they do not actually care about conservation, challenging themselves or any other facet of hunting. Rather, they simply value likes, shares and other forms of engagement. Engagement refers to post interaction, not their actual engagement to whatever sad sack of shit is unfortunate enough to marry them (those posts make me want to suck-start a shotgun). It is important to note that huntresses can only tolerate positive attention, such as fire emojis, compliments on their appearance and thirsty DM’s. Users who post negative comments, like calling out the idiotic practice of “hot-mouthing” ducks, are typically blocked from the huntress’ page. Huntresses will do anything for attention, including showing their bare ass.

2. Dissociative Identity Disorder

Huntresses do not identify with who they are or what they look like in real life. They often have multiple distinct personalities and choose only to show their “best” one to their audience. Why else would someone who couldn’t hack it in the “model” section of Instagram decide to cake on an inch of makeup before climbing into the tree stand? The deer don’t care what a huntress looks like, but I can assure you the thousands of simps in the comment section do. Men shoulder quite a bit of blame for this issue. Guys, be responsible and only follow the ones on the fishing pages – let’s do our part to clean up the hunting community.

3. False Sense of Accomplishment

Behind every huntress is a sackless douchebag who succumbed to her demands. Whether it’s a father who’s already famous or an accomplished outfitter that can’t resist the possibility of getting laid once a year, these weak-minded men are the only reason why huntresses have ever touched a set of antlers.

I was asked by an Instagram follower (a woman, by the way) not to forget “those gals who post ‘ask me about hunting’ boxes on their Stories, but all of their hunts are guided.” Yep, f**k them, too.

Behavioral Patterns

1. Videos explaining why their hunt didn’t “pan out.”

Not every hunt is successful and anyone who has hunted long enough will have surely eaten “tag soup.” Hunters accept this fact and work to avoid it. Huntresses, on the other hand, will almost always post a long, drawn out, bullshit explanation as to why “this year was tougher than other years” and how they “had plenty of opportunities but also learned a lot.” I learned something, too – whoever that dude is holding the camera isn’t getting laid this year. Fact.

2. Perpetuating abhorrent trends.

From duck bill blow jobs to wearing a bikini in the tree stand, huntresses will latch onto any social media trend they feel will help them get the attention they crave. This often comes at the expense of the hunting community itself, as it’s not only hunters that find this behavior disgusting – anti-hunting “activists” use these images as ammunition for their cause. This further reinforces the popular theory that a huntress’ IQ is directly relative to her age. I’m saying they’re f**king stupid, in case you missed that one.

3. Desperately Seeking “Sponsorships”/ Promoting Shit Companies

What good is being “insta-famous” if you can’t fall prey to a fitness company’s marketing scheme? Huntresses get 20 percent off some cheap Chinese sports bra that wasn’t good enough to sell in Walmart, then plaster that “brand” all over their bio as if it affords them some sort of legitimacy with their audience. The same goes for supplements. If I hear the word collagen one more time I’m going to lose my shit. AND NOBODY IS GOING TO BUY YOUR GODDAMNED KETO COOKIES. (I’m on glass of bourbon number three, reader. This article is painful.)

Why Huntresses Thrive, and How to Reduce their Impact

Huntresses thrive for three reasons: 1) men are idiots and think only with the wrong head, 2) women support them because they’re women and for no other good reason and 3) brands and companies often leverage huntresses to gain access to their follower base. Mostly number one, though.

Understanding those three reasons helps us craft a plan for reducing huntress impact. Data shows no man has ever been laid because he left a thirsty comment on an influencer’s page. With that in mind, male Instagram users should understand this behavior is f**king dumb, and those who engage in it should be educated. Let those simps have it, folks (metaphorically speaking, of course).

The hunting space is male-dominated, no doubt about it, but ladies please find some of the good role models that exist on Instagram. By lifting up and supporting women hunters, you’ll not only be helping good people, you’ll also be sending a message to the bad ones that says you don’t appreciate their shitty behavior.

All of us, as I’ve mentioned before, should be cognizant of the companies, brands and media outlets we support. Any entity that knowingly supports, promotes or allows this type of huntress behavior doesn’t deserve your hard-earned dollar.

*Note from the author: The phrase “huntress” has now come to mean something that it initially didn’t. Please understand the purpose of this article is promote good, ethical behavior amongst the hunting community. Do not use this, or any other TAB content, as a reason to unnecessarily harass folks who don’t deserve it.

I had never planned to cover this topic because I don’t follow these idiots and I rarely hear about them. That was until recently, when my girlfriend and a host of women that follow TAB on Instagram requested I take this on. As this community grows, I just want to say I appreciate the feedback and recommendations I’ve received, and I’ll continue to take those under advisement – regardless of how bad the headaches are. God, this one was f**king bad.