Contextual Analysis Final

Event


As I was thinking in class what to right my final paper on I kept getting ideas of all the beatings going on in football, on and off the field(mostly off), I also kept thinking of all the shooting crimes that have happened lately. In my heart I really didn't want to talk about all the thing I figured others would talk about. So, I decided to write about poaching and what social media has done to help cut down on the illegal killing of animals. I have liked Utah Division of Wildlife Resources on my Facebook page and seeing all the media from my page about people poaching animals made me decide to write about it.
We are definitely in the right time of year for deer hunting and elk hunting. Unfortunately a lot of people think they have the right to hunt for these animals before hunting season opens. The think there is too many hunters and they won't be able to fill their tags so they find reasons to try and go around the system by shooting their deer or elk early, stashing it away in a safe place, then simply picking it up on opening day. That is considered poaching and it is very illegal. There can be up to five years in prison, $30,000 dollars in fine, and even getting your vehicle and guns taken away from you for life. Even though these hefty fine may happen, poaching is still going on today.


Impact


The impact that social media has had on these events is being able to get the word out to thousands of people as soon as they have found out the poaching has occurred. Who doesn't remember the days of putting signs on telephone poles about people killing animals and how few people even heard the message or not. That is the area where social media has helped out tremendously. Also social media lets people know exactly when a certain season opens for what specific animal. So people can't say they didn't know when the hunt opened for sure. Hopefully they're not that stupid anyways, but that has been some of the poachers excuses.
One of the stories I wanted to write on, where social media helped, was the story of a hunter who had killed his elk during season and had done all the work to cut it up and load it in his vehicle. As this hunter went into a restaurant to eat lunch someone stole his elk horns and all his meat right out of the back of his truck. The story went on social media web sights and the thief's were apprehended. Just like these guys who stole an animal from somebody and got caught, so to can poachers get caught for there crimes simply from the technology in todays society.


Journalism


Having web sights now and social media pages has definitely opened a lot of doors for those who like writing and also like the outdoors and defending hunting laws. There are a ton of blogs that show people hunting the right ways and really enjoying their trophies. There are also a ton of people talking about seeing people doing the wrong things, like poaching, and reporting that to authorities and then writing up great papers that will hopefully scare the next person who thinks about doing it.
I don't have much to say about this subject except that their are great jobs where people can become journalists in the outdoor fields.


Movement


Like I stated earlier, the ability to post people poaching and doing illegal acts has become a movement in itself. People are more interested in outdoor sights when they see that they are doing everything in their power to make sure people do it correctly. There has been a decreasing number in the amount of people poaching now-a-days and I really feel that social media has had a huge part to do with that decrease.


What I Feel


I tried not to state exactly how I felt until this part of my paper, I did so so huh Eric, but my emotions on this unfortunate on going problem have a lot to do with why I chose this subject. No I didn't choose one event and try to elaborate on just that unfortunate event. I chose one huge problem for all hunters alike and just wanted to say that poaching is wrong and I personally think if you do it or have done it, you are a straight up coward and I really  hope you get what you deserve eventually. With the power of social media and how fast it can get the illegal acts out there, the number of cowards will diminish and hopefully simply vanish.
I encourage those of you that enjoy hunting go on your Facebook page and like all the outdoor links you can so your knowledge on this great sport can increase, and you too can help catch all the poachers that think they can get away with it.