About this episode

Eric Wilson discusses his experience hunting in Illinois and the impact of social media on self-perception among hunters.

This episode is just me being straight about my Illinois rut hunt. I shot a smaller 8-point. He wasn’t a hammer, a magnum, or anything people are gonna freak out about online but the hunt was really an amazing experience after I parsed it out over the last few weeks. I achieved some things that were breakthroughs for me and that was important. The problem lies not in what happened, but how I perceived it as it was happening and even for a while after it happened. I really did struggle with comparing myself to guys on Instagram where it looked like another 170 was dropping every 30 minutes. Not only did it make me second guess myself after I took the shot, but I was initially embarrassed and considered not posting anything about it. That's the shame. I accomplished something really big for my journey and I was embarrassed about sharing it. Social media has really messed with our heads as hunters — making us second-guess hunts we’d normally be pumped about, and compare ourselves to guys hunting managed farms or doing this for a living. Most of us aren’t in those situations, and that pressure gets into your decision-making if you let it. This the best advice I heard this offseason…

People in this episode

Host: Eric Wilson

Topics covered

• hunting
• self-perception
• social media
• personal growth
• outdoor experiences

Keywords

• Illinois buck
• 8-point
• hunting experience
• social media pressure
• self-comparison

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Illinois

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