Don’t let the dreams of a hunt in November turn into nightmares in the future if the wrong candidates are elected because you didn’t bother to vote. It has been said that 80 percent of success is showing up. Make certain your vote shows up to be counted this year if you don’t want to surrender later to the anti-hunters.

I assume that all Predator Xtreme readers cherish freedom — the freedom to hunt, the freedom to keep and bear arms, the freedom to choose the kind of life we want — all the things, and more, that are included in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.

If we don’t all vote for pro-hunting candidates this year, we will have no license to moan, groan, complain and whine when most, if not all, of our individual rights vanish like smoke in the wind. All hunters, and especially predator hunters, need to vote this year like the future of hunting depends on it — because it does.

Never before has the choice been clearer. We know what the assaults on hunting under the Biden/Harris administration have been and can assume that a Harris administration would be as bad, or worse, than we have already seen. And Harris has openly backed firearm confiscation.

We also know how hunting would likely be treated under a second Trump administration because there were hosts of pro-hunting measures and appointments under the first Trump administration.

I am not a partisan political hack. I am independent in the purest form of the term. For me, it is about the bottom line: What is best for hunting in general and predator hunting in particular? Unfortunately, hunters as a social demographic do not have a particularly stellar track record when it comes to voting. Yes, many hunters vote religiously. But others do not.

One of the reasons is that the fall elections happen to take place during many of the prime hunting seasons and many hunters are out in the woods and on the waters while others go to the polls and vote. This year is different because hunters can make a difference, especially in some of the “swing” states. If ever there was a time when every vote counted, it is now.

So, this year vote early when possible. Mail in votes when possible. Putting voting off until election day can result in some hunters not voting at all if something comes up at the last minute that prevents them from getting to the polling places. Why take chances? Vote early and then have even more fun on the hunt, knowing that the civic duty has been fulfilled. Future generations of hunters deserve to have the hunting legacy and culture continue for them.

And it is important to vote for right-thinking, pro-hunting candidates at all levels of government, not just for president or congressional candidates. Often, those running for the highest levels of office began at the local, county or state levels. By electing pro-hunting candidates at all levels, we can assure a bright future for hunting because they will not pass anti-hunting measures anywhere on the political landscape. If we ignore them and the wrong ones get into office, we will have little to complain about when they do things we don’t like.

Perhaps a useful way to view the situation is to consider who and what we, as predator hunters, really are. We’re more independent than we are social, for example. If anti-hunters had their way, hunters would become an endangered species immediately and extinct as soon as possible. They want us gone. We are not paranoid because they really are out to get us.

Anti-hunters gang up as part of their herd mentality. In a natural setting, they are prey while we are predators. Logically, that would give us the deciding edge. But it doesn’t give us the upper hand because the nature of representative government is a herd phenomenon. In other words, the strength in the system and the deciding element in winning is whoever can amass the biggest herd, regardless of the strengths or weaknesses of the individuals within the herd.

What this means when it comes to voting is that whichever herd can turn out the biggest numbers in their herd wins. They can be wrong; they can be despicable. It doesn’t matter who is right. It matters tremendously who turns out the winning numbers. Elections merely establish winners and losers. And that is exactly the reason why the elections this year are so critical for predator hunters. There are not enough of us alone to win anything by ourselves in the greater political arena.

But there are enough of us to be the deciding factor for one side of the fight. In other words, we can’t by ourselves decide the outcome. But absent our votes, pro-hunting candidates might lose where they might have won with our votes. Or, put another way, if the pro-hunting candidates lose by margins so low that, with our votes, they would have won, then it is our negligence that results in anti-hunters being in charge. Do the right thing.

And there are force multipliers we can enlist. In addition to voting ourselves, encourage other family members to vote, urge non-hunters in our circles of acquaintances to vote. Be proactive and help others either get to the polling places or vote early. If every predator hunter can get a friend or family member to vote who otherwise would not have voted, we just doubled our influence in the election. If we can get even more friends and family to vote, our influence increases geometrically.

The future of hunting is in our hands right here, right now. We can do the right thing and help assure a bright future or we can sit on our butts and then later endure the pain of losing our freedoms. Hunting is as old as humanity itself. We inherited the hunting culture from those who came before. It’s our job now to ensure that it doesn’t die on our watch. Vote Now! Hunt Forever!