Red Dog and Deer Hunting

First off...No!

I never have partaken while hunting. I never will. It's stupid, it's against the law, and it will get you killed. Don't do it.

Having said that, beer made me more cognizant of all things deer because of an incident I had with it about 25 years ago. I have become not only a smarter hunter, but a much-improved wildlife biologist. Here is how good ol' beer changed my life.

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As a young broke college graduate with a degree in wildlife biology I was not only working a crappy job as a medical technician (don't ask), I was also desperately hurting for money. To help pay the ever-increasing pile of bills, I accepted numerous side jobs, one of which included drinking beer for money.

Yes...you read that right.

I was getting paid to drink beer.

Before anyone quits their job or files their retirement papers early let me explain. In my younger days I was a big fan of beer and since it was a whole lot easier than donating bodily fluids, I signed up for a side gig with a market research company to test new beer products.

It was quite simple. Each week they gave me a six-pack of beer and each week I drank it. Each six-pack was labeled with a different letter; A, B, C, D, and so on and so forth. The bottles were dark and unmarked. They bore no labels or other distinguishing features to identify name brands. They paid me $50 a month to do this. Now you know why you shouldn't quit your day job. The only real work I had to do was filling out a questionnaire at the end of each week rating the beer on different qualities such as taste, smoothness, texture, foam, aftertaste, etc.

Other than being perpetually broke, life was grand.

Anyhow, after I had sampled and rated about a dozen different beers the research company brought me and all the other blind participants in for a panel discussion. Just so you know, the other participants were blind to each other, not the world. In other words, no one knew who else was participating in the study. This way the participants couldn't discuss the beer amongst themselves during the rating process. I should also add that the participants in this study were all male, this will be important later.

At the onset of the meeting the facilitator revealed the results of our recently concluded beer taste test. Admittedly, the results were outstanding given their consistency. Most folks agreed on which beers rated highest, or tasted the best. And most folks also agreed that there were one or two really really bad beers. Yes, there were a few outliers where folks disagreed on the product but that is typical in data, especially when it relies upon individual opinion. But for the most part, the study showed that most everyone agreed on which beers were good and which beers were bad

Now this is where it gets interesting.

After revealing the results, they proceeded to show the panel a series of beer commercials. It was on a new beer they were developing called "Red Dog." It was portrayed as a "man's beer." The commercials were clever and very well made. The commercials suggested that if you drank this brand of beer, you turned into a bulldog and no one messed with you or your friends. You could also get girls with a mere wink of an eye. In other words, if you drank Red Dog you were going to be seen as masculine, a real tough guy, a man's man as well as a lady's man. Hell...after watching the commercials, you WANTED to drink this beer. You wanted to prove to the world that you drank Red Dog and you were tough AND lovable, like a bulldog.

They then served us all a bottle of Red Dog.

I had to choke it down. It was awful.

They then asked us to rate the beer but this time they asked for our opinions verbally. I was astounded. Participant after participant raved about how awesome Red Dog was.

"Man that's good beer!"

"I would drink that all the time."

"That is one of the best beers I have ever tasted!"

Then they asked me.

"That tasted like p*ss from a bulldog."

Yes, I was much more uncouth in my younger days but I have always been honest.

Everyone gasped in horror. How could he, meaning me, not want to be cool?!?

Actually, it was pretty simple. I didn't want to drink bulldog p*ss.

After the facilitator settled everyone down he continued with the discussion and received comments from the entire panel, a few of which even agreed with my assessment after the beer's sanctity had been breached. Overall, however, Red Dog beer received one of the highest ratings from the entire group.

That was when he dropped the bomb.

He informed the group that Red Dog was already one of the beers the panel had sampled earlier in the survey. And remarkably, in the blind test taste, Red Dog rated as one of those really really BAD beers.

Yet here was everyone, except me and a few others mind you, who's opinion had changed, not because the taste had changed but because someone on TV told them it was a really GOOD beer. It was going to make them a MAN!

Ahhh...the power of the advertising.

If there is anything the beer experience taught me it is the skill of critical thinking. A skill which regrettably, most people lack, especially the beer drinkers! They let emotion override data and facts. Simply put, you can take an immensely inferior product and make people believe it is the best thing out there simply by telling them how great it is, even when it's proven not.

All right, I get it, but what the heck does this have to do with deer hunting and wildlife management? Well, the former is my passion while the latter is my profession and unfortunately both worlds are ripe with overly-convincing advertising and unknowing people buying into it. There are numerous products and gizmos and philosophies all claiming to grow bigger and better deer yet barely a stitch of data ever supports their claims. In fact, science oftentimes refutes them. Yet the allure of shooting "monster bucks" overrides data and biology.

And as powerful a skill as critical thinking is, it is also quite sobering. For it allows you to see trends, even the not-so-good ones. This is the trend many of us currently see in deer hunting. Where science is brushed aside and unrealistic dreams are not only pursued but promised...the bulldog illusions.

So here I sit, an educator in the science-based field of deer management, a field that is dominated by mass media and marketing. Where packaging and false promises reign supreme. Where pictures overpower data and where charlatans and self-proclaimed gurus not only steal your money but steal the show. In a few short generations we'll probably wonder what happened to deer hunting and only but a handful of us will know how great and fulfilling it once tasted.

Sigh...makes me wanna go have a beer.

If I do, whatever it is, it sure ain't gonna be a Red Dog.