The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #2100 - Steven Rinella & Cameron Hanes
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Joe Rogan, Rinella, Hanes Dive Deep Into Modern Hunting Ethics
- Joe Rogan, Steven Rinella, and Cameron Hanes spend a long, free‑ranging conversation on hunting—covering gear, archery technique, predator management, and the cultural war around hunting and wildlife. They contrast public and private land hunts, rifle vs. bow, and how technology like trail cams, thermals, and smart sights complicate fair‑chase ethics and regulation.
- A major through‑line is how hunting is portrayed publicly: grip‑and‑grin photos, YouTube restrictions, TV edit formats, and social media all shape non‑hunters’ perception, often in ways hunters don’t intend. They argue hunters must present the full story—meat, ecology, effort, and failure—not just trophies.
- They also tackle controversial topics like wolves and mountain lions in Colorado, coyote control, “trophy hunting” ballot language, and internal jealousy and infighting within the hunting community. Throughout, they return to the spiritual, demanding nature of bowhunting and the responsibility that comes with killing animals.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasDevelop a deliberate shot process to beat target panic.
Using a spoken or mental checklist (e.g., “keep the pin on him”) and closed‑loop systems like Joel Turner’s approach helps archers stay conscious under pressure, avoid flinching, and make ethical shots instead of panicked, reflexive ones.
Practice in real hunting contexts to normalize high‑pressure moments.
Hanes and Rogan stress that you can’t simulate the adrenaline of a bull elk at 20 yards in your backyard; frequent hunts for pigs, deer, or other game build reps that make the rare shot on a big elk or buck feel manageable instead of overwhelming.
Hunters must tell the whole story—especially the meat and the failures.
Rinella explains that early TV hunting rarely showed butchering or cooking, which made kills look like pure trophy pursuits; now, showing necropsies, meat care, cooking, and even unsuccessful hunts helps non‑hunters understand the purpose and difficulty of hunting.
Technological advances force regulators to constantly redraw ethical lines.
Smart sights, cellular trail cams, thermals, drones, long‑range rifles, and electronic nocks all increase effectiveness; states respond by banning or limiting them to preserve low‑success, high‑opportunity seasons and prevent technology from erasing challenge and disrupting quotas.
Predator policy is being decided at the ballot box, often by non‑hunters.
Colorado’s wolf reintroduction and proposed bans on mountain lion/bobcat hunting show how urban voters, guided by emotionally loaded language like “trophy hunting,” can override biologists and rural stakeholders, threatening hunting opportunity and ungulate populations.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIf I read some study that said eating mule deer’s the best thing you can possibly do, I’d be like, ‘Now that’s my kind of study.’
— Steven Rinella
The more things that you can shoot, the better… The difference between how I feel in elk season on years I’m confident is always that I went on a couple other hunts.
— Joe Rogan
I’ve taken quite a number of people on their first hunting trips. I’ve never had any of them regret it, but a strong majority did not pursue it. Didn’t regret it, glad they did it, but didn’t make it part of life.
— Steven Rinella
All I know is that where there’s wolves, there’s way less elk.
— Cameron Hanes
When you see someone and you measure yourself up to him and you fall short, and so you start shitting on that person, everybody knows what you’re doing… Jealousy is a poison that ruins the vessel that carries it.
— Joe Rogan
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