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In an era dominated by social media, a single photo can tell a thousand words—or ignite an online firestorm. How do the images hunters post online shape public perception, and what message are we actually sending to the non-hunting world?
In this episode of the Ascend Podcast, host Adrian sits down with Dr. Britt Hosmer Longoria—traveler, PhD, storyteller, conservationist, and co-founder of the Longoria Hosmer Foundation. Following an experience where a photo of her went viral and triggered intense backlash, Britt pursued a PhD in strategic communication to dive deep into the semiotics—the signs and symbols—of trophy photos on Instagram.
Britt breaks down why traditional "grip and grin" photos often translate as possession and dominance to outsiders, how subtle shifts in body language and perspective can completely change the tone of an image, and how hunters can navigate difficult, emotional conversations on social media.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Britt’s background growing up bird hunting in Maine and her work in African wildlife conservation
- What "semiotics" means and how signs/symbols in photos convey hidden messages
- Why traditional field photos translate differently to hunters vs. non-hunters
- Three simple adjustments to instantly change how your field photos are perceived
- The psychological impact of closed fists, direct eye contact, and showing firearms in photos
- How to respond emotionally—not just logically—when engaging with critics online
- Including "chapters" of the hunt (campfires, preparation, meals) to tell a complete story
Follow along for more real conversations, outdoor stories, and insights from women shaping the future of hunting and conservation.
Join the Ascend Instagram community at @duascend and http://www.ducks.org/ascend.
The Ascend Podcast by Ducks Unlimited is Sponsored by:
Dry Pocket.
Visit drypocket.com and use promo code "ASCEND" for 25% off.
Bird Dig Whiskey.
Visit birddogwhiskey.com. Enjoy Responsibly!
Dry Pocket.
Visit drypocket.com and use promo code "ASCEND" for 25% off.
Bird Dig Whiskey.
Visit birddogwhiskey.com. Enjoy Responsibly!
Creators and Guests
Host
Adrian Jessen
Adrian Jessen is a reviewer, writer, and adult-onset hunter best known as co-founder and on-camera host of the YouTube channel Review This Thing. Since 2020, she and her husband Robbie have published thorough, real‑world reviews and tutorials on optics, firearms, archery, and outdoor gear—built around a promise to be complete, honest, and unbiased. Adrian also contributes to titles such as North American Deer Hunter and Crossbow Magazine. When she isn’t testing new kit, she’s likely chasing spring gobblers or helping new hunters choose reliable gear and build safe, ethical skills.
What is ASCEND by Ducks Unlimited?
Ascend is a multimedia platform that spotlights the millions of outdoorswomen across our country who go hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, biking, running, and perform important conservation work every day.
Our web series and podcast feature guests who share their experiences with a focus on entertainment, education, and authenticity. Our viewers and listeners will get to know them and learn all about their passion for the outdoors. Whether you've been in outdoor communities all your life or are just getting started, Ascend is the place for you to follow your story!
Brought to you by Ducks Unlimited.
Other things. And it's, again, interesting that we don't we don't call out people. We don't we don't because it's like, oh, well, they're a hunter, and I'm a hunter, and I don't I don't wanna get Negative feedback.
Adrian:Yes. Either. Mean meanwhile, if somebody's using the the wrong kind of shell, they'll have a fight about that all day.
Adrian:But Right. Anyway.
Britt Longoria:Where women could come and just be them. You just have to be fearless. What
Adrian:drew me to hunting was that it made me feel empowered.
VO:Presented by Ducks Unlimited. The women who come on to this podcast share their passion, their knowledge, and their stories.
Adrian:I share that love for wildlife. Clean water is important to them too. They just don't have a voice to tell us.
VO:I wanted to be in the mud, in the dirt. I loved it. This is ASCEND, connecting women to the outdoors.
Adrian:Welcome to the ASCEND podcast by Ducks Unlimited. I'm Adrian, and today's topic is one that I think impacts every single one of us, and that is social media and the perception of hunters and hunting. Today, I'm joined by Britt Longoria. And in her own words, she is a traveler, PhD, storyteller, and conservationist dedicated to exploring the connections between humans, wilderness, and wildlife. She's also the cofounder and president of the Longoria Hossmer Foundation whose mission is to protect vast interconnected landscapes and the wildlife they depend on.
Adrian:So, Britt, thank you so much for being here.
Britt Longoria:Oh my goodness. Thank you, Adrian. I'm really happy to be here.
Adrian:This is gonna be really interesting. I'm excited to to chat with you a bit. I was introduced to Britt. It's been a few months ago. A friend sent over a podcast that he had been listening to.
Adrian:And on that podcast, you were talking I don't think this was what the whole thing was about, but you delved in a little bit to this exact same topic. And we've had a few other guests mention that social media and the landscape and all that and what we can think about, do differently if we need to. It was was one of the big topics. So before we get into that, though, I want you to tell everybody a little bit more about who you are.
Britt Longoria:Absolutely. So I grew up on the coast Of Maine and was introduced to hunting through my father, Joe Hosmer, and we would go, you know, duck hunting on the coast and woodcock and grouse in the woods. And that was kind of my gateway drug into hunting. And the hunting sporting world was woods with bird dogs, really. So then my life took me to Africa, and I worked in Southern Africa and East Africa and do a lot of work still overseas with different nonprofits and conservation groups.
Britt Longoria:And right now, I am based in Texas. So that's kind of my my circular motion from Maine to Africa to Texas.
Adrian:Now this is totally off topic, but one thing that I am very intrigued about is I hear that Maine is, I guess, what they call a reverse posted state. So in terms of especially turkey hunting, like, if unless it is posted, you have access. You have permission.
Britt Longoria:100%. And that was a super big difference between Maine and Texas where everything's posted and you don't have access. Where in Maine, you literally can pull off on the side of the road courtesy to go and knock on the door if you know whose property it is and say, hey. Is it fine that I'm hunting here? But, yeah, you just throw your dogs and a shotgun in the back of the truck, and you can go wherever you
Adrian:want. Man, I need to go to Maine. Anyway okay. But, again, off topic. But so I'm I wanna ask a little bit more about Africa because that I feel like there's a huge connection between especially Africa and hunting and our topic today.
Adrian:So talk a little bit more about really how you were drawn to Africa and and the the most important things you do there.
Britt Longoria:For sure. So Africa, it was a essentially my little girl dream as growing up in Maine to own a safari company. So everything that I did was to prepare myself to have that that creation. And it was definitely one of those things that influenced what I thought about wildlife and wilderness because it became something that was very, just I was so passionate about it. And it was so different than growing up in Maine where you're, let's say, deer hunting and you see only a squirrel.
Britt Longoria:And it's like, oh my gosh. This is so boring. Whereas in Africa, you're constantly seeing, you know, whether it's vervet monkeys or warthogs or impala or Cape buffalo. I mean, there's always motion and movement. So I really fell in love with the wildlife and wilderness of Africa, and that was definitely how my own psyche really got so passionate and in love with Africa as not just a single country, but all the different regions of the continent of Africa.
Adrian:Yeah. That's really cool. So do you do you still do you run the safari company?
Britt Longoria:No. No. What I do is I basically am a client. Like, I go there, and I don't have a safari company, but I I either am working with different conservation groups or I'm booking my own hunts or photo safaris and going and enjoying just as a private individual.
Adrian:Wow. That's really cool. That's it's interesting. That was never something I thought I would be interested in. But then this year, we went to New Zealand to hunt.
Adrian:It was our first time ever hunting out of the country, so now it's kinda like, maybe I do wanna go to Africa.
Britt Longoria:Well and for all the the bird hunters, I mean, just South Africa unto itself has oh my gosh. I mean, you can you can hunt so many different species of waterfowl and sparfowl, which is like partridge and, you know, it's guinea fowl. You can literally hunt maybe 10 different species in one region. So it's an extremely good destination for the wing shooters, not just, I mean, we always think of Africa as being a big game destination. But for the people that are passionate about collecting different different waterfowl and upland species, it's fabulous.
Adrian:Well, that's really cool. I did not know that. Something to learn today. So, especially, let's talk about your PhD. So what is your PhD in?
Britt Longoria:It's in strategic communication, which is basically how I narrowed the scope of what does that mean. So my dissertation was specifically on trophy photos that are shared publicly on specifically Instagram was the the platform that I that I used. So that was kind of the funnel that I then did a deep dive into.
Adrian:Okay. Good. So then you know lots and lots of information about this. So I'm very I'm very interested because I've had conversations with people that really sit on both sides of the philosophy, I suppose. Like, I've had conversations with people who feel there needs to be adjustments made to how people share their photos, And then I've had conversations with people who feel like kinda like it's our thing.
Adrian:They shouldn't tell us how to how to present it. So I guess kinda walk us through that funnel of what you learned in this whole dissertation process.
Britt Longoria:So why I did my PhD in the the beginning? Because it wasn't for getting into academia or to further a career. It was to answer a question for myself. So in I think it was 2018, I had a photo that was stolen from the Safari Club International Record Book, and it was a photo of me holding a leopard. And it was kind of that classic safari stance where I'm holding it up because then you're showing the length of the animal and the size and everything like that.
Britt Longoria:So it wasn't yes. It was a big leopard. Yes. It was me. Yes.
Britt Longoria:I was smiling, holding it, and I did not post it, but it went viral. And got death threats and hate mail and horrible stuff going on, and it just really begged the question why. Why was this so spectacular in the sense that it made people so mad, so angry. And it kinda started my journey of, well, let me share my my story. I mean, everyone's painting me of this villain.
Britt Longoria:Why do they feel like that when they don't know me personally? They don't know anything about the behind the scenes story. So that progressed into me wanting to do a deeper dive into the semiotics of trophy photos. Now semiotics is the signs and symbols within images and language. So if you, for instance, think of a weather vane sitting on top of a house or a barn, It's a tangible metal object, you know, with north, south, east, west, and then the moving point which illustrates the direction of the wind.
Britt Longoria:So it has a tangible this is a metal object, but then it also has a symbolic meaning that it represents wind direction. So you can have a tangible item and a symbolic meaning in field photos. And so my study wasn't so much of this is right or wrong. It was what are the symbols within different styles of field photos that then convey messages to people? How is it being interpreted?
Britt Longoria:In my opinion, when I started, I thought that there was something lost in translation because hunting to me was spiritual, emotional, very, very deep family history, you know, times with my my husband and my father, my son, you know, that that it had so much more meaning to it than what was being determined by these outsiders looking in. And what I found
VO:Mhmm.
Britt Longoria:Was that in traditional trophy photos, what we as hunters are saying is exactly what is being interpreted. And that was surprising to me because I thought there was something lost in translation. But what we're presenting, whether it's the smile engaging with the camera, direct eye contact with your potential audience, kind of your grip and grin, holding on closed fist is ownership, you know, my accomplishment. And so it translates exactly what we are saying even though that's not the story that we're using to defend ourselves. So in the hunting world, we often say, well, it's, you know, for conservation and ecological management.
Britt Longoria:We're, you know, managing populations. We're providing funds to rural economies, and we're filling the freezer. Well, those stories are not what's being portrayed in the vast majority of what we're sharing online. So what I did, again, wasn't right or wrong. It was let's break down themes that are found in trophy photos.
Britt Longoria:So I basically took a random sampling of the most influential women hunters on Instagram, categorized, I think, 200, 250 images, and pulled out semiotics. So I found signs and symbols that were repeating and then manually broke it down into what that story was telling. And then I took then I took about I think it was about 2,000 pages of transcripts of interviews with people that then relooked at the images that I was breaking down to just kind of cross reference. Am I seeing the same imagery that you know, is is it's not just my opinion. I want I want other people to validate.
Britt Longoria:Are they pulling that same meaning out of these images? So through through the images and the interviews, seven different themes became very relevant as far as what story is being produced or being presented. And so the research basically culminates into what do you want to share. Do you want to share this is my accomplishment? Great.
Britt Longoria:Here here's how you present it. If you are saying, I want to talk about the conservation value of why I hunt. This is how to present it with minor little tweaks. I mean, you still have the same subject, but how you place your hand, where you're looking, what is being presented. Is the animal being posed?
Britt Longoria:Is it in a natural position? Is the image close-up to you and the hunter, or are you stepping landscape and mountains or marshland in the back? So it basically walks the hunter through changing those signs and symbols to then parlay with the story that you wanna present. So when you are putting it on a social media platform where you don't have necessarily all hunters looking at what looking at it and understanding what you mean because they understand it from their own perspective, it it then helps to control the narrative that you would like to project. So that was kind of the culmination of the dissertation.
Adrian:So then the whole time you're you're saying this, I'm like, okay. So is there a course or a, like, guidebook that we could see?
Britt Longoria:Right. Okay. So so this is my this is my dissertation. So this is about 300 pages of just everything. Right.
Britt Longoria:Right. And so what I'm doing now is I'm going to be working with some professors to essentially do my postdoc, which is a post doctoral studies and being able to break down this 300 page study and research Mhmm. And put it into layman's terms. So I hope so this is now available online. If someone were to search my name and the dissertation, it it is publicly available now.
Britt Longoria:But what I'm gonna do is be able to break it down into articles and into infographics. And then, working with some folks at NRA to get it into, outdoor education courses like hunters ed or first time hunters or women in the outdoors and things like that where we will be able to educate from the basis of a storytelling, a digital storytelling perspective, whether it's a gun manufacturer or clothing company or just us posting online to be able to take back our narrative of what we want to communicate. So it's in the works.
Adrian:No. I I really like yeah. That's that's wonderful. So we will if if you will get it to us, we will share the link to your dissertation below if somebody wants to, you know, check that out without searching. But that I think that would be super helpful in many ways.
Adrian:One, if someone well, a, coming as a content creator, having a a bigger basket to pull from, you know, instead of just being like, this is the picture I always take. It's like, okay. Well, I you can also think about this while you're hunting or think about this if you do get a trophy or what are how can you do a better job of telling your story versus just, you know, yay. I'm excited. I got what I was going for.
Britt Longoria:And that's one of the really interesting things about taking photos is that our style of taking a photo has not really changed. So if you think about it, it was taken during a time with film, and it would be shared amongst friends. So it's it's essentially an artifact that we are now sharing with people that aren't our close friends. And originally from a psychological perspective that our method of sharing has changed tremendously from, you know, paper printed film to now being accessible to the whole world. So Mhmm.
Britt Longoria:It's it's a very different reason why Right. Why we're sharing and who we're sharing to. So changing the format and the context of our images, I think, probably should progress Right. With with the change of of audience.
Adrian:And that makes sense because, like you said, used to you printed your picture and you took it to work or you took it to the, you know, the the next deer camp or whatever. And you know those people wanna see it. You know they care. So but so here's the the question I have first, and then we're kinda talk to the, I guess, more negative bent. So first is how do what did you find that other hunters, so people who are are on board, how they tend to respond to different styles of of the photos?
Britt Longoria:Great question. So I think that one of the interesting aspects was everyone felt that there are images online that they don't like. You know, too much blood, the tongue hanging out, the, you know, the real expressive ones where, you know, someone's holding up their bow or their rifle and there's too much celebration. Everyone in the interviews or I see the majority of people in the interviews were like, this has some to it. Like, I don't I don't love this.
Britt Longoria:But they weren't gonna call an out on it. And I thought that was very interesting that they didn't like it, but they didn't want to be our own police in the sense, which might be a problem within the hunting community. If we're nervous of calling out other hunters where it's like, you know, that's just not that's distasteful. That that's just not appropriate. That's just not a good look for anyone.
Britt Longoria:So that was interesting. And then there was this element where you would have this very classic, what I'm gonna call grip and grin, where, you know, holding onto the antlers of the deer, smiling, engaging with the camera, you know, gripping and grinning. And what was interesting was that image, even though it might not have a lot of blood or the tongue out, everything was very my opinion and others' opinion, very tasteful, very normal. For a non hunter, that image was just as triggering as the very overly celebrating one because it had the same semiotics of ownership of this is mine, of this is my dear, of possession, of celebration, of smiling. Yeah.
Britt Longoria:So that was also very interesting that to someone who was not familiar with hunting and our, you know, types of normal field photos that that was just as as the hunters to something that was overtly excessive. So then what happened was very interesting. So if you very simply, instead of looking at the camera and smiling, if you turn your gaze to the animal, you now are shifting a symbol of rather look at me and I'm celebrating to admiring the animal. And if you take a clenched fist that's maybe on an antler or on an ear or something like that and lay it flat, then that all of a sudden changes the symbolism of possession versus, you know, not as aggressive, I guess. So you you you have the same exact person and animal and whatever in it, and these minor little tweaks completely change the temperature in which someone receives it.
Adrian:Okay. Wait. Before we get into this, because I wanna I wanna talk about that a little bit more, but we need to take a little bit of a break. So we need to hear from our sponsors, and then I wanna come back and dig in a little bit more to that very exact thing. Okay.
Adrian:Welcome back. Here's what my my question is because the the you know, earlier I mentioned that I've had conversations with people who think we shouldn't have to change a thing. Like, don't mess with hunting. If you don't like it, you don't have to like what I do. Leave your opinions out of what I do.
Adrian:Now, obviously, there is the thought of, well, then don't post post your stuff publicly. There's there's that thought. If you don't want public scrutiny, don't post publicly. But the thing that is very interesting to me about that is you're not saying don't take a picture with the animal that you harvested. You're like, you're not saying don't take your grip and grin.
Adrian:It's just make slight adjustments that show what you truly feel. Most hunters that that I know have such respect for these animals and such love and such like, there is such a story behind the whole hunt and the process that just two minor changes. Look at the animal flat hand, and now it's a whole different outlook.
Britt Longoria:Yeah. It's and it's very it it's not about hiding or not being proud of who we are and what we do, but it's knowing our audience. That if we do not have control of who sees what we're posting, then it's our responsibility to hunters in general, to our community in general Mhmm. To be aware of what we're sharing. Because it it's not just about you.
Britt Longoria:It's about me. It's about you. It's about you know, it's it's we individually represent all of hunting. And kind of tying back to my leopard experience with that photo is I came to this moment where I said, this isn't about Britt Longoria. This is about hunters and about hunting.
Britt Longoria:And in that image, I was personifying what people assumed hunters are and who they are. And so with that comes a responsibility and knowledge that they weren't mad at me as an individual. They didn't know who the heck I who who I am. They're mad at the concept of a traveling woman going out and, quote, unquote, dominating and taking this possession photo of this animal and being happy and being celebratory of it. So, again, like I said, I was representing something that's much larger.
Britt Longoria:And so if people are gonna post something online, they need to understand this isn't about us as individuals. This is about us as a community.
Adrian:And especially as fewer people have access, fewer people hunt, and whatnot, we need we need people who don't hunt on our side as much as the people who do hunt.
Britt Longoria:Or at least not to care. Yeah. You know, in in the sense that I don't need to change someone's mind if they're a non hunter or even if they're an anti hunter. But if they look at a photo and are not triggered and ignore it, that's better for me as a hunter than having to fight and explain and, you know, claw tooth and nail and be like, this is why I do it and you know? Because those yes.
Britt Longoria:There's always gonna be people that are anti hunting, and there's always gonna be people that are hunters that are just like, this is how I'm gonna do it, and I'm never gonna change. And, you know, they can die on that hill. Right. So but it's it's one of those things that the majority of people I'd rather have an image that is so forgettable Mhmm. That they don't engage with it.
Britt Longoria:But that's the catch 22 within our social media circles of we do want the likes. We do want the engagement and the feedback. And from the hunting community, that psych again, psychologically is very validating for the images that we post. So if we post very humble, you know, face you know, looking at the animal, you know, the animals may be laying more naturally versus posed in a in a unnatural way, then all of a sudden you lose the engagement. So then it's like, why am I posting?
Britt Longoria:So it's Right. It's a very interesting cyclical thing where we need to figure out why we're why we're posting. And Yeah. If it's to educate or if it's to share and get likes. So pick your story.
Britt Longoria:I guess It's fine either way.
Adrian:Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. As long as you know your purpose, then Exactly.
Adrian:Here's how you complete that. Yeah. One thing I was gonna say earlier, I would be so interested for you guys watching and listening. If you're a hunter or if you're not, comment and let us know what the things are because like Britt said, there is something you don't like. There is something I've I've seen plenty of pictures where I'm like, ugh.
Adrian:I don't really like that. Wish I hadn't done that. And so comment below and let us know what the things are in trophy or hunting pictures you've seen that you don't like. I would be very interested in this community to see what it is that turns people off.
Britt Longoria:Well, I mean, even in my my interviews talking with some of the the duck hunters that they did not one thing that popped up a bunch was when someone puts a duck bill in their mouth and takes a photo like that. Mhmm. That that was one of the things that was mentioned that I remember several times that they're like, why do people do that? It's so disrespectful to the animal. It's you know, things things like that.
Britt Longoria:So I'm sure that there are other other things, and it's, again, interesting that we don't we don't call out people. We don't we Right. Because it's like, oh, well, they're a hunter, and I'm a hunter, and I don't I don't wanna get
VO:Negative feedback. Either. Mean meanwhile, if somebody's using the the wrong kind of shell, they'll have a fight about that all day. But Right.
Adrian:Anyway. The other thing that that I think is very interesting is I would be really interested for you to
VO:I
Adrian:don't know. I guess, like, after the study to go back and, like, Photoshop some of the same pictures and see what the responses would be. Like, even if it was just, you know, like the exact same picture, just, you know, tweak those couple little things and see what if if that same picture gets different responses just on those little those little tweaks.
Britt Longoria:Oh, for sure. For sure. No. I think I think that there would be a very you know, clean up the blood or, like, remove the tongue. Yeah.
Britt Longoria:Another thing that popped up a lot was that firearms in the images often is a symbol that for a non hunter correlates more with, I don't wanna say, like, violence and aggression and more of the masculine type leaning things. Whereas no firearm or a like, a bow and arrow was not as triggering. So that was also an interesting element. Again, just signs and symbols and what people initially think about.
Adrian:And it it's funny because, like, from the side of, you know, hunters who are you know, they're like, oh, this is my granddad's shotgun. You know? They they wanna put the the granddad shotgun in the pic in the picture with them or, you know, this is the rifle the first rifle I bought for myself or whatever the case is. But, again, if you're not how can you portray that story in a way that doesn't necessarily say something opposite of what you're trying to say?
Britt Longoria:And, again, it it ties back to the the audience. You know, take the photos with the guns, but maybe that's not the one that you're posting online where the general public sees. So it's it's, you know, again, it's pick pick your story. Pick what you what you wanna what you wanna say and how you wanna say it, but know how different elements within the image completely change the narrative for someone who's never been hunting.
Adrian:Obviously, you've got you've got a lot of work to do to get us some literature available so it's easy to digest and use, which I'm super excited about. I whenever you get that ready, like, I'm gonna speak for ASCEND, but definitely, like, reach back out, and we'd love to help get that out there and share it with our community. And that'd be great, I think. Hopefully, you guys do too. But, anyway, so with I'll just speak for them.
Adrian:They'll they don't mind. So what Ruby says thumbs up, so we're good. But hang on. I lost my train of thought. Oh, so my question I would love to know, like, what would you say the top three things as as we're approaching the months of getting ready for deer season or, you know, elk or pronghorn coming up soon?
Adrian:What are the three things you would say, okay, lady hunters? Maybe consider this if this if this is your story to get a little bit more favorable response to your photos.
Britt Longoria:So one of the thing one of the themes is the concept of we have to work hard for what we do. And I think that that's one of the great things about North American hunts is that you have beautiful landscape. So take a little bit step back, your your camera person or where you set up your your phone or however you do it so you get a little bit more landscape in because you wanna illustrate, I worked for this. I I did this versus just a close-up of you and the animal. So topography is great with the landscape.
Britt Longoria:Open hands. Open hands on the animal or not touching the animal is often better than the grip and grin, the closed fen fist. You are welcome to smile, but look at the animal rather than engaging directly with the camera. And those three very simple things will totally change, like I said, the temperature of how people perceive the imagery.
Adrian:That and that's super easy to do. Those are Yeah. Three really easy you know, that's if you just remember those three things, then theoretically, a little bit better perception of you as a hunter and hunters in general.
Britt Longoria:Yep. For for your online audience. I mean, still take your grim and grin photos and, you know, be be happy and proud
Adrian:of what
Britt Longoria:you do.
Adrian:Send it out to all of your all of your your text groups that you could find.
Britt Longoria:Yeah. For sure.
VO:And then I guess they all get it.
Adrian:Yeah. They get it. For sure. I guess too, like but then you obviously, you're the one that did the research, but I would think if you have some, I guess, more candid, you know, like, the high fives with your friend from far back or the hugs or the sitting around the campfire photos, like, what kind of perception do those tend to get?
Britt Longoria:Excessive celebration can be seen as a negative. But if you are you know? And and, also, remember, if the animal is lying lying down or flat, that if you're standing up over it, that illustrates a sign of dominance. So be careful with with those types of images.
Adrian:But Gotcha.
Britt Longoria:But I would say that, you know, if there is a a really nice hug or arm around each other or something like that, that that yeah. Absolutely. Share and showcase that this is a collective effort and that part of our story as hunters is that we do it because of of the social side. I mean, some of the best laughs and funniest moments have been in hunting camps. And it's like, you're just as excited to spend times with friends and family as you are to pull the trigger.
Britt Longoria:So I think including people in your storytelling aspect is is great. And the more images that you can illustrate and show the campfires and the meals and the camaraderie in the collective, okay. Yes. Here's my field photo. My kind of the the end piece of the story, but include the chapters of getting ready and preparing and enjoying the whole experience, I think, is really crucial to to your online audience of showcasing everything that goes into a hunt before and after.
Adrian:Right. Have you found any value in the text? So are people just concerned with the image? Like, if you had a traditional grip and grin, but it somebody's telling the whole story of, you know, they hunted this deer for the past four weeks. And
Britt Longoria:People don't read. People are lazy.
Adrian:That's true. Yeah.
Britt Longoria:The stories are great, and the people that are gonna read it are probably really gonna appreciate it and wanna wanna learn. But if someone's just skimming through and it's popped up on their feed and they they're going to react emotionally before they react logically. So they're not gonna they're gonna be triggered by something good or bad and react to that emotion before they're going to pause and want to learn why they were triggered by something. So, yes, words are great, but don't don't expect people to read it.
Adrian:That makes sense. Especially, like, I mean, if I've, you know, been scrolling through and seen a picture, I'm like, ugh. What? Like, I'm not gonna be like, let me just let me just read a little bit more about what's going on here. Exactly.
Adrian:I'm just gonna scroll right on past it. So that makes sense. Yeah. Are there avenues that you found so let's say somebody get you know, gets a mountain lion, and I've seen a lot of the pictures same way with the leopard, you know, standing up holding it. And they post it and they get a lot of negative comments.
Adrian:What would you say what's the best from your research, I guess, method to maybe soften that heart once the picture's already out there?
Britt Longoria:You know, the thing is you can you kinda can't in a in a short sense. If someone if someone's really upset about an image, it's going to take a lot to get them back into a sense of discussing something. So if you think about it from the perspective of, you know, you and your partner are fighting and, you know, there'd be situations where, you know, my husband would be talking very logically and it probably made a 100% sense, but I was emotional. I was like, no. This is how I feel.
Adrian:And so Yeah.
Britt Longoria:You've gotta remember that oftentimes, we defend hunting with facts and figures. And if anything's going to soften Yeah. Someone who's emotional is that you discuss something from an emotional standpoint. So if you want to dive into the conversation and you see that, you know, this in the sense of this person's asking honest questions and they're being, you know, respectful versus someone that's just coming just from nasty land. And yeah.
Britt Longoria:So that that's not really worth worth my time. But if someone's actually engaging, the best sense is to meet them in their own language. So you don't start off by saying this is for, you know, biological management, and I'm filling the freezer. You start off with your own emotions. And I think for women, that can often be easier than men.
Britt Longoria:So in the hunting genre, and I go into this in the in the dissertation as well, where we are better able to say, you know what? I am a mom, and I really care about what my son eats. And I wanna know what I'm feeding him. And I wanna know as a meat eater, what is it like to take a life? Like, I'm I'm able to go to a store and buy a steak and not have any connection to the animal or the process or to the warm gut pile that was on the floor.
Britt Longoria:But I I am consuming it.
Adrian:Yeah.
Britt Longoria:And, emotionally, I want to be in a place where I understand that privilege that I'm able to do this. So all of a sudden, you're not talking about filling the freezer. You're talking about the emotional responsibility of why you wanted to do it. So it's the same conversation, but it's coming at it from a completely different perspective that then makes someone soften and open because you're talking emotionally versus facts and figures.
Adrian:Right. And that makes sense. You you're if someone has an emotional response to seeing your hunting photo, then the only way to bring that down is to kinda match that level of emotion. Yeah. That makes sense.
Britt Longoria:And and facts and figures are important. I mean, don't get me wrong. Don't we don't you? I'm not some, you know, like, all la la land emotions. Right.
Britt Longoria:But it's like, they they have their place, absolutely, in this conversation. But if you want to meet someone on the level they're coming at, you need to talk in the same language.
Adrian:Yeah. And then once I mean, and it makes sense because once you've kinda gotten them so, you know, it's it's kinda like when you if you are having an argument with anybody, you know, if you come in at at a nine and they come in at, like, a two and they're like, well, it's know, this are the facts, then that person's just gonna get more angry and more emotional because the only way for you to understand how mad they are is for them to get madder because clearly you don't get it. So if you could kinda meet them a little closer and then get them to calm down, then your facts and figures can have can be useful. Absolutely. Where like, yeah.
Britt Longoria:It's it's like the
Adrian:it's I mean, it makes sense.
Britt Longoria:It's like that joke where it's like, have you ever heard someone or have you ever seen someone calm down when when someone's been telling them, calm down. They're not gonna calm down.
Adrian:Yeah. That works every time. Every single time. Yeah. Yeah.
Adrian:That's awesome. No. That's this is really awesome. I think this is great information. I love the the top three tips that, you know, we can apply right now.
Adrian:I love the fact that there's more information to come. And and as I said, I think it's really it it is a handy tool to think there are seven potential buckets that we can pull from. Like, okay. I want my photos to portray this. Well, this is the bucket I wanna pull from.
Adrian:This is how I want my photos to look. So what's super neat is the information you're providing is helpful on multiple fronts. Front a is how can we do a better job of showing people what we really do and why we love it and how it is is beneficial. And then bucket two is so many people, you know, us included, are creating content and want people to engage with that content. So here's a resource to do a better job of it and have more you know, wider array.
Adrian:So this has been great, Bria. I'm super glad that that you came and hung out with us today.
Britt Longoria:Oh, my pleasure. Thank you, Adrian.
Adrian:So definitely check out the links below. We're gonna get with Britt whenever she has some more of that information ready, and we'll get it out to you guys so that we can all do a better job and and present hunting as it is because we all love it, and we wanna be able to keep doing it forever and ever. Britt, while you're here, tell everybody where they can follow you and and keep up with what you're doing.
Britt Longoria:Sure. So I am on Instagram. So Britt Longoria and Facebook and, I guess, TikTok and all kinds of places. And that's that's a lot of my conservation work. So international adventures and wildlife and cool stuff like that.
Britt Longoria:And then, the Longoria Hosmer Foundation is just longoria hosmer dot org. We do a couple fundraisers per year that then goes kind of into our our great conservation outdoor world. So that's kinda the two places where I'm most active.
Adrian:Excellent. That's perfect. So we'll have links to that below to you guys. Also, we'll have links to DUSEND on Instagram and all of our social links, so make sure you're following along. This community is just growing, and we really want all of you to be a part of it.
Adrian:We're trying to just make a place where every woman that wants to do something outdoors doesn't necessarily have to be hunting, but something outdoors has a place to learn and grow and feel welcome and really feel part of a community that keeps you in it. That's that's the main goal. So thank you guys for being here. Thanks, Britt, again for your time. As always, this is Adrian encouraging you to follow your story wherever it takes you.
VO:Thank you for listening to the ASCEND podcast. New every week, the conservation driven podcast one week, and our adventure video series the next. Watch the ASCEND adventure episodes on the Ducks Unlimited YouTube channel, and be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited. Until next time, follow your outdoor story wherever it leads you.
VO:ASCEND.