Animal Rights Protest at the Denver Sportmens Expo

[CurlyTail]

I went to the Denver International Sportsmens Expo on Saturday. It was a very entertaining day.

The audience was seated for an Early Season Elk Hunting Seminar with Chris Roe as the presenter

As he began the seminar a young man in the front row stood up and began shouting at Mr. Roe. It was loud in the convention center so you could not hear what he was saying. Initially Mr. Roe thought he was asking a question.

The shouting continued, with the young man yelling "Animals feel pain...". Then a contingent of about 10 college aged Asian girls marched in down the center isle replying "...Just like us!"

They marched down front and continued their chant, not allowing the presentation to begin. These young girls were passionate, but not very intimidating, and the whole thing was more comical than threatening.

Once people figured out what was going on, a few audience members rose to the bait , and reacted angrily shouting down the protesters. Mr. Roe was very composed and level headed and tried to keep everyone calm until security could come.

After about 5 minutes, security showed up and gently shoved the protesters out of the way, and the presentation continued.

Interestingly, prior to the protest, the audience was about 3/4 full. After the protest, there were no empty seats.

Overall, I suspect most people in attendance at the expo, never were even aware of the protest. Happened about 4:30 pm.

Just kind of amazed me that there is a segment of society that considers hunting to be animal cruelty. I just take it for granted that hunting is not controversial because in Western Nebraska where I live - everyone hunts. It is just normal. Maybe that is why I choose to live here.

[under H2O hunter]

Actually it was a bigger deal then what your write up indicates...

The protesters be it uneducated and not well organized got the attention that they wanted. Probably more so then what they deserved. One thing that they also got was assaulted physically. I was sitting towards the front and several of the girls that were protesting were drug by their bag straps and pushed out of the way from the stage. The people trying to drag them and push them were not security personal. As well as the Scott with Sportsmans Radio show also ripped their signs out of their hands. Now yes lots of people in the audience including myself clapped at this but what you may not know is that Scott was detained by the Denver Police for several hours afterwards. While I understand they have a right to their own opinions, and the right to protest in a "public forum"; a right that many of those in this room including myself would gladly defend. I do not understand why they thought that interrupting a private "pay for admission" event would have anything besides a "laughable" impact.

The thing to remember about all this is that even though everyone may not agree on hunting we as hunters can not react to those that disagree with our way of life. Especially in the fashion that a few of the patrons at the seminar did. When we bring ourselves down to their level we are no long in control and we have turned ourselves into part of the show.

One of the things that I found funny though was most of the protesters had either leather belts, shoes, or hand bags on So if your gonna protest about killing animals why wear garments made from the killing of other animals like cows?

[CurlyTail]

I was uncomfortable with some of the pushing and snatching of posters. It was close to getting out of hand for these protesters. Some of the guys in the audience looked like they would be willing to escalate things to another level. I did feel that it stopped just short of any type of punishable activity, and I do think the protesters were asking to be forcefully removed by positioning themselves between the speaker and the audience. I was glad Chris Roe was calm and good humored in his response or I think it would have gotten ugly indeed.

I totally agree that the response to protests like this need to be calm and reasoned. I am sure that most of those girls are very sweet and have good intentions - just a bit ignorant of the facts and inexperienced. I would love to know if any of the protesters have actually been on a hunting trip. Good point about the leather purses.

My brother and I just stood up and turned our backs on the protesters

I was happy that I did not see the event reported in the local newspaper

[Indian Summer]

You guys have heard me say it before: To each their own. I live by those words. I wouldn't expect other people to listen to me or respect my ideas or way of life if I didn't do the same. They are uneducated. Some of them anyway. Since they feel so strongly about the subject you will not likely change their views. They accomplished nothing and caused no harm. Anyone who elevates the situation would be the one who is in the wrong.

The one thing that does concern me is that in this day in age crazy things are happening. When a situation like that starts there's no way to know if you are about to be in a very bad situation. The last thing you would want to do is draw a firearm while I was standing there. There are lots of others who feel the same way.... but some of them aren't as cool and calm you know. That scares me. The whole thing makes me nervous. I'm not a big fan of places with really big crowds. You couldn't pay me thousands to go stand in Times Square in New York to watch the ball drop on New Year Eve.

I agree with Curly that positioning themselves between the audience and the speaker was a big mistake. I think they would have been better served to stand out front where everyone had to walk by them to get into the seminar.

[under H2O hunter]

It certainly earned its name that day... "ADVENTURE THEATER"

[Lefty]

I did a search,.. doesnt look like they had a camera man ,.. so far.
More often then not they are wanting physical actions against them from others, all for more media attention.

[poisonarrow]

They should have gone by the Eastmans booth and watched the video of the mountain lion killing a mule deer. If I was an animal I would choose an arrow any day.

[ElkNut1]

Wow, I've seen them on the outside of these shows in the past but never had any dealings with them inside, man they're getting bolder these days!

ElkNut1

[wawhitey]

One of the things that I found funny though was most of the protesters had either leather belts, shoes, or hand bags on ]

Classic. The level of intelligence/ rationality / common sense ive come to expect from animal rights folk