Take a quick scroll through social media outlets, such as Instagram or Facebook during hunting season, and you’ll likely find a seemingly endless number of hunting photos, particularly those coveted hero shots where the hunter is found clutching their trophy for the photo.
Some might refer to these photos as the “grip and grin” pictures that come after a successful recovery. But let’s be honest. Not all success photos are created equal. In fact, for a lot of hunters, these photos include the hunter grippin’, but there ain’t a bit of grinnin’ going on. And not only are they not grinnin’, they actually appear to be frowning. They are displaying what some of us in the biz refer to as “mean muggin’.
But why? Why does a guy or gal that just scored on a buck, ducks, or a long-bearded turkey look so P.O.’d?
I’ve been asked the question for years. Partly because I’ve been guilty of posing for such photos, and partly because I’ve dealt out my fair share of shame on other hunters that have done the same.
So to shine some light on the truth about why hunters mean mug photos, I share the following wisdom, insight, and reckless criticism on the subject.
For Some It Comes Natural
Some of us are just all natural mean muggers. We’re born with it. I’ve been mean muggin’ hunting and fishing photos for well over four decades. One of my earliest photoshoots finds me in overalls, a cane pole in hand, and a scowl on my face. I may have been 2. It wasn’t taught, coached, or encouraged. For some of us, mean muggin’ just comes naturally.
Stone Cold Killers Don't Smile
As I grew older, deer hunting became my thing. I killed my first deer at the age of 11. I was under the impression that I was grinning for the photo with that first deer, but looking back, the photo reveals my buddy, Jon Paul, and I with more of a grimace on our face as we battled the sun in our eyes. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. When a momma tells her boy to smile for a photo, she usually gets a frown.
Over the next decade or so, my buddy and I would pose for a number of these grip and grimace photos as we loaded the truck with all manner of bucks and ducks. I vividly remember one particular post-hunt photo session when a family member asked, “Why don’t y’all ever smile?” The response quickly came, “Stone cold killers don’t smile.” It was a joke, but it stuck.
We carried on with mean muggin’ throughout our high-school and college days. Hero photos most often found us with a crazy-eyed look on our face. We had a lot of fun, but the look on our face was all business.
This phase of our life can largely be attributed to our love and respect for the Robertson Family. We were big fans of OG Duck Commander videos back in the day. We’d buy every one of their VHS tapes the day they were released. Those guys were the kings of mean muggin’ for photos and videos. And if it was good enough for Phil Robertson, it was good enough for us.
Jonathan Boehme, better known as, Catman, can relate to a life of photos without smiling. The dude truly looks stone cold in nearly every hunting or fishing photo I’ve ever seen of him. I scrolled back over his social media accounts from the last several years to see if I could find a smiling Catman. It never happened. The closest thing I could find to a smile was a smirk he let loose while posing with the Tethrd crew and an unlucky longbeard.
I reached out to Catman for insight on why his photos always seem to find him mean muggin’.
“I’ve never smiled for pics much at all, hunting or otherwise,” says Catman. He went on to agree, killers don’t smile.
Kelan Samples of Rolling Thunder Game Calls is another hunter that’ll rarely be found smiling amidst his success photos. He’s a fine man with a great looking family. He punishes the deer, ducks, and turkey in every state he visits. Just recently, he killed the biggest buck of his life – a 185 inch brute! Still, no smiling.
“Man, I got ragged 20 years ago after I killed a big buck and didn’t smile for the photos”, says Samples. “I guess I’ve always relished the role of mean mugging for all my kill pics ever since. There was definitely some smiling after killing that 185″ buck – just not for photos!”
The Solemn & Sad Pose
Somewhere in the photoshoot, long after the group photos and individuals are complete, the hunter may opt for the downward glance at their animal. No smiles, no emotion. Just a sad and solemn look on the face, with maybe a tear rolling down the cheek if they’re slick enough to squeeze one out.
It’s a variation of the mean mug, often displayed to evoke a look of respect, reverence, sadness, pity, or pride. These shots are typically highly over-glamorized, complete with fresh hair, makeup, and a possible wardrobe change. It’s a tough moment to capture, usually teetering between a look of thankfulness – or sleepiness.
The Truth About Mean Mugging
I reached out to a few other folks to gather their thoughts on the growing concern for hunters who mean mug.
“The first time I saw mean mugging photos surface in the hunting world, I was confused by it, and quite honestly I’m still confused by it,” says Lake Pickle of onX Hunt. “In my mind, whether I’m taking a picture with a deer, turkey, squirrels, ducks, whatever it may be – this means I’m at the end of a hunt, and my attitude in that moment is going to be the furthest thing to result in me giving the ol’ stone face. Hunting makes me happy. Plain and simple. It’s my favorite pastime in the entire world. Why would I want to make the facial expression of someone who just found out their dog died?”
Our friend, Jordan Blissett, is another hunter that has sought answers to the truth behind why hunters mean mug for photos. “Man, I have asked several of the mean muggers I’ve seen, but they always say, “I don’t know” or “I don’t smile in any pics,” says Blissett. “My take is they just want it to look like it’s no big deal.”
Blissett’s reasoning is spot on. I remember being told to, “Smile like it’s your first deer,” by a family member tasked with taking photos. Again, the response is typically the opposite of the request. No “veteran” hunter wants to come across as if they’re a rookie, right? The end result is often the standard mean mug.
These days, kids of all ages are growing up having never known a world without smartphones and selfies. They don’t know what it was like to set a timer on a 35mm camera and race back to the animal before the camera snaps a photo – a photo you couldn’t see until it was taken to a photo lab for processing. Looking back, maybe that’s why there was so much less cheesin’ for photos back then. We were frustrated and unfocused on cameras that captured an image before or after we actually smiled.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve made a concerted effort to smile more as hunting memories are being made with family and friends. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What story will our hunting photos tell?
