It took hunting celebrity Jim Zumbo nearly 40 years to build the illustrious hunting career that he enjoys today. Check that. That he enjoyed. As in past-tense. Because last week, it came crashing down with stunning quickness.

In one critical misstep, Zumbo spoke out against hunters using military-style rifles, such as AR-15s and AK-47s, on an online weblog. Hunters took offense. And what had taken 40 years to build collapsed with just a few written words.

Gunowners have a history of vigilance and grassroots-style activism when they feel that their Second Amendment rights are being threatened. Several years ago, Rosie O'Donnell lashed out at gun-friendly actor Tom Selleck for Selleck's support of gun ownership in a now-infamous talk show incident. Gunowners expressed outrage. Much of their ire was aimed at retail giant K-Mart, for which O'Donnell was spokesperson. Shortly thereafter, K-Mart and O'Donnell split ways. Gunowners took the credit. A short time later, it was revealed that jean manufacturer Levi Strauss had donated money to gun control advocacy groups. Again, gunowners expressed outrage. Soon, Levi Strauss was reporting fairly significant profit declines. Again, gunowners took the credit.

Last week, it was Zumbo who found himself at the center of gunowners' attention.

"Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity," Zumbo wrote on his blog on Outdoor Life's website, referring to military-style rifles such as the popular AR-style guns that are becoming increasingly popular among varmint and predator hunters. "As hunters, we don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them . . . I'll go so far as to call them 'terrorist' rifles."

The Brady Campaign, a gun control advocacy group founded by Sarah Brady and generally considered by gunowners to be the biggest thorn in their side, immediately jumped on Zumbo's comments, posting on a weblog of their own: "Even Remington's top gun writer agrees on Assault Weapons. With important writers such as this on our side, it is clear that we have a cultural imperative to remove dangerous terrorist rifles from our streets, and our woods. Jim Zumbo is a writer for the prestigious Outdoor Life magazine and represents the views of America's true sportsmen. He is also sponsored by Remington."

After Zumbo's remarks were posted on February 16, Outdoor Life was immediately flooded with complaints from gunowners, many of them hunters who use the guns Zumbo was referencing. Just eight days later, it had become apparent that Zumbo's remarks had probably killed his career.

First, Outdoor Life — one of the nation's oldest and most popular sportsman's magazines — posted a disclaimer on Zumbo's blog, saying that his opinions were his and his alone. Then, Zumbo issued an apology. Whether the apology was sincere or whether he was requested to post it by Outdoor Life, many hunters who viewed it weren't buying it. Over the next few days, e-mails continued to pour in to Outdoor Life, not to mention to Zumbo's sponsors, as Zumbo's comments circulated.

At last count, Outdoor Life had received more than 6,000 e-mails, almost all of them opposed to Zumbo's comments. The next step by the magazine was to take the blog offline. Then, to part ways with Zumbo.

For their part, Outdoor Life claimed that Zumbo offered his resignation after the public firestorm began. "Mr. Zumbo has offered to terminate his association with Outdoor Life, and the magazine has accepted his offer," Outdoor Life Editor-in-Chief Todd Smith said in a statement." But Zumbo maintains that he was fired. Regardless, the end result was that Zumbo lost his job at the magazine where he had been employed as hunting editor for the past 30 years. He had been associated with the magazine for even longer, writing his first story for Outdoor Life in 1962.

But that wasn't the end of the fallout. Last week's scheduled episode of Jim Zumbo Outdoors, Zumbo's popular television show on The Outdoor Channel, did not air. Mike Hiles, a spokesman for the channel, said that it also will not air next week, adding that it is on "a hiatus for an undetermined period of time" after sponsors requested to be removed from the show. Zumbo said that the show has been cancelled.

The National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun-rights lobbying groups, with four million paid members, said it was ending all professional ties with Zumbo.

Then, Zumbo's sponsors started jumping ship. Within days after Zumbo's comments were posted, Remington, his biggest sponsor, announced it was parting ways with Zumbo. Zumbo's comments had been posted while on a coyote hunt in Wyoming that had been sponsored by Remington. Tommy Milner, Remington CEO, stated in a press release, "As a result of comments made by Mr. Jim Zumbo in recent postings on his blog site, Remington Arms Company, Inc., has severed all sponsorship ties with Mr. Zumbo effective immediately."

Then, camouflage giant Mossy Oak announced it would no longer be associated with Zumbo. Butch English, Mossy Oak's executive vice president of sales and marketing, said: "As a result of comments made by Mr. Jim Zumbo in recent postings on his blog site, Haas Outdoors, Inc. the home of Mossy Oak Brand Camo has ended all sponsorship ties with Mr. Zumbo effective immediately. While we strongly disagree with Mr. Zumbo’s opinion, we respect his constitutional, guaranteed right to speak freely."

In just a few days, the career of the man considered a spokesman for common sportsmen had completely crumbled. Supporters of Zumbo criticized the backlash from the hunting community, saying that hunters should stick together and not offer one of their own to the wolves over some ill-conceived comments. But Zumbo's critics responded by saying that, as the Brady Campaign's comments indicated, Zumbo was viewed as a spokesman of the hunting community and his opinion on military-style rifles would be viewed as representative of the hunting community's opinion on the guns, which are commonly referred to as "assault weapons."

Gunowners have been wary of efforts to renew the federal assault weapons ban, which was signed into law by Bill Clinton after being passed by Congress in 1994 but was allowed to sunset without renewal last year. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D — New York) has introduced legislation to renew the AWB, which would outlaw several types of military-style semiautomatic rifles commonly used by hunters, including the afore-mentioned AK-style and AR-style rifles. So far, her legislation has not advanced in the House of Representatives and has not seen any co-sponsors sign on.

For his part, Zumbo isn't going away. Shortly after the outrage over his "terrorist rifle" comments began, Zumbo said that he had accepted an invitation from Ted Nugent, singer-turned-hunter, to go on a predator hunt with the rifles he had criticized so that he could learn more about them. That initial apology did not save his job, but even after many of his sponsors had severed ties with him and his employer had bid him farewell, Zumbo reiterated his promise to learn more about the weapons.

"I have no one to blame but myself. Outdoor Life, a magazine that I worked for full-time as Hunting Editor for almost 30 years, fired me yesterday. My TV show was cancelled yesterday. Many of my sponsors have issued statements on their website to sever all relationships," Zumbo said. "They say hindsight is golden. Looking back, I can’t believe I said the words “ban” and “terrorist” in the context that I did. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that. I can explain this as sheer ignorance and an irresponsible use of words.

"My biggest regret is not the financial impact of all this. I’m almost 67 and retirement is an option. The dreadful impact here is that I inadvertently struck a spear into the hearts of the people I love most…America’s gun owners," he added.