Hunters are unusual people, yet we are rather simple in our ways. We know, but don't always gleefully await, that alarm going off at 3 am, but we eagerly jump up from our warm bed at the call. We know the mountains around Denver and the deep hole of disorientation that lies in the middle of swampy ground in the middle of Louisiana. We know the mornings drenched in pine, the varied scents of a field in Northern Indiana and the up and down escalator drill that is that last minute trip to Cabelas. We've strolled, hiked and ran the full tilt of 100 acres of dirt, racing the sun to a blind, hoping to get in before Mr. Buck awakes. We have politely waited for that same sun to come up, reveling in the clear sparkling crispness that is an October morning.Read the whole thing...very nicely done...
Author and host of the hit OUTDOOR CHANNEL show SHOOTING GALLERY spouts off...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A Beautiful Essay
Been a long time since I went hunting (and I do have my fingers crossed for Africa in September), but I thought I'd hook you up with this really nice essay from Brigid over at Home on the Range:
I gave up on hunting some years back. Nothing against it, I just lost interest.
ReplyDeleteI used to try and watch the hunting shows on OC and frankly found them to be uniformly bad. The wispering when there was no need, the constant plugging of products, the suspicion that some of the hunts were "canned", etc were all big turnoffs.
I am amused at the new generation of hunters who hang out at the LGS. Apparently you must have a specific camo pattern for every critter you hunt or you won't be successful. I actually had one tell be you couldn't turkey hunt successfully with a blued steel and walnut shotgun!
I love hunting; that was nice. I like the new generation of hunters that focus on gear...it has helped produce some really neat stuff.
ReplyDeleteNot that you need the new stuff to be successful, but the availability of good clothing has really made it much easier to be comfortable in the woods and communications makes it safer.
New products include guns and scopes and the new ones out-of-the-box are in my mind a better value than the ones we got 40 years ago...generally more accurate, with adjustable triggers, better quality control (other than that dang Winchester Model 70 I got about 5 years back) and with more options than we had.
I like today...it's the golden age of gear. What other people do doesn't deter me from hunting....it's kinda kewl to haul out game and the youngsters gather round to ask how you did that...that was the, what was it MB???...Patrilineal thing...it's fun.
Anonymous, I too lost interest after leaving free time (high school and college) and entering work and family life. After about a 15 year hiatus (work, sick family, etc.), I re-entered the hunting-shooting world and was thoroughly amazed at my blaise' attitude towards it. Thoroughly amazed and distraught in what had happened to me.
I had changed...but I had the presence of mind before the hiatus to remember how much fun I was having and to ponder those who had once hunted then given up on it...realizing that being human this was likely to happen to me.
It did happen to me, I was not impressed by my re-introduction to the thrill of hunting. I fell on the intellectual, not emotional, perserverence to "push through" the blahs remembering the pact I made with myself to return to hunting.
Suddenly, hunting is just as much fun as it once was...the amazement is back...you must focus your life on what it is you want or wanted to do. You know you used to enjoy it....please don't miss what you once must have loved, think about it, muse over it, plan for it and, if it ever truly existed, the wonder will return.
to anon....one of my guilty little pleasures is watching hunting shows on Sunday morning on the OC or VS or ESPN. I agree the commercial issues and snob issues of having to buy certain camo and the occasional appearance of a canned hunt turns me off too.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really hate however is 'Escape to the Wild' on VS. it is a UNION funded Hunting show where union thugs get free exotic hunting trips where they can shoot their firearms at game....at least until their Messiah, Barack Hussein zer0bama takes their guns away.
I often find her stuff a bit over-written and "purple," and do here. The style needs less flesh, more bone and muscle. Dial it back some.
ReplyDeleteBut I appreciate the sentiment being expressed. Good photos.
I only go there for the recipes.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your article, very helpful info.
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