It’s An Anniversary…Sort Of

Yesterday was my anniversary…but I really didn’t expect any cards or special kudos recognizing the important milestone.   Yesterday, in fact, was the two-year anniversary of when I started Sportsman’s Blog.   For those of you who weren’t around back then (and let’s face it…a new blog always has it’s challenges launching) here’s how I started with my first post:

Let The Journey Begin

Greetings Bloggers!

Okay…here we go! There’s no telling where this site will eventually end up…but I can assure you the journey will be a fascinating one along the way.

At times I will likely write about my daily experiences in the out of doors here in southern Minnesota. At other times it will be tackling some tough issues and how they effect the outdoor world we all enjoy. I don’t expect you to agree with everything I write…in fact, a good blog site will challenge you to see things from a different perspective. I do expect, however, that the topics covered will be varied and interesting (at least 90% of the time).

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this BLOG site are intended to be a journal of my random thoughts and ideas. Although I do hope you will find the blog site informative, it is meant for entertainment purposes only and I cannot absolutely guarantee the accuracy of any information or comments that may be expressed. Please use the information on an “as is” basis as I do not warrant any thoughts or ideas expressed to be completely reliable or truthful. Furthermore, any comments that may be made by third-party contributors (via comments to posts) are the responsibility of that contributor and not this web blogger. The reader of this blog is strongly encouraged not to rely on any information or commentary that may be posted without first confirming the information’s authenticity. The use of any trademarks or copyrighted material contained in this blog is not intended to infringe upon the holder of those rights. Please understand that the IP addresses of all visitors to this web site are available to us, collected and stored…so play fair.

There you have it…short and sweet.   Some loyal readers might assert that my first post was the one and only time I actually got straight to the point without beating around the bush.   And point well taken.   But as I reflect back to my original goals for this blog I would have to say that for the most part I have stayed on course.   Oh, yea…there was that time last year during the summer when I rarely posted.   You know…getting married and building a new house has a way of imposing on your spare time.   But blogging was never far from my mind…even when I wasn’t able to do it on a regular basis I thought about it often.

As I look around in the blogosphere I am genuinely impressed with the dedication some bloggers have to writing in these modern electronic journals.   You’ll find many quality bloggers in the links on the left-hand side of this blog.   If you haven’t done so I urge you to check out some of these fine writers.

What never ceases to amaze me, however, is all the hype some bloggers give their personal site only to see the interest permanently peeter out.   Eventually the entries become fewer and fewer until the site becomes totally abandoned.   Relegated to some Internet junk-yard where their past efforts may still long exist, but the blog itself is far beyond any form of life-support to keep it thriving and interesting.   A good example is a fellow blog site I was critical of several weeks back.   The Peavey Pole was launched with all sorts of fanfare in a major metropolitan newspaper.   After ten posts and having no new entries for nearly a month, the site has been, for all practical purposes, abandoned by its owner.   Unfortunately, this exemplifies what happens far too often with new blog sites.

I don’t think most people realize just how much work and effort goes into making a blog site a success.   It takes dedication, creativity and a desire to stay consistent so folks have a regular reason to stop by to read what’s on your mind.   Oh, sure, blogging for the past two years is not really a big literary achievement…yet, on the same token it’s a milestone that arrived only because of a great deal of effort to prevent failure.

Today as I look at my site’s stats I can see I’ve had nearly 20,000 unique visitors over a two year period.   That’s awesome…it certainly energizes me to continue on.   Yet, I really enjoy each of the 121 comments that some of those visitors have left as a result of my postings.   Most have inspired me to continue on…several others have made me think about topics in a uniquely different sort of way.   Heck, some have even angered me…but hey, I had my say on the topic they certainly can get a chance to make their statement, too.

Now as I look forward I plan to continue blogging with the same motivation and energy I had when I first started this effort.   Oh, yea, and I know the podcasting attempts have been pretty pathetic so far…but I’m working on that, too.   I currently have a broadcast production company in Orlando working to jazz up the podcast production so soon you’ll be able to hear a much improved podcast, as well.

Indeed, blogging and podcasting I am convinced is on the edge of someday becoming mainstream forms of communication and entertainment.   It’s much more fresh and genuine than what you will ever hope to read in a newspaper or magazine.   And as podcasting further develops I truly believe you will be missing out on a great form of broadcast communication if you don’t harness the technology and become a regular listener to the many great shows being produced.

In closing, I just want to thank all the loyal readers who have stuck with me over the past months and years.   If you’ve never left a comment…please take a moment to do so.   If you’re shy…then send me a private e-mail and just tell me where you’re from and how often you stop by.   I’d love to hear from you.   I’d also love for you to continue reading and listening to my outdoor communication efforts.

© 2006 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.  No Reproduction Without Prior Permission.

What Happened To The Pre-Season Hunting Seminars?

Last night I found myself sitting in a local VFW hall listening to some president of the area hockey association regale my wife, me and all the other youth hockey parents on what we can expect this season as parents of a “squirt.”   For you non-hockey types that is a level in league for a child typically in the 9 to 10 year old range.   It was one of those mandatory meetings they wanted all the parents to sit through so we understand just how the upcoming season and practices will work.   Great!

Obviously, my mind did lots of wandering.   I glanced at the wall and viewed all the pictures of the brave men who had served in various wars…I saw all the other trophies and awards that had been won by teams sponsored by the local hall.   I was bored…and I wanted to get out of that meeting as soon as possible.

Then I started to think about the times I used to organize deer and turkey hunting seminars for the DNR…and just how much fun that was.  I would go around to many of these local American Legions and VFW’s and rent the facility to host pre-season hunting seminars.   Mostly I did the logistics of setting up the location and advertising…and I would have an assistant who came in and did most of the speaking.

It was fun.   I believe we used to charge a nominal $2 entry fee and this would help defray the cost of advertising.   We’d go around to a few businesses to get door prizes and even serve coffee and cookies to the attendees.   My cohort at the time, John Finnegan, would conduct the seminar with topics ranging from biology and management to specific hunting techniques.   More than anything it was a great time for area hunters to get together a week or two before the hunting season started and use the seminar to “prime the pump,” so to speak, for the upcoming season.

That was 20 years ago…and today that sort of activity is not done much anymore in my area.   Oh, sure, there are the spring Deer Classics, etc. that serve mostly as a gathering of big trophies…but that is not what I am talking about.   Nope, I’m talking about the community-based deer seminars that would be held after work usually at some small town VFW hall.   A convenient place where the sportsman could maybe stop into the bar for awhile and then bop over to the seminar to check out the speaker and learn some new tricks.

I helped organize these events for several years as a volunteer but then got busy with other aspects of life.   Still, I sat there bored in that meeting last night wondering why these seminars don’t exist anymore.   I remember seeing a few years back Whitetails Unlimited had a similar such program they marketed as their “buck fever” night, if memory serves me correctly.   It was a great tool to recruit and sign up new members.   It wasn’t a full-fledged banquet where you could expect to drop lots of cash.   Nope, these nights were usually low or no cost intended to gather folks to socialize and begin thinking about the fast-approaching hunting season.

So why don’t the area hunting groups or sporting goods businesses do a better PR job and sponsor this type of educational activity?   If done in the right manner a club or business could potentially see lots of new customers who are antsy to prepare for the upcoming hunt.   Truth is unless you are one of the big names like a Cabela’s or Gander Mountain (or the like) you apparently don’t spend your time trying to satiate your customer’s or prospective member’s appetite for some hunting education.   And that’s a shame!

As the boring hockey meeting was winding down I began to realize a big difference between a mandated sports meeting and attending a voluntary hunting seminar.   They are both held at the same type of facility.   They are both often held after work on some week night evening.   Yet, for me the hunting seminar embodied the true spirit of what hunting is all about…at least for me.   It meant sharing time with like-minded individuals who choose to spend their precious spare time sitting in the woods.   When those of us hunters would meet on that night we shared a special dream and passion that could be best felt and understood gathering around others with similar interests.

So you wanna know my theory on why these seminars are not popular or why most don’t even exist anymore?   Cable TV.   Hunters feel they can learn most of what they need to know by watching outdoor programming on TV or videos.   There’s just no need to sit in a community hall for an evening like there was 20 or 30 years ago.   Now we can have all the information we need to know delivered right to the creature comforts of our living rooms…so why go anywhere else to get it?

What I would like to see is companies such as Federal Cartridge, Birchwood Casey and others providing lots of product incentives (such as free ammo and targets) to get hunters out and back together as a community.   We’re truly missing a tremendous opportunity by failing to organize these community hunting seminars.   If it’s not going on in your community, maybe it’s time someone steps up to make it happen.

So what about you…have you attended a pre-hunting season seminar lately?   Did you enjoy it…and would you go back again?

© 2006 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.  No Reproduction Without Prior Permission.

To Wear or Not To Wear…That’s No Longer The Question.

Back during the mid-1980’s when I first started my pre-hospital career working as a medic on an ambulance service I never wore them.   At the time it just wasn’t considered all that necessary.   Indeed, during that era if you wore rubber gloves it likely had more to do with ease in cleaning up after a call rather than any disease prevention or transmission concerns.

Eventually all of that changed as our once mostly innocent world began learning of a new health threat.   A disease known as HIV (commonly called AIDS) entered our lives and changed all the rules of the game for how we needed to operate safely as emergency medical providers.   Today, a whole host of blood-borne and body fluid pathogens make it absolutely foolhardy for a medical provider not to take every precaution possible to protect themselves, their family and their patients by wearing the proper safety equipment.

Back 20 years ago I wouldn’t have even considered wearing rubber gloves at any time while hunting or fishing.   It just didn’t seem that necessary…except, of course, for when you were out trapping.   In those instances I routinely wore rubber gauntlet type gloves manufactured primarily for working with chemicals…but used by trappers to reduce scent transmission when making land sets.

Occasionally during that time trappers would also receive the warnings to use latex gloves while skinning animals.   Diseases such as tularemia, rabies, giardias, distemper and mange were all thought to be transmissible by the animals and wearing gloves while skinning was considered just a darned good idea.   In reality, I tried wearing the gloves but quickly discarded them because I didn’t like the feel.   In truth, the gloves I wore back then are nothing like the quality gloves available on the market today.Camogloves

A few decades ago I also remember an instance in deer camp where one of the hunters had purchased some shoulder-length plastic gloves for field dressing deer.   When the rest of us hunters found out about the purchase we chastised him…and found ways to ridicule him any way we could.   How could any self-respecting hunter not allow some blood from the kill to get on his hands and on his clothing, we teased.   Heck, after all, hunting is considered a blood sport so keeping things so sanitary seemed quite strange to many of us who relished the feeling of dried blood on our hands.   It was a feeling synonymous with success and to take measures to prevent this blood rite seemed totally unnecessary, if not even somewhat insulting.

But, oh…have times changed.   Long gone are the days when you were careless about getting a little blood on your hunting clothes.   Today, not only is such practice considered poor scent management…but one errant slip of the knife and your favorite pastime could potentially kill you.   If you don’t carry a pair of latex (or better yet, nitrile gloves) in your pocket and several back in your truck you are undoubtedly acting carelessly by taking unnecessary health risks.

Today’s sportsman not only needs to think about all the diseases I mentioned previously…but now we have West Nile, chronic wasting disease (CWD) and the much-anticipated avian (bird) flu which the experts tell us is only a matter of time before it arrives to North America in migrating waterfowl or birds.   Fact is, if you aren’t routinely wearing rubber gloves or at least trying to get into the habit of doing so, you’re acting as foolish as the non-glove-wearing medic playing Russian roulette with his patients.   I’m confident that eventually—certainly within most of our lifetimes—we are all going to risk exposure to a disease transmitted through our game animals.   It’s just a matter of time before it happens…so get used to it.

I mentioned earlier that there are some awesome gloves called nitrile that are popular with the medical world.   Keep in mind that some people have latex allergies…so a latex glove might not always be the best choice.   Yet, the nitrile gloves are so strong that the good medical-grade gloves actually claim they prevent accidental needle sticks.   I would suspect that when cleaning or skinning an animal they would also offer some greater protection against a slip of the knife, too.   The down-side is they are somewhat tighter fitting…but because of that they offer excellent tactile sensing when this is critical to perform hands-on activities.

I’ve noticed that one progressive manufacturer has even recognized that the day has arrived for when sportsmen will need a camo glove.   Check out Charlie’s Own, Inc. who markets a scent-free latex camo glove currently in two camo patterns.

Indeed, wearing AND USING rubber gloves has come a long way in our world over the past few decades as standard operating procedures.   No matter if you’re a nurse, a firefighter, a dentist, a chef, and now even a sportsmen…wearing the gloves makes good safety sense.   What once was the source for kidding and joking in deer camp is no longer a laughing matter for any of us.   Today, wearing the gloves is a sign you take your health seriously by not taking any chances when a 25 cent pair gloves will help keep you safe.

By the time I ended my career as a medic a few years ago I always carried several pairs of gloves in my pocket.   One for me…and sometimes one pair for my partners who might have forgotten theirs.   I used those gloves as they were meant to be used…including, among other uses, as an improvised emergency barf bag when no other options were immediately available.   I can guarantee you that if you begin carrying gloves in your hunting pants pocket you’ll find they are handy…not only for wearing…but also for uses such as emergency water carriers, trail marking, plus many, many more possibilities.

© 2006 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.  No Reproduction Without Prior Permission.