Wondering…Waiting…Hoping For The Best, But Imagining The Worst

Remember back to the days when you were a little kid and you saw a moving truck arrive somewhere in the neighborhood?   While mom and dad might have scrutinized the furniture being unloaded to make some superficial judgment on what type of family was now living in the neighborhood…of course, the only concern on your mind was whether or not the family had some future potential playmates.   You kept your fingers crossed just hoping to catch a glimpse of kids chasing around the outside of the house within your view.

In many ways this simplistic approach to the world applies to outdoors blogging, as well.   Particularly when the blogger purports to have an interest in the outdoors…but you just can’t quite put a whole lot of trust in the person, at least not until you better get to know them.   This is especially true when the blogger combines an interest in the outdoors with a heaping serving of politics infused in the blog commentary.   At first you want to embrace this person as a new friend and welcome them to the outdoors neighborhood…after all, isn’t that how your parents raised you to be by default?   Friendly…neighborly…helpful.   But your greeting is cautiously reserved until you determine with absolute certainty that the kid is not some little monster destined to spend a disproportionate amount of his life eventually serving time behind bars.

And so it is with a new blog that has started up on the outdoors scene here in Minnesota.   The Peavey Pole, written by John Merritt, who through his bio states he works for the PR group Carmichael Lynch Spong in the Twin Cities.   This blog seems to have a definite slant toward stirring up controversy…at least so far.   But the curious point I wonder about is this blog has existed for less than one month and during this time only had 5 posts (as of this writing).   That’s it!   Yet, the blog gets prominent mention recently by outdoors writer Dennis Anderson in Minnesota’s largest daily newspaper.   Hmmm…

I can’t help but wonder what’s up with that.   No, I’m not suffering here from a little blog recognition envy, but what ever happened to earning one’s stripes first?   Personally, I don’t generally want to see blogs getting that sort of free publicity when they truthfully haven’t even established themselves quite yet.   Merritt might be a damn good person…after all, he claims to hunt and fish…but that doesn’t mean I will agree with all of his views politically.   Probably not even as they relate to many conservation matters.

Yes, in many ways when a new blogger hits the ground running stating they are going to “be an all-purpose blog about Minnesota’s outdoors, covering a broad range of topics and helping to break through the logjams — political or otherwise — that affect our outdoor heritage” it does leave me a bit concerned.   Just like the little kid who anxiously waits for a new friend to move into the neighborhood…I also want that kid to be a good playmate.   Not some bully who’s nothing but a loud mouth always willing to pick a fight just for the sake of arguing with me for what I believe in.

Oh, sure, a healthy discussion about the outdoor topics is always a good thing.   And for goodness sakes, if you go through my archives over the past two years you will learn a lot about me and what I believe in.   I’ve gotten political at times…absolutely!   Have I alienated some readers because of it…no doubt!   Yet the point remains my blog didn’t launch itself thanks, in large part, to some noteworthy person giving me my due.   Truth is, I’ve let my blogging speak for itself and up until this point my 300 blog postings have not been hyped by influential sources the likes of what The Peavey Pole has already received.

I’m still waiting to see what kind of blogosphere neighbor Merritt will be with his postings.   Much of what he’s written so far doesn’t ruffle my hackles too much, but I can already sense the election season breezes starting to blow and I can’t say I am completely thrilled with the commentary I’ve been reading so far.   Whether he knows it or not, he’s aligned himself with some activist Minnesota sportsmen with whom I do not subscribe to their political philosophies.   Yet, he’s picked up a communication tool (the blog) that can be very powerful and influential, as we especially learned during the last election season.   My hope is The Peavey Pole becomes a source for good conservation discussion and not one based entirely on political agendas advanced by what I would call the vocal minority within our sportsman ranks.

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

Okay…I know I’ve Been A Bit Lazy Lately

Yea, I’ve been a bit lazy this past week.   It’s not that I’ve forgotten about blogging now that summer has technically kicked off with kids out of school…but during the summer months keeping a daily online journal certainly becomes more of a challenge.   After all, who wants to sit by the computer each day and type when the weather is so damn nice outside?   I know a lot of days I sure don’t.

Quite honestly, the raw statistics of who reads this blog site bears this out to be true, too.   Typically during the summer months I can expect about 1/3 to 1/2 as many readers as I get during the other three seasons.   Unless you are some kind of computer junkie who needs a daily computer fix like some folks need a cup of coffee in the morning…chances are good you hook up to the World Wide Web a whole lot less often during the next three months than any other time of the year.   That’s just an educated hunch I have.

Truth is I mostly blog for fun, but I also try to blog regularly and with some degree of seriousness.   Often times I don’t know what I plan to blog about until I sit down at the computer and start typing.   Those are the days that it probably sounds like I’m rambling about nothing.   Hey, I admit it…there are times I write about things that inspire me less than perhaps the topic should.

Take for instance the bass fishing season that recently opened about two weeks ago here in Minnesota.   I know for a lot of folks bass fishing is a year-round activity, but that’s not so up here in the Northern tier states.   Our season opened about two weeks ago and while I had every intention to write a big piece and try to get all hyped up about it…the truth is the day came and went with no words written.   I even told Rich Lindgren over at Rich Lindgren’s Bass Tournament Fishing Blog that I would give some time to bass just like I did to the walleye about a month ago…but I just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to do it.   I’m sorry!   I’m not a bass fisherman and I just can’t feign some enthusiasm for a sportsman activity that isn’t there.   I know that bass fishing is without a doubt the most popular type of fishing in North America…but it just doesn’t excite me.   Therefore, I choose not to write about it.   If you want to learn more about bass…then check out Rich’s web site or the Basspastor over at the BassPundit.

I guess that’s what’s fun about blogging.   I really have nobody to answer to so I can write about the topics that truly excite me.   Oh, sure, I try to keep the readers in mind and focus on topics that have broader appeal…but that’s not always the case.   Same way with some of my posts that focus on Minnesota.   Some might say I’m too regionalized…and that criticism may be true.   But a person has to write about the breadth of experiences you have and when you spend 90% of your time hunting and fishing in one particular state what else do you expect?

The Sportsman’s Blog is therefore mostly about my thoughts and comments as a sportsman from the upper Midwest.   If you’re a regular reader I would hope that over time you feel as though I’m just a regular sportsman who would fit into the mix just like the others do in your hunting and fishing circles.   Sometimes I have opinions, other times I have ideas, occasionally I even have some news items that I like to share that might benefit others on this blog site.

During the upcoming summer months I will continue to do my best to blog as regularly as possible.   I’m even planning to keep the podcasts rolling along (by the way, I plan to post Sportsman’s Blog Podcast #3 on Sunday, so stay tuned).   But keep in mind that during the summer season life often pulls me in many different directions with family commitments, etc.   Therefore, if I’m not posting for a few days it’s probably because I am out enjoying the great outdoors or away for a few days on vacation.   I’m sure you’ll all understand.

Take care…have a safe and wonderful summer enjoying the great outdoors!

2006 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

How Did You Find Sportsman’s Blog?

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of blogging is discovering how people learn of your existence on the massive world-wide web.   Certainly some who read my blog drop in from links made from other blog sites.   Others pop in for a visit after I mention my blog to them in person and tell them to check it out.   Still, the vast majority of Sportsman’s Blog viewers land on the site after doing a search engine look-up most often on a topic related to the outdoors.

Before I get into some of these searches, let me explain that most blog site owners have the ability to see some limited information about who is visiting their site.   In my case I don’t know people by names, but I certainly can track them by I.P. address and by watching what referral web site sent them my way.   This is one of the ways that a blogger can determine how many hits they are getting and to somewhat monitor viewer trends.

Over the last 20+ months I have certainly had some unusual reader searches.   Take for instance a few days ago I saw that one individual did a search on how to remove oil stains from driveway cement.   That search brought them to my blog…but how?   I certainly didn’t remember talking specifically about any oil removal techniques during my nearly 300 past blog posts.   But I did…way back in March of 2005.   I spoke of the many uses of WD-40 and lo and behold removing driveway oil happened to be one of the claims.   I sure do hope the web searcher found my home fix-up suggestions useful. 

Occasionally I will also come across a search engine query something along the lines of “outdoor sex.”   WHAT!   Now I certainly didn’t remember giving away any romance secrets or perhaps disclosing a hidden pornographic tendency.   Of course, now that I’ve used these words in my blog once again it will cause people to give it even more hits.   Imagine their surprise when they discover the sex I usually talk about relates to deer or some other wild critter…and more importantly, it has nothing to do with illicit sex.   (Don’t you just love how I try to get all these key words in here?)

Actually, there’s a couple of searches that I get quite frequently and it does make me wonder about the popularity of the product.   It seems whenever I mention a product specifically it does tend to get several hits during the future months.   In particular, I mentioned Gerber’s Carnivore Blood Tracking light in my 2006 SHOT Show wrap-up and I’m amazed at how many hits this light seems to be getting.   Leads me to believe that this is likely going to be one hot selling new item on the market come this fall’s hunting season.

Of course, after the SHOT SHOW my blog was ranked in the top five for folks doing a Google search for “SHOT SHOW 2006.”   I’ve dropped several pages because I don’t consistently mention my attendance at the SHOT SHOW to keep high rankings, but it does sort of make you realize the power and influence a blogger has in gaining a targeted audience of readers.

Another product for which I get a tremendous amount of hits is the Leech Lake Fillet Knife made by Don Canney.   I did a blog on this a few months ago and hardly a day goes by that I don’t get someone landing on my site to read about this knife.

Just for instance, now today would-be blog readers have found my site by doing the following searches:  “Dicks Sportsman’s Stores”  “Ward Burton”  “Scandinavian Egg Coffee”  “Sportsman’s Camp”  “Hamm’s Beer Jingle”  “Are Shooting Ranges Properly Marked”  “Wildview Extreme II”  “Deer Crossing Road Sign”  “Walleye Fishing Blog”  “Prank on a fishing buddy”  “Investment ideas for sportsmen”  to name just a few.

I guess no matter how you ultimately found my Sportsman’s Blog site I’m very appreciative that you did and that you occasionally take the time to read it.   As I close in on hitting the 20,000 unique viewers mark it helps me to refuel my engine, so to speak, knowing that folks are out there actually reading the thoughts I place on the Internet.   Now don’t be shy…I know you’re out there…so take a quick moment of your time to leave a comment now and then and stop just being an Internet lurker.

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