What's in a Blog?

To tell you the truth, I don’t know. Over the past few years writing this blog has brought me a lot of joy. It has forced me to put down in words what I was experiencing in the field and I have subsequently found myself reliving intricate details of events that would have otherwise been forgotten. I have found myself scrolling through photos which filled me with inimitable happiness and recounted great successes. But I would be a fool to think that just because I enjoy writing and believe that I have something to say, that that alone would translate into readers.

I’ve had this notion in my head that if I wrote enough and documented enough of our adventures people would begin to follow. But alas, and not to sulk or in any way diminish what I have been doing, I fear there are very few readers outside my immediate friends and family come here. I have long thought that I could just put pen to paper and that the “people will (would) come”, as Terrance Mann so profoundly proclaimed in “Field of Dreams”, hoping somewhere along the line those readers would connect with me. And maybe they have, maybe some reader or readers have visited and found something to move or inspire them, something to get them out of their routine and enter an unknown world; one can only hope. As they say, “nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

As I see it though, writing alone is not enough. For anyone that follows hunting sports the name Steven Rinella has recently come to the forefront of American hunting culture and many, like myself, have become fascinated by his adventures and moreover, jealous of his lifestyle. However, in a recent interview I learned that Steven actually has a Master’s degree in writing, a crushing blow to a small town, rural blog dreamer. However, recovering from the knockdown I reminded myself that writing is but one dynamic of engaging an audience; it is only one aspect of creating a world for people to escape the salt mines. To engage others in this world is to employ multiple senses in a short period of time. More and more, whether we like it or not our interactions with the outside world and with others are perpetually being driven by a digital reality. Others like me have been able to avoid the chaos but at some point, at some junction we have to accept that to be a player in this game, one must enter into foreign territory to be successful. And that unknown, that uneasy path, inevitably leads to video.

I have never recorded or clipped together any film of any kind. I have never been called a movie editor or really ever cared to piece something from many parts into one. It just seems complicated. But I have always known that I wanted to incorporate video into the blog. I have always wanted to bring to life some of these adventures and with the latest addition of a GoPro Hero 3 into my life, I may just finally have that chance. I cannot promise anything spectacular or something that will end up with tens of thousands of hits on YouTube but, it’s worth exploring, it’s worth interacting, it’s worth a shot; I mean, hell, not like I have any readers to lose.

But enough of the internal processes that drift through my head. Immediate results will be slow but hopefully by the time fall hits the recording will be in full swing. Until then, it’s typing as usual. Check out the blog, read our old posts, get to know us and wait for a revitalized campaign, wait for Haines Hunters v. 2.0!