Spewing Fire

Remember this: It is better to spew fire than have smoke blown up a person's rear-end.

At the Genesis of this blog, the administrators had a clear goal. One of the conditions of producing this work was to balance the Death/Life checkbook and answer the question of whether we could produce a blog without proof you're a hunter content or bending to other people's false idea we have to prove anything to them. After each review and discussion, things got more interesting in the huddle.

What is a Death/Life checkbook? It is a tally of how much you kill versus how much you nurture, save or propagate. This balance concerns tallies.

Here is a good example of keeping a tally.

I worked for a boss that wanted his staff to put out rat traps in the attic where dog food was stored. I did not like mice and always heard Bubonic Plague going off in my head like a siren. How can you argue when the plague almost took out Europe?

This was a series of events:

When the first mouse was caught in a mouse trap, the veterinarian marched me up the stairs to the attic. We went inside and he picked up the squirming mouse, released it from the metal snap and as it plopped on the wooden stair landing;  took his Rockport shoe and stomped while smearing the mouse's body all over the wood. There was glaring. I was sick in my mind for a week. After that trauma was over,  the staff would make a mark on the refrigerator for the Rat Kill tab. Offsetting this violent dispatch of dog food poachers upstairs; we saved animal lives downstairs .

What I learned from this scenario was no one likes to have events or actions forced off onto them for the benefit of someone else, even if it's necessary. The way in which you approach something is the long term ruler of how resistant or accepting a person or group is to a task/information. It's assault of the mind.

There is something about keeping tallies. Men and women keep tallies of who they sleep with. People keep tallies of what animals they kill. Some people can not even keep up with their checkbook because they are poor accountants.. There are perfectly balanced tallies and overly imbalanced tallies.

In keeping with the written work a need for cosmic balance was there. Questions arose.

Asking the questions:

Is it necessary to kill something everytime we want to post a piece?
Is it necessary to kill something just for entertainment or writing?
What would we actually post in the way of photography or art?

As huntresses who write, we didn't feel it was ethical for us or prudent to kill everytime we felt there was something we needed to say or spoon it up to the mass consumption for others. After all, the writers on staff would have to live with excessive behavior and wanted to maintain our commonsense when approaching our topics.

One of our mottos (Thank you Marianne) was:

The world is your oyster but if you don't take care of your oyster bed it will die or go dry. No one likes a dry oyster.

Every time we write and post a piece of work somewhere in the world there is an endeavor going on in a habitat that we encourage be it plants, trees, bees, birds, large animals habitats, or anything under the radar that will help along wildlife, women and kids who would venture out in the field.

The question about killing for other peoples entertainment was a definite no. If consumers wanted that kind of material there are hunting personalities or average lay people that would readily fill this void.

Kill photos we decided against because after discussing with non-hunters didn't want them to feel like we were forcing visuals on them that their minds are not geared toward. Its not a game of how many people you can offend or run off because they don't belong in your group. This behavior doesn't make you much of an Ambassador of anything. People do not have weak minds. Their minds just pick and choose what they deem inappropriate because you never know when someone has been abused, raped, or whatever evil people do to them. We wanted to have a little consideration. If you extend consideration it is extended to you.

Another question asked was could we generate content without death photos and still be relevant. Relevance was tossed out the window after that because it was a reminder of how people or groups do things to get all kinds of attention; good or bad. People seeking relevance need to go to Hollywood and play the tabloid game.

Another thought was did we want to make the blog like everyone else or copycat people as a competitive edge? No.

There is something about personally made blogs. If you have ten of the same things people tend to have way too many choices and better make your work a outstanding one or it will gets passed over because its the same old-same old.

Don't be a grape snatcher either.. This person or business sits back, wandering the private and public profiles of their followers just so they can find their next best thing under the guise of "sharing" or "product research" when in fact they are watching you do all the work then pulling the grapes off your vine. Once these are pulled they bask in the abundance of your work while your grapevine is now empty and you can't make your own wine.

There are also people that don't know themselves or are just holding a grudge and go "borrow" from other people then take it in as their identity as mimics do and believe their own lie. At the end of the day they will realize that someone else was in their head and what they made was not completely theirs to begin with.

Recently I read someone's words about writing a college paper. Here at the AOFH the decision was made that we would try to use original content. If there is something worded in a text that would support our critique or argument then credit would be given to that person or source. Its the right thing to do. Additional photography could come from free photo-sharing sites or deceased people where copyright is no longer an issue. The other issue was taking people's personal photos and using it to build a base while taking advantage of their love of outdoor sports to promote ourselves here at the blog. When people who hunt share personal photos of themselves and one person is sitting back taking all that information and building things for themselves then all those "followers" are empty handed except  for an "atta boy" while taking and taking. Online posters to such sites are merely fireflies dancing around a lantern. When their energy has been exhausted, die and then replaced by a new blinded firefly. After a while the entity that reigned supreme over this online site or realm then brushes the dead away and basks in the glow of other people's endeavors.

They say when someone emulates you, it should be a compliment but  that means less than a handful of times. When it becomes chronic, I would guess they are not doing it because they hold you in high regard. One way for online people to get your ideas is to friend you. After that they run rampant in your pages so they can go back to their dark corner of the world to do whatever it is they do and call it their own while building their facade for relevance in whatever group they call friend or foe.  The truth of the matter is,  with online blocking of participants, you can easily find what is the same as yours because Google + or Facebook puts it in your sites as what you have in common. Imagine that?

Wait til  these nameless souls have an identity crisis while looking around at the match house they built only to find it burning while whispering, "This is not me." The true people they treated like crap will be long gone. It always happens. Lonely at the end.

We try not to hate on people but some attitudes have us rolling in the hay barn come nightfall such as the--born with a silver spoon in the mouth people. They either choke on that spoon with their haughtiness or need a good half a bottle of black draught to relieve them of the problem once the silver spoon gets caught in their social digestive tract. I have met some grossly wealthy people who were not pretentious and accepted you no matter what. I have unfortunately also been in the company of people holding their head up so high they look like a turkey chicks about to drown when it rains. There are also the types that want to be the braggart leader and threaten anyone who rocks their little world. To them I say,  "Grow up and get over yourself. Your days are numbered." I will say for these people I still hope for a spark of humanity in the shallow empty sausage casing they walk around in. The unproven truth is there is no substance inside and if there is maybe its hidden by the facade. Why? Because this individual is taking from everyone else. (Sit back and see who gives themselves away.)

While our fearless non-leader is gone we have put up some more personal pictures for your viewing. Staff will be going back over the writings and adding more interesting content which will be posted in a couple of weeks if not sooner. Enjoy your time and remember to be the person you are and not the reflection of someone you think you should try to be or what looks good.

Be yourself that is all that matters.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

A Sad Tale of Woe.

For those that know me, this is not behind my house. I caught it while out walking. Why? Because my truck always breaks down and I have my camera with me. I am good friends with Pat and Turner.

Remember this: For every story with photos of some great hunting experience there is a sad Tale of Woe.

Hunting season with guns did not start until Sep. 15. On the 14th, I stood by a white plastic chemical silo with a .308 scoping some deer that popped out the woods. I knew the law so I couldn't shoot them. I just wanted to get a better look at them. The gun was empty. The next day the herd was back but the neighbor going to church ran them back into the woods. Enter today.....

I used a shower curtain and two bottles of spray paint to make a hunting stand blind. I crawled up and put it in the tree. I later went to work on this effigy mask you see which is only the frame because I have yet to finish it. I worked on it most of the evening because I really wasn't doing it out of a plan I just started playing with materials constructing it. I sat under the car port weaving away on this thing, unconsciously. The light was just lovely outside because it had rained earlier and a blue butterfly landed by me and moved its wings. I was just so peaceful and thought positively. I know what the mask is for. My dad came and went. I worked on a green house we were constructing. My dad left again. I went out into the field and made this makeshift blind out of tobacco burlap, a metal grate and two aluminum tobacco barn rods. I put a chair there too. I figured they wouldn't be walking that way but I was up wind. There had been shooting all day in the woods, forestry work of some kind, nosy and noisy neighbors. The fact I would later be sitting in a combined corn field breathing God knows what didn't help either. I sat down behind the blind with a book and waited.

I heard my dad come up. I always realize that when I am hunting the general direction of where I project the deer will walk out goes contrary to the place I am actually watching. I had told my father earlier that the deer were using my horses as a cover or shield to get across the field without taking a bullet. My dad said, "You have to give them credit for being smart." I thought I saw a shadow moving slowly through the grass. I looked again because it was some ways from me. I figured it to be a smaller deer. I took the scope and followed along the grass around it because I had seen some dark shadows at the edge of the woods. I scoped it out some more. I then finally landed on a grey shadow slowly moving. Once it stood up straight with the long neck. The only thing I could see was the front half of it. It looked like a person standing there with a tight crown on its head. This buck filled up the scope cross hairs. If I shot immediately that would be the only time I would see the buck alive. The buck was just so beautiful and stupidly reminded me of Thrainduil, the Elven King. For a brief moment I wanted to see him alive. Blame it on the Spyglass. I wasn't sure if he was the one I had been stalking since 2009 but he always shoves his horns up in the bushes so you can't tell if he is a buck or a doe. I then thought let me consider the location of my horses. They were to the left of him which he was walking up on them slowly. Right when I thought he would come out for me to get a shot in the right place (because I abhor gut shots) he stops in the grass.  My finger is on the trigger and then I hear a shot ring out. I am surprised that I didn't flinch and tap the trigger firing my own gun.  I worry my horses will bolt into the line of travel of my bullet. I am thinking to my self....no...no...no...don't shoot again. (Okay maybe I was cursing like a sailor inwardly at the stupidity that my ears were hearing.) Then a second shot rings out. I watched the buck in the scope which is really a small circle of area as it stood in the grass looking in the direction of the gun play. I thought, "Saint Hooks Magoric, am I going to have to rush a shot?"  I didn't see the deer hit as if by projectile force but then turned its rabbit tail towards me and I had to watch it walk off into the woods. I was enjoying a full on anxiety attack which is brought on by feeling cornered for time, rushed, or pressured. Pitifully repeating no..no...no...no. I am a strong woman that is not afraid to say....hell yes...I was about to cry. (Okay I admit I am crying now as I write this.)

Situations like this remind me of a dam with one little pivotal pebble that plugs all that raw energy at bay. Some douche comes along and knocks that rock loose and yonder she blows. Every poisonous issue you have will come to the surface and having a therapist there dressed in camo besides you probably will not help you through your emotional ordeal. I argue a couch to lay on as you spill your guts or soul in a corn field.

I also thought I have healed more than I have killed. I thought at one point that if I kill this deer I kill myself. I have a conscience. Given that I have to do something distasteful because last year I didn't have deer meat and I felt it. People do not care if you are without food. If I have to go contrary to my nature and kill something to eat as supplemental food you can imagine what I have to battle with when I hunt. I also pondered the idea that if I had longer moments of seeing them alive I would not want to kill the animals but then I would be upset with the fact or resentful that I have to do something in order to survive. Sometimes you really have to look at the reasons people are doing things. The options in your mind may not be an option to them.

In retrospect for two shots fired.....no deer at all.

I felt one of two ways. Someone had died and I couldn't get the moments back. I was holding someone's hand and they were slipping to their death as I watched their exit. This was a horrible feeling. Probably not as bad as a deer laying on the ground dying bleeding out though so why am I complaining....self centeredness I would presume.

After I got up I seriously wanted to take the gun and my hunting license and put them on the truck; vowing never to pick up a gun or hunt a deer. Maybe stomp them in the dust? I was just disgusted that my experiences that should have been good were ruined by men. On the other hand I know the golden rule of deer hunting:

if you disrespect the deer family your hunting will be cursed for unnumbered days.

After this episode I vaguely remember profanity and the speaking in tongues of gypsy curses.
At one point I couldn't talk I just used hand signals.

Now I have relapsed and do not want the company of men right now. Should I blame all men for the actions of one? Like Joan Wilder I am all out of Kleenexes.

My mother says to me, "Just go hunting tomorrow."

~Written by W Harley Bloodworth~

Courtesy of the AOFH

ps....if I really put down all the particulars you might have to get some movie popcorn and a chair.

Self Love And Acceptance: An Aspect.

Remember this: Every life is full of moments when you feel over burdened with demands, responsibilities, or personal trials.

When it is time to hunt all those cares can be put on the back burner. You finally have a momentary release from the albatrosses of the world. The only supply and demand is what you require for the product of your endeavors. If hunting is your 'me time' then why not take advantage of the moment and actually work on your inner being. You will be the better for it.

Everyone that hunts has been there. Waiting. When you have that kind of time on your hands, pull up a blade of long grass and put it square in your teeth. Do as the cows do: chew cud. Roll that sucker around in there and think your way to a better you.

One such idea to mull over is how you treat yourself as a woman who hunts. How do others treat you? Take a nice piece of stationary out, write these two questions down and scribble ten things that come to mind off the top of your head. This can be done in the deer stand as well. Really be honest with yourself. Fold it up and leave a copy in your stand so when you return everyday during hunting season you can decide if your outlook stayed the same or if you need a little 'self-love' makeover.

If you can clean your gun and oil it you can spend some time on yourself and the outlook you harbor.

As a female who hunts, when developing your aesthetic outlook, regarding the aspect of self love and acceptance into your arsenal is imperative. Whatever relationship you have with yourself before, during and after the hunt is the foundation for what other people see in terms of how they will visualize, approach, and treat you. The female hunter must be very aware of her self-cultivation in family, work, charity, and hunting.

In the spare moments of hunting, the Aesthetic Female Hunter should extend to herself devotion or attention of centering and connecting with her own heart and spirit through a landscape of temperamental nature. Learn to offer self love and acceptance to yourself then affirm these values. Believe in your own worthiness. In respecting, nurturing, and treating yourself as a treasure you can begin to cherish the Aesthetic Female hunter inside of you. Others will see this shining through and in turn will return as much as you are willing to give and receive.

The goal is to grow and expand yourself and your ideals using hunting as the platform to improve ever portion of your life.

If you are ever in a position as a Female Aesthetic Hunter that lessens your mentality, you have the right to set your boundaries and not apologize for it. Stand as strong and collected as you would when you focus in on your target, hold your breath then pull the trigger.

Women who hunt are not 2-dimensional beings on a computer screen. We are multi-dimensional beings that are capable of looking good, feeling good, and acting (respectable that is). You are your own Ambassador of Hunting. Where ever you go you are representing some portion of hunting as an individual. You can still be sexy but not ridiculous. Never make yourself ridiculous. The role and space that you occupy in the realm of Hunting will make you a caricature based on the spectacle you make of yourself.

When you step out into the field/woods with your gun, accept yourself and your deeds. At that moment you are beyond anyone's condemnation. If you can extent this to yourself then you can extend it to another person. Your tolerance can be someone else's tolerance. Accept your own imperfections. See your imperfections in another person as acceptable mistakes.

Always ask yourself these kinds of questions:

Am I showing myself self-love and acceptance right now?

Have I evaluated what will happen after the decision making process and how it will affect my position in the Hunting sphere?

As an aesthetic female hunter is this behavior or choice going to damage or lessen my respectability?

Will my actions give people and excuse to lessen my value or ability?

If Hunting was my partner right now how embarrassed would it be by my actions?

Is this the way I want my family, friends and associations to perceive me?

Learning your lessons helps others in your stead learn a lesson or two themselves.

You are a Lady of the Game Hunt. Treat yourself accordingly.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

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