Developing Florida State Parks 2024

 

 

Remember this: Let Nature Be.

Recently, I have become aware of the issues Florida residences are experiencing in regard to developing infrastructure in Florida State Parks for tourism and entertainment. 

Historically, when you consider the weather and subsequent flooding alone, it makes you wonder who came up with this idea? I know the need for money has everyone squeezing the soul out of a lemon, but this gives new anxiety to humankind's progression to a nature-less dystopian reality. 

The executive office of Govenor Ron Desantis has proposed nine amendments to nine existing management plans of nine state parks in Florida. This is coming from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). 

The argument for this is economic growth, expanding public access, increasing outdoor activity, and to improve Floridian quality of life, but does it? Is it a great argument? Is this based upon what is best for the location, or what goes in the state, federal, or local coffers? What about the ecosystem and the biological participants existing in mostly untouched areas? When you are looking for the devil, it is usually county, state then federal. Everything follows suit. The county is all about progression and how it can expand town out into the country. The first sign is the infiltration of energy, cell service, and water companies into areas that are not on a grid. Once you are on a grid, then you become an unwitting hostage to its dictates. Not that those systems are directly bad, but it brings housing and structure that eats away at land and Nature like the Nothing. This is when you have human population growth because people need place to go. This needing a place to go out competes wildlife and Nature. The only predator(s) we seem to have is bad food choices, disease, virus, bacteria and human incompetence among other things. 

These are the state parks that are listed as targets for outdoor recreation economy. 

• Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County (lodging, pickleball, and disc golf)
• Hillsborough River State Park (lodging, pickleball, and disc golf)
• Oleta River State Park
• Jonathan Dickinson State Park
• Doctor Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park
• Anastasia State Park
• Camp Helen State Park
• Topsail Hill Preserve
• Grayton Beach State Park 

There is a proposal for putting a golf course on the state parks. Why? Are there not plenty of those everywhere else?  Don't build another one because you are bored and unchallenged.

Let's look at a real-life golf course that is in the lowlands of South Carolina: The Witch Golf Links. The Witch Golf links was closed (2021-2022) due to excessive flooding that cause the course to be under-utilized or not utilized at all during its golfing seasons. One of the co-partners stated flooding would be a regular thing. This course has 38 acres of wetland and floodplain within its boundaries. Initially, the plan was to build 326-home residential development consisting of 115 townhomes, 211 single family dwellings, and six acres of commercial development. The county had plans to develop this property flood or no flood. At some point, someone made the good decision to not put structures over the wetlands. 

This makes you wonder. How can you look at a property and think this is a bad idea and do it anyway? This is the resonating thought in the Floridian brain pan when this was put on the table for them to eat and it was a definite no go meal. 

The golf course was sold to which the Horry County Council decided it would be developed into a multi-family housing to give a wider birth to the wetlands and swamps where the front nine ran through it. Here you have a property that went from golf course to housing development. 

Who did Horry County decide would be desperate enough to market to and those people would buy an expensive house on a flooded area? Then live with taxes, debt and consequences.

The lesson/idea here for Florida is once DeSantis plunders the state parks with the upgrades and it fails then will it be turned into a housing development? Is it really just a prep for this sort of thing. Gives new meaning to buying Swampland in Florida. 

Not to be a bad cookie, sometimes you can mesh lodgings with state parks. Santee state park has yurts that you can stay in, but they are on the bank of the lake with a pier. People stay there because its down in the woods and they don't want to stay in a hotel. You do have to come to God on the fact you will be visited by insects and snakes. There can be a good balance to the situation where the money goes back to the park. This park has a sink hole problem so that would go to repairing the road system inside the park. When you think of lodging you get into the realm of the wastewater management that comes with people. When you have natural disasters and rising water tables the issues are real.

The pickle ball activity should be left to the towners because you would have to build a court and that takes up surface area and needs to be built to withstand increment weather, as does disc golf. Is anyone going to use it regularly? Upgrades to parks tend to not be used as often and fall into disrepair. Now it is money in and lost. 

Of course, there is always gateway development. What is that? When the local governance decides they want to ease development on constituents and do a little then when that fails go all in and put a bigger spread down because you have now accepted the buildings, gardens, and structures that are there. What you see every day becomes unseen in the long run. You get desensitized to the reality of it because you don't see the minuscule damage going on under the surface.  

The most pressing issue with having our state parks developed is that it falls into the hands of corporations that will see the area as a cash cow or moneymaker on its way to being privatized.  

If you are going to develop over an area, get creative and build things that are engineering feats, work with the nature ecosystem and can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. When you think of life over dollar, dollar is going to win depending on who wants it in their pocket.  

Ultimately, the concern of Floridians on their state parks is the gentrification towards a house development through cherry picked alterations onto the landscape of the park. It is the impact these alterations have on the now existing residents, wildlife and surrounding ecosystems. 

We know our state parks as a place that we can go to get away from the ever-increasing dystopian quality of human life. We resound with Nature by unplugging from it all. Now, someone wants to push an aspect we do not want in that landscape for availability's sake. That is something we already have at home, work, or our daily lives. When you look at human population growth or even migration from other countries, I am surprised that there are not tent camps up everywhere.  Why does everything have to have the life squeezed out of it till all that is left is empty casings with nothing left to give? 

If you would like to learn more, click the link and head over to the Florida DEP page to keep current on breaking news for this situation. 

https://floridadep.gov/about-dep

Just remember, if it is worth it, it is worth fighting for. Once it is ruined, that is a struggle to get it back to a semblance of what it once was. 

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

  

Man Will Be Nature's Equal

Remember this: The thing that a lot of people cannot comprehend is that Mother Nature doesn't have a bullet with your name on it, she has millions of bullets inscribed with "to whom it may concern.

~Anonymous Sage~

Thank the Great Unknown, all the scientists, geeks, and nerds for our technology. As hunters, we rely on the meteorologists of the world, cell phone apps, and gadgetry to tell us when it will forecast rain, blazing sun, icy snow, sun rise/set, and when the tides are high or low. At times, we use the old finger-lick technique to see which way the wind is blowing. I guess you could fart and see if you could smell it by the wind coming up from behind.

There are certain initial weather conditions that we can determine beforehand and the secondary fallout from such blights of natural disaster via meteorologic information. In some cases, tornadoes, twisters, tsunamis, etc. just seem to appear out of nowhere with little warning. There are also long burning forest fires from lightning and dry conditions, snow storms, flooding, disease pandemics, and other surprises on the horizon. Nature's good graces and wrath are upon the landscape of Earth in varying degrees.


Rain was pelting my window, slowly lulling me to sleep as I watched television. The reason for this foray into Nature's weather was based from a boot commercial running in between hunting shows. It wasn't a boot issue for sure. The commentator stated something to the effect, “...Man will be Nature's equal”. I heard the sour sound of a bad string being plucked on my inner banjo. Not wanting to be nit-picky, I cleared my mind to focus on the question: how could this partial statement be interpreted?

As Hurricane Arthur breezed its way passed, people breathed a sigh of relief. I thought about the relationship between hunting participants and Nature, as it stands from a human perspective. Hurricanes definitely can serve up a terrible dose of Mother Nature's wrath if you've never experienced one. Unprecedented damage to life and limb, displacement of families and animals, rebuilding and problem-solving for communities for years to come. If you have long endured such a beast during your lifetime, you learn what to do and not to do. The most you can do if you are a local is: ride it out like a big kahuna wave and hope you don't crash under the wave itself.

What could be the possible human perspectives of living as a part or separate from Nature? The human perspective is: you live with Nature as a functioning contributor, live outside/inside of Nature as the competitor, or live life as the spectator who just exists. There are probably otherways not mentioned.

These ideas on the approach of the hunting participant's role in Nature is a pie chart. A little of this and a little of that. These divisible parts show a trend to temporarily visit as a lifestyle choice instead of a way of living as a mutually benefiting organism. The wordage of lifestyle choice makes it sound just that; a choice which can be picked up or thrown down at will depending on your fancy. A portion of hunting participants do consider Nature to be the enemy that one must overcome and vex to feel like a hunter/adventurer. I scratch my head at this. Yet there are hunting participants that want to be a part of the hunting act, involving their need for the intimacy of nature and not its conqueror. There are hunting participants who are integral parts of the maintenance and upkeep of Nature. The list of differing roles goes on. People exist that do not hunt but act the same way. You don't have to look to far; oil spills, deforestation, and displacement of indigenous peoples to assimilate into the civilized world.

The concept idea for marketing this boot lead me into my next critique of how true this statement is. Can Man every truly be equal to Nature? Is there anything right or wrong about this endeavor? Why do divisions of humanity strive to conquer all in a sundry?

There is also the view that Nature is the enemy and fractions of hunting participants exists outside of Nature instead of being a crucial part of the narrative. This seemed to be the idea the commercial was selling. A canine with blue eyes that I observed was to represent a wolf or agent of Nature. Was I to believe that to kill a wolf was to conquer Nature? Maybe it should have been a double twister with the hunter running for his life. He'd be running in the boots. It is truly proven that this animal type, the wolf, can be hunted and killed. There is also the suggestion to employ dogs to hunt wolves. I wondered why hunting as is, was not good enough. Whoever participates in this hunting activity might better think of spay or neutering their dogs. Once in estrus, they are going to be mongrels bred up in them there hills. Dogs will tie up through a kennel fence, as I have seen this. Nothing to stop them out in the bushes chasing after their own kind. On a funnier note, I once saw a chihuahua breeding a female rottweiler who laid down on the ground for him. Naughty. Naughty. That is a hard urge to ignore.

I figure to help with the economy, if someone is going to do a hunt with dogs on wolves, it should be monitored by the DNR through listing the dogs used. The dogs used should then be taken to a veterinary with a 24-48 hour period to be checked for excessive wounds and treatment with follow-up care. This paperwork should be submitted by the veterinary; not the hunter. Ethically, if you're going to endanger your hunting dog, you should not toss the dog in the pen after they do the work. Bite puncture wounds do get infected and turn into abscesses. These hunting dogs should also be pre-monitored by the DNR through submitted paperwork by the hunter listing all vaccinations, neuter, spaying and deworming. The DNR should also charge an extra fee for the administration of this function to ensure hunter ethics, hound health, and wolf hunting regulations. Pen it down as going to conservation and Angelia's love/hate relationship with veterinary medicine. Now write the check.

Humanity's relationship with Nature in the past was, man survives Nature's wrath. Things have not changed, except we can make it rain by dumping particles in the clouds with planes. Covert operations could possibly bring about an earthquake, plague through biological warfare, and let us not forget the secret death ray in outer space (tips hat to conspiracy theorists). I forgot the Aliens. These are man-made versions of Mother Nature's wrath by our own hand.

There are probably times when hunters go into the mountains or the woods to hunt only to find the weather is shifting moods. Clear now. Foggy later. You could start out sunny and dry then end up wet, naked, cold, and afraid. Add the unseen in the dark, staring at you like a piece of bacon then you're in for a treat. Going into unknown terrain would dictate that the guide be knowledgeable of the changing weather patterns, how it will affect the hunt, and the possibilities of waylaying the goal of procuring the animal. I am sure there is not one client that feels uneasy when stuck out in bad weather while wondering if they are going to get trapped out in the bush.

We could even observe commercial fishermen out on the ocean. Introduce a bad storm or some other atmospheric anomalie and you're Mark Walhberg's character in The Perfect Storm, drifting to your death in monster waves. Commercial fishermen experience this all the time when the ship topples over, gets stuck in an ice bank, the waves could push the workers over board, or strand them out to sea. There are just things you don't see coming.

My survey of life infernal on the planet is: a good portion of its inhabitants are actually working on ways to co-exist with nature instead of against or to conquer Nature. This exertion of energy would be more beneficial to all inhabitants. Why has this taken so long?

People don't want to die. The impending threat of extinction on humanity's part is enough to scare people to action and clean up their act. When the Grim Reaper is reporting for duty, people will pray for a miracle, sell their soul, sacrifice chickens, or check-out emotionally. Others will dance in the street having a party. I guess if you have to die; die happy.

I penned this commercial down as a poorly worded advertising slogan. There are people that do have the mentality Nature is a thing to overcome. Participants in Nature's cycles, who have this relationship with Nature as the enemy to be conquered, are arrogant.

I will interject that I disclude adventurers who have goals to do things like climb Mt. Everest. These goals do not intel changing the world but changing or manifesting some need inside. There is little carbon foot print on the Earth or the taking of life; unless they lose their own during the expedition.The implication is not to overcome Nature but issues that block them from finishing goals from within.

Humanity's unchecked fingers produce products and services with poor minds sets that bring about global dysfunction. It breeds pollution on the landscape of Nature and we have debilitated the functioning of the Earth to some degree. There are global changes that humanity will not have control over. We must be accountable for trespasses and find solutions to clean up our leftover, messy wake.

Nature reminds us how strong and fragile we are. There is no need to conquer the wilderness. As hunting participants, we need the landscape to exercise our technical and spiritual skills. These skills carry one through life. Propagate that. There is no conquering Nature or being its equal. To do so could possibly cause a dynamic shift in our perception of the wilderness as a thing to trample under foot instead of protect. People say we have conquered space. The universe is big and we have conquered nothing because we barely understand or know where the boundaries are.

Participants in this life can be stewards of Earth and its creatures. We can learn to manage components of the ecosystems to the benefit of inhabitants. Utilizing sustainability to continue cycles and propagate life is a better endeavor than conquering it.

Participants that strive to be God-like by manipulating the course of life, as it is, should be weary of the outcome. Usually we perceive a goal but the different outcomes could be beneficial or tragic. We can't control everything. Just as Jeff Goldblum's character stated in Jurassic Park, “Life will find a way.”

Man will be equal to Nature doesn't seem so relevant. Once humanity is done there will be nothing but a bare, raped landscape filled with deserts, death, and void of its animals. There again, shifting ideology and behavior is going toward the improvement of the environment. Where does one stand in the throws of Nature's wrath? Where ever it is, it had better be humbled. I subscribe more to Cody Lundin's stance of keeping my ass alive; socks or not. All you can do in the end is survive it.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Rethinking Memes and Your Reasons.

Someone, Somewhere Made this. Creator Unknown at this moment.

Remember this: Chumming the water is chumming the water. Bloody, as it is already.


The first section I found juvenile,  if not childish. Nice try with nursery rhymes though.  I applaud whoever made this but it falls short of glory. The reason it falls short of glory is this simple truth:

When the words of another (makes you hunt harder) because of a debate on right or wrongs, then you need to stop and rethink why you are hunting at all. This comment makes it sound like the person posting has no control over his/her decision-making because a second party has swayed them into action based on online manipulation or debate.

That being truly anal on my part but it is what it is. I can't make it more than it is worded.  If it is to spite someone else, you have distorted your whole reason for being in the woods, on the lake and on the mountain side. When I go hunting, I tune this garbage out.

This fodder is for people that sit on the internet arguing with people. They are not outside doing their hunting/fishing business as participants of the outdoors. You'll see this alot with professional or non-professional hunters. They are not enjoying their down time and bored out their minds. They have to get that adrenaline fix while making themselves and anyone looking angry. Hunting is meant for enjoyment not reality tv drama. This is an emotion contagion meme that solicits a negative response from people viewing it.

I want to see positive stuff. Who wouldn't?

I reflect on the type of person that made or shared in this kind of meme. I wouldn't want to be in the woods with them with that kind of attitude or reasoning. They're spending my precious time kicking the can of nonsense. If  someone brought this drivel up to me while I was out doing hunting or fishing, I would tell them to get back in the truck, go home and login to be with their kind, or never invite them back.

I truly get tired of these memes and that is the only reason I am not passing this one by;  not as an attack on  the maker but the stupidity of the message.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Enemy, Mine?

 

Remember this: To have an enemy, one must be acknowledged, created, and labeled as such.

I logged on to social media. I saw hunting participants arguing over the pivotal issue of trophy hunting with non-hunting participants, who were against killing animals for sport. I felt like an external spectator to these particular arguments. I spoke to people in comment conversation but never got into some brawling free-for-all with a total stranger. I didn't drive my energy to these types of conversation or seek them out. I planted a tree and observed.

Yet on my monitor was the call for knowing your enemy. Enemy spells futility. A great bottomless pit of negative emotions. Of course, I have enemies that showed up to the hospital when they thought I would die. It seems they couldn't live without me or didn't want to move on to another person to hate. My enemy showed me love and concern in a bizarre way. I should have asked, “Why can't you just love me?” When I got better they resumed hate for me.

I mulled it over in my head; enemy. What constitutes an enemy in Hunting? How does this work itself into hunting? Who are these people? What creates an enemy? How do you diffuse an enemy's creation? What is the real issue and how do you at least alleviate the problem?

The first considerations are: there has to be one or more separate sides or teams. A center conflict must exist, which this maelstrom revolves around. The things lacking are: absence of diplomacy, compromise, intellectual discourse, or solving the problem. There is also the pre-existing information that prescripts the parameters of the argument. This type of information is the factual guidelines that dictate the existence of the supposed problem, which can't be ignored.

In brief, here is the situation: hunters and anti-hunters argue over killing animals for sport.

Let us focus on the commonality of the hunter and non-hunter. I consider both activists with a different adjective. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Hunting and non-hunting participants use the concept of conservation and filtering money to activities, while having strict laws that govern the hunting or non-hunting experience. These monies are used by governmental or non-profit agencies. These types exercise wildlife management in the form of veterinary assistance afield, ecosystem monitors, tallying wildlife numbers, and to some extent citizen science. Both groups monitor and intercept poacher activity while interacting with game reserves or the local people. This illustrates a general love of hunting or non-hunting activism. Yet there are those individuals that desire for the two groups to be distinctly separate and at war. A better use of time is to work together.

Each group may or may not work in jobs where animals are in derogatory conditions. They may work in ecological, conservation, or non-science based jobs. They may not work at all but sit on the computer surfing the internet. It aids animals who can't verbalize needs. Action is taken on the part of animals or humans to make hard decisions then carry those decisions through to the end.

There may be hunters or non-hunters that track or euthanize an animal because of suspected disease, nuisance animals (in the way of causing damage to other wildlife or local people), or to stimulate the economy in a impoverished country. Professional and safari hunters do stimulate the economy in a positive way. Governments utilize hunters to help deal with overpopulation through culling and legalized hunting expeditions. Exploitation of wild game is handled at the governmental level to ensure neither hunter or non-hunter is taking advantage of the system in place. They are also contributors to ecosystem and habitat construction via personal money and land management tactics. It is established that this is a fact without discrediting the direct role of science based research the hunter revolves in and out of. There are hunting based organizations that procure money specifically for these endeavors as supplements to cost incurred for the benefit of the knowledge. This knowledge directs the distribution of funds to the best possible treatment of conservation, habitat, and ecosystem management.

Non-hunting participants garner funds to pay for the protection and propagation of species as does the hunter. These funds go to combat exploitation, abuse, ecosystem construction and management, and overpopulation of animals. Overpopulation is approached through adoption after ovarian-hysterectomies or castration. For deer, it is contraceptives. As with hunting, there is no verbalization on the part of the animal on how they wish to live. They are occupants on the human landscape. Thus are treated as indigent creatures at the mercy of decision-makers. These decisions based on what is best for people, ultimately, and not the animal as a whole.

Considering contraries to these positives:

Of course, no one asks the animal about its rights when they are being sterilized or adopted out. That is one of the ironic things about the animal activism stance; wanting to give a voice to the animal yet taking away the animal's choice in its best interest, if it indeed has a choice, to force off a procedure that would end its ability to reproduce. No matter what is being done physically to the animal as long as it survives for a greater good should be enough. Here again you have a group making a decision on behalf of a creature that can't verbalize what it does or does not want. Yet someone makes the decision all the same because it can be a nuisance reproducer. The same goes for hunters. Governmental agencies dictate the legal parameters of the hunter while the hunting participant decides to shoot a animal for food or trophy. No one asks the animal how they feel about it. The reality is both sides force off a decision to act on a creature that can't really say no. I am not bleeding animal activism here but both parties are guilty of some negative oversight.

Animal cruelty cases cause several problems. The outcome doesn't have an argument based on the cruelty inflicted. It stimulates economy but as a deficit because owners or the animal abusers aren't held accountable. Medical staff are presented with the wounded animal then have to use products and services to treat or euthanize the animal. These bills go unpaid, are paid by a non-profit, or someone not affiliated with a non-profit donating money. The bulk of the work does go unpaid because the person presenting the animal wants the medical professional to show sympathy towards the animal with no reimbursement for the material or service used to diagnose or treat the animal. Professionals in business might feel taken advantage of but never say so. It might reflect poorly on them when it hits the public grapevine. This would label the business in the negative. These professionals then go along with the predicament and unpaid bill.

There are some participants from both hunting and non-hunt who have a common sense about them. These people want to do positive work in the world employing channels of education, information, and being a conscientious citizen. They do not bang their head on internet walls. This shows you can be mature, productive, creative and maintain something truly wonderful or worth fighting for. Contribute and promote that narrative.

The other telling issue is dominance on both sides. One side wants to defeat the other through hostilities. Animal based issues fall to the wayside. There is no right way. There are a series of paths that can take you to the same or different outcome. The pivotal moment is making the decision as to which path to take; whether it will or will not be self-defeating for the purpose.

Let us focus on the element of the enemy.

An enemy is a person or group that incites an attack on another. What creates an enemy? Conflict, but it's not necessarily the disease. It's more a symptom. What creates an enemy is the behavior or approach from all sides and how they handle the conflict.

When you consider conflict, approach, and then choice in the way you manage a problem, middle ground is the key. You have to be open to the dialogue. If there is no dialogue, you have monkeys tossing excrement at each other in unlimited supply.

I then reflect over the wordage of enemy in posts. There is an insinuation of some faceless army of people lurking. Am I suppose to be angry at or wary of these people? Are they spooks waiting to attack me (for what reason I am not sure) and ruin my life? Do I want to invite negativity into my psyche? If so, to what end? Now henceforth, should I monitor everyone under this yard stick as the enemy while culling people before I even get to know them?

This is the seed of fear. “Fear is the mind killer”, circa Frank Herbert's book, Dune.

I believe in warnings. If you directly know who certain individuals are or if their behavior could cause a problem. En masse, this is difficult to approach. Is it prudent for me to waste energy on such a thing? When did I get recruited like an eighteen year old going to a war I didn't start? I am not a fan of someone starting a fight then sending someone else to fight their battles. Mano-a-mano, I say.

People are taught to fear and avoid where danger does not exist without question. One issue of hunting is the fear the non-hunting participants could change certain avenues in hunting that would slowly make it obsolete. Facebook might be right about their research on a a virtual emotional contagion. There seems to be a long spread panic by hunting participants on losing hunting all together. If I were not on the internet looking at propaganda, I could be sitting in a boat fishing, oblivious to makeshift hunting issues. Is this panic relocated solely to the internet? I paused to consider the fact I wasn't particularly threatened by my state's mode of governance on hunting or fishing.

To diffuse an enemy's creation, one need only act like accountable adults, who can sit down and have an intelligent dialogue as to the problem. Work it out. Why make an enemy? What good does it ever do? I am not partial to the term ally either because allies are the first people to get tossed under the bus when a better deal comes along. When someone says, “Can you be an ally?”, translated this means can you temporarily help me out? No promises.

Hunting and Non-hunting participants are crucial to life on this planet. Both are interactive parts of the field work that is needed to monitor the ecosystem of Earth as a whole. Both are useful in discovering animal abuse cases, providing information to the scientific realm in the proper fashion, and sources of pertinent education to the public.

These groups employ different platforms with the same common goal in mind yet their approach is different. Each of these could act as a lone agent or supplemental to the conversation of wildlife, domestic animals, and ecological systems.

Each group should be accountable for the decision-making subjugated upon a species that cannot agree or disagree with the treatment. There should always be the truth that enforcement of any policy upon a sentient species is not at the behest of that particular species but the enforcer, their desires, and decision of conservation or exploitation of non-human entities.

More could be done to improve the quality of Ecosystem Earth if the energy for petty arguments were set aside. The welfare of Ecosystem Earth and its inhabitants should take precedence.

In closing, do you decide for yourself where the threat lies? Or do you go along with the pointing fingers?

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

An Extreme Competition......

 

Remember this: Read the fine print then if your intuition tells you something stinks...it most likely does.

I was perusing the internet looking for hunting when I fell upon the Extreme Huntress Competition. I knew of this from previous searches but each time I always said no and moved on.

This time I looked a little closer.

In my critique, the first thing I looked at was the mission statement:

“Our goal—create positive role models for woman who want to participate in hunting. With 50% divorce rates and kids becoming invested in sports as (web page typo) a younger and younger age, we feel if mom goes hunting, so will her children. “~Extreme Huntress Competition Website~.

This was a poorly thought out mission statement. It needs an over-haul. There is nothing on promoting conservation, diplomacy, policy-making, individuality, family, or any thing definitive that supports this competition.

I was dumbfound. All of these participants were in the hunting arena already; not new-comers. Big truth here, mom going hunting doesn't guarantee or influence whether your child will be a hunter through and through all their lives. Unless the parent takes away his or her right to decision making, individuality, or the fact they have to agree with everything the parent wants them to do. Momma made me do it. I had no choice. Mom going hunting is not going to stop a son from robbing a store, flipping a new car, or having a shoot out with the police. Ergo again, going hunting with Mom is not going to save Mom the anger when her daughter or son finds a unsuitable mate that drags them away to some place where they forget hunting because bills and babies take over. If Mom or Dad is lucky their ideal dreams of a family will come true but the reality in this life time is, under the weight of the world, families are torn asunder. Family members are scattered to the winds.

Some of these women could be mothers eventually but there are some that have kids already. Quite frankly you can't dictate to a woman how she will raise her offspring. Another thought is how an outside entity takes it upon themselves to try and model adults who already have parents that raised them along time ago.

I then thought as Tina Turner would sing, “What does love have to do with it?” Divorce rates have no influence over becoming a hunter. Divorce might facilitate things but its not the one driving factor in break-ups; infidelity, people evolve with different values or ideas, or it shouldn't have been in the first place. What can push you to hunt is the fact you have no money or food and looking at a starving baby with no governmental or community support. You are a lamb tossed to the wolves. You shoot and eat them or they eat you. You either want to hunt or someone introduces you to it, willingly or not.

Mothers are all different. You can't guarantee a mother will be decent. Some women toss their babies in dumpsters. My old Professor of Bones at the technical college was a substitute teacher for the elementary school. She had a really bad kid then went to see his mother. The house had no electricity, food, roaches, and rats while being unlivable. The child in question was left there to fend for himself while the biological mother went out trying to score drugs and food for herself. She called the Child Welfare Agency who later let her adopt the child and he finished school. This substitute teacher wasn't his biological mother. Yet she took him as her own. There are some men that make better mothers than mothers. Having the title mother doesn't mean a thing if you don't do all the things an ideal mother would do (yet we all having human failings).

After I got through with the mission statement, I wondered what exactly in benefits where these applicants getting. I read the rules and regulations. I was concerned these ladies were being taken advantage of. Vanity will open the door for this mishap.

It seemed the Sponsor was the owner of all data. Reading into this I concurred that these women were really being used by the Sponsors because the Sponsors were getting the free advertising over and over for the competition. I bet that people holding it got a fat paycheck. I also went to each site and saw not one whiff of an announcement or even advertisement for what the Sponsor was offering in the way of prizes. As a Sponsor you should be defining what is to be offered to winners and participants because no one should go home empty handed. I gathered this because if you are promoting women in hunting; make it worth their while and don't waste their time or capitalize on their backs. They are not your personal mules for advertising or money; don't white wash taking advantage of someone because you know women want to be taken seriously.

I skipped down to the Finalists.

I see this: This hunt will be filmed for a series of videos called Extreme Huntress Competition. I wondered how much the company makes for these episodes which would be put up on the internet, world wide and television. I then looked at the Grand Prize which is an original award designed by artist Mark James and the fact they will reign as Extreme Huntress  for a period of a year. Any other prize detail will be at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. I guess after this its all merchandising, modeling, and face time to the masses.

Then I see Finalist Expense: All expenses not specified herein are the sole responsibility of the finalist, including without limitation all transportation to and from departure point for hunt competition and awards dinner, award dinner tickets for guest or spouse, award dinner lodging and meals. Texas hunting license, personal expenses, medical insurance packages, trip insurance, trophy prep, taxidermy, and other miscellaneous costs participant chooses to incur.

I thought if you got that far with things the competition Sponsors should foot the bill. Its their contest they made up while sticking the bill to the participants. I am sure the Sponsor will be making a percentage of all earnings off the winner or any of the other participants if they should choose to use them in upcoming competition advertisements, interviews, etc. Trust me, unless they are not financially savvy, someone is making money somewhere. Otherwise ,why do it?

I read the release which makes it sound like the disbursement of the prize is the participation in hunt/skills competition. I wondered if this meant the participants already received their prize in the form of the hunt/competition? I read that the Finalist prize package had a retail value of no less than $5000 per finalist. So there is 20 semi-finalists. I also think I read it changes depending on what you kill. Prized before you compete?

I then see Hunt Cancellation: The Sponsor is not held liable for fees, costs, financial obligations to finalists or Grand Prize winner.

This particular item made me think these people were not people of honor or their word. Here they are willing to walk off with no responsibility for bringing these participants into a game then when things go belly up; walk off and leave the women holding the empty bag.

Really and truly when you read the Conditions and Participation the women have to agree to such terms just to be able to participate. Its not right. They do all the work, one gets some glory but the Sponsor reaps the benefit and moves on to the next face the following year.

My thoughts on this were grave yet appalled. I can't believe some days the lengths people will go to take advantage of people or use a woman for selfish ends.  There must not be much to hunting with these competitions. How can you take another hunter or huntress and put them in a game, knowing they could get hurt or killed then turn your back on them because of a condition the Sponsor and the competition generated? This is sacrificing someone through their desire to be renown for a title that doesn't have much value after a year except to the person who doesn't need it anyway and on top of that there is someone out in the world that could hunt your pants off but they aren't vain or can be manipulated through vanity. I guess the trophy could be melted down, recast and sold as a kudu statue.

My thoughts were this was a sham and a shame. Of course, I could be completely wrong in this but there was no information to dictate the contrary.

I thought instead of a competition, why not review what these women have done over the course of a year because hunting is a life long thing not just X amount of episodes that are under confined conditions for mass consumption and entertainment. Each one of these women could be doing something different and unique unto itself yet they are being defeathered meticulously. Pushing their essays out is one thing but really getting into the grit of a person is another thing. I could probably go a googling on the internet and find someone who really does have a handle on hunting ethic and ideology to bang out a good essay that makes me look like a saint while my true self is questionable.

Instead of telling you who they are and what they are about it the same old thing you can find on the internet, kinda like a telephone monologue at Pizza Hut. "We have thick crust or thin? Which do you prefer?" They will tell you what it takes to get them chosen to win. People lie on job interviews all the time but when it comes time to do the job; you'll be found out.

In the way of competitions, I wondered where were the scholarships, prizes of merit for a mother that would help make her life easier, what groups would this Extreme Huntress be representing, and how much work would she be asked to do to cover ground, or being reimbursed. You can get more done with more than one woman. Who would she be uplifting? What actually are the platforms she would be working from or on? Why make one woman bear that much weight on top of her daily life and trials when she has sisters all over the world? Why weren't these women taken into consideration?

If anyone were going to sign up for something like this you have to question some things. Is it going  to help women who hunt instead of showcase one person with very little or no outstanding of personal ideals on hunting? If this global or national push for showcasing women in hunting can be expressed to the public to uplift anyone or is it really is nothing more than a beauty contest based upon shallow popularity and a short essay?

 

I do suspect there will probably be some anger to my writing this but I am not bashing the competition but I do think the ladies can be treated a little better and with respect; not a commoditity to give a second or third party publicity.

If you are going to expose the world to female hunters find a better way of doing it. The public at large needs to see the forums, the activity, issues being addressed, and average people doing the work. There are faceless people doing astounding things everyday yet we push one or two people because they won a competition that gave them an accolade. A work of art on your mantle does nothing for conservation or hunting. It gathers dust which causes you more work because you spend time cleaning it instead of doing something more productive.   

I read all twenty of the essays. There were several women who I thought of yet I voted for one. The people who quoted work like a resume didn't appeal to me because they were going solely on accolades and accomplishments not personal beliefs or what drove them forward in hunting. 

She was the one that I read her entire essay. The one little girl that admitted being a hardcore huntress didn't look positive. She has thought about how she wants to represent herself and what she is doing. She's honest and tells you she is financially challenged in a humble way. She put in the effort and was offered jobs based on the work she was already doing. Her wording of the conditions of not being taken seriously, how its not about the money its about the experience and the knowledge of learning something in particular. At her age, she understands its not about fame.

Fame doesn't last but it is what you do with fame in the way of hunting and other people being introduced to the sport. The best thing she did was write about her mentality and how she respected hunting as an act. I still liked Sandra Mas and her ballsy-ness at becoming a hunter in Africa, Helga Wimmer, and Nikita Dalke but my favorite was Beka Garris because she vocalized it better. I don't give my vote lightly.

Overall, I could see where this would spotlight women in hunting but it being the best and most well thought out platform; no. Most likely the person who really deserves it will not get it.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Here is the link if you would like to vote and give your thoughts. Nothing like free advertising.

http://www.extremehuntress.com/category/current-huntresses/

The Water is Rising

Click on images to Enlarge.

 

 

 

Remember this: The water is rising. When a woman says, “Don’t go in there.” Don’t go in there.

 

I decided yesterday that I was going to go turkey hunting in the WMA on Friday. I scouted the area for the water table. The water was rising and spreading. I blamed this situation on the fact the moon is going into its dark nighs then growing. The moon doesn't change shape but affects the water table and tides. Just through the woods to the river you can see the salt water and the fresh water meeting. I knew the Gobbler King told me to call him on Sunday but that would give me three days left to turkey season. Rain killed the first part of the month for me. I didn’t want to count on him because I figured he was going to back out of this anyway then where would I be; empty-handed and not even trying.

The day before I drove the golf cart around for about an hour and a half at a different place; calling for anything. I got no response. That is when I schemed my plan with the help of Nena-Two-Feathers. I decided I would get my mountain bike, assorted hunting necessities and beat back the rising tide of river water. Mountain bike with a metal basket; extreme and hardcore, I know. Wait til you see pictures of me looking like a bag lady pushing a shopping cart in the woods with a buck in it when I am fifty years old. By then I will be a nutter and it won't matter what the game warden is telling me because I will be tone deaf.

I checked my bike for flat tires and loaded her up into the truck. I got all the stuff I needed and drove down to the WMA. I looked down the road and the water had now pooled well onto the road in front of the sign-in box. I pulled in onto the gravel park, got out, walked over and signed the notebook inside. A truck drove up with a Mr. Wilder from Tabor City, NC. He was driving a Z71 but his four-wheel drive was compromised. He asked me did I think he could get in. I told him no. I did ask him did he want to walk  with me up the road but he seemed disgusted at the idea of getting wet.  I offered. He had never been in the area and did not know it. I explained the terrain to him. He relayed stories of other hunters submerging vehicles in the next county near Punch Bowl because they couldn’t see what was before them. Mr. Wilder decided to turn -tail and go back home.

I had sat at the sign-in box the day before talking to the propane driver from the next county. He didn’t think he would be able to go down the road either. He said he stopped going hunting when he got married, took up horses, got divorced, then stopped with the horses. I guess marriage and divorce is a buzz-kill.  

I waved good-bye to him then walked up the middle of the road in my snake boots watching the turtles drift by. I finally got to the second parking area and walked up on a turkey that flew into the woods over the briar bushes. I meandered through the thicket, after hiding my bike in the briars, to see if the water was there too. It was. I passed on this area.  I pushed on through the earthy tea of the swamp.

 

 

 

 

I heard a vehicle coming up behind me as it broke the water. These two men pulled up.  The driver had never been there before. He asked me if I thought he could make it. I told him no but he could make his friend get out with a stick to dip test areas for depth of hole; made sense to me. Once again, Sacajawea was telling Lewis and Clark not to go there but they did.

 I was now the unofficial swamp troll telling hunters if they could pass or not. Somehow, I thought I needed a staff like Gandalf, while proclaiming, “You shall not pass!” The problem with these two guys was the truck. It was one of those low riding Nissan deals. I could see it sinking into the mire while water flooded it.

We talked about turkey because they were there to hunt like me. It was about 10:30 am and the two hunters were trying to find a gobbler after the hens left for nesting.  We discussed the surveys the DNR sends out and how I got one that was a psychological questionnaire. I told the guy, “I am now starting to question my mental status because I am here, knee deep and up to my eyeballs, pushing a mountain bike with a shotgun strapped to the handle bars.” We laughed.

The driver also told me he thought some of the younger men shoot the turkey and drive right out of the WMA without saying a thing so they can reserve their tags for other days. I think this was probably his opinion but I don’t know what people do and don’t do in the WMA once they get dead birds to their truck. I kept in mind he said he had never been to this WMA so I am wondering if he didn’t mean some other where he had seen it. I am not the game warden but people sure do tell me a lot of stuff.  After shooting the breeze a little more these two intrepid souls decided to chance the water and mystery holes on the road horizon while pushing forward to their dreams.

I wondered up the road and came to a small clearing that lead to a grown up road with a gate in disrepair. I thought about going down it because something had stomped down a path. I looked down in the ditch to find an assortment of red shotgun shells floating there. I piddle for a while then realized it was to overgrown. I went across the road and down in the water-filled ditch. I was unceremoniously up to my waist in water but made it across to the dryer part and mounds of dirt. I messed around in that area but it was one of those spots that one step and you are down in it with your head sticking out. I passed on this but while standing on the hill heard a motor coming. A red jeep wrangler appeared pulling the little green Nissan in tow with the driver laughing like Santa Claus and his co-conspirator, riding in the truck bed, laughing it up at me while I cried, “I tooooldddd yoooouuu soooo.” The swamp troll was vindicated. Those two guys looked like they were in their forties but the look on their faces reminded me of two sixteen-year-olds out with new drivers licenses and getting in trouble.  I thought it was hilarious and so did the jeep driver. They were just waving and laughing.

I then went to the trouble of getting me a witch cane and measuring a section of ditch to cross that wasn’t so deep. I barely made it across but I didn’t get my backpack or gun wet. I walked back up the road to get my bike. I then thought this wasn’t going to get better but I remembered back at the sign-in box there was a gate and I saw a turkey. I walked back. At the second park, two men stopped me to tell me that I didn’t have to wear safety orange because someone would shoot me and the game warden couldn’t write me a ticket because it was turkey season. I told him people worried me enough with their drinking and hunting. The one old dodger had a cannula in his nose where he was getting oxygen. I thought he must be a boss because even sickness wasn’t going to hem him down. He was giving my shotgun googley eyes and said, “That is an 870. Best gun ever made for turkey shooting.” I said, “Yes sir.” He looks at me and says, “Go in there girl and get that turkey.” He excused himself and rode away with his friend. He didn’t want to go down the road either and he had a new Jeep Liberty. I wished at that point I had a Jeep Wrangler but all I had was a mountain bike. Yep, good old mountain bike.



 

 

 

 

I watched them go and strolled through the waters. Finally I got to the gate and steered around the post to go inside. Dart frogs were shooting in every direction. This road was previously bush-hogged and I could walk it no problem. I wanted to be far off the road because of the no shooting zone. I came to a bend and went right where I eventually found a little cul-de-sac and nestled in. The only water I had to cross was a small low place with running water. It was dry as a bone and you couldn’t tell from where I was, that not too far in the other direction, it was flooded. I sat giving my calls and listened. I heard purrs and some yelps. I then concluded that I was on the dry spot with the hens, which were nesting because by this time it was mid-day. Every so often I would do some calls. I was so engrossed at one point with practicing my purr-cluck, I didn’t notice the fast moving black racer that came up to three inches of my snake boot to stare at me. It looked to be over six feet long. It scared the bee-jesus out of me to start with because it snuck up on me and I tossed my flex-tone wooden piece to my slate somewhere in the beige straw grass. I yelled and it shot over to do a semi-circle around me. My inner voice said,  “Snake I am not a hen laying an egg. Go away.” I thought about how this was probably adding to my white hairs that I have had since I was twenty.

 

Of course there is the old superstitution that if a black snake crosses your path, someone is trying to do you harm. I don't think so because this snake was just after something to gulp down.

It’s funny how even snakes can hunt eggs and hear or feel a sound that signals a hen is laying and came calling. I decided after sitting for about two hours that I would call it an empty-handed success. I then saw baby ticks on my gun. It wouldn’t be hunting unless the ticks were invited unannounced to the party.

I did want to see where the road leads but half way up it was muddy like a hog parlor. I relented, jumped on my bike and peddled away. I was doing well until I hit the water hole at less than top speed but didn’t sink the boat. I was exhausted but fairly accomplished.

I then snickered that I had found the hens and walked up on a turkey. I was still in the woods making calls when everyone else was giving up over water and not looking for options. I didn’t wait on someone else but went to do my business, whether I failed or succeeded. I laughed at intrepid souls who laughed at themselves and met people, all men who have been hunting longer than I have. I transversed a ditch to get to the other side then went back into that same ditch to come out. I questioned my mental status while knowing I was not insane. I stood on a hill and laughed at people's shenanigans. There were hunters knew to the WMA that didn’t have a clue and I was educating them and giving them advice. I was encouraged by a man that looked like he was two steps from a nursing home bed.

With hunting, it’s as much what you observe people doing and how they deal with situations that arise. It is not just actually scoring a turkey for you. People are amazing, funny, and informative when you get off your computer, out your house, and strike out down a path to a spot in the brambles. I do have new found respect for ancestors that ran with the Swamp Fox through those same swamps. I signed out after four hours while watching people come then giving up. I thought and laughed a lot going home.

After all, I did it on a mountain bike.

 

 

 

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

 

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

 

 

 

The Shifting Shadows

Remember this: The midday sun casts a shadow on the ground but the setting sun only makes a solid form appear like an empty shadow when really it is solid as a rock.

Recently I modified a wooden dilapidated chicken brooder into a coop with heat lamps to keep the chickens I have hand raised since April-May of last year warm. The golden buffs were complaining like two old ladies and seeing them with frost huddled up on a wire laying pen made me feel sorry for their plight. I was their care-taker so I felt compelled to build a better mouse trap for them. I must say my carpentry skills are becoming occult I tell you.

I resembled a chicken thief sneaking up on the fowl in the dark to gently grab their legs and shove them “into the light”. They showed their appreciation by dropping a couple of eggs off the next morning. Seeing my business was done I walked around to feed my horses. As I was tossing sweet feed I looked out over the back field to see if I could detect movement. Near the swamp I thought I saw a dark shape move. I walked out of the corral to get a better look. Here I was doing the three-step until I was out in the barren garden behind some very thin wispy dried weeds. I stood and stared for a while. Lo and behold seven dark shapes strolled out along the barbed wire fence. I wondered if I could get any closer. I shuffled on stopping randomly and standing still. One of the horses came out and I thought she was going to blow my cover but I moved up the row. Eventually the other three horses came out and I was walking down the dirt row in the center of them. I thought two can play at that game Mr. Deer herd. I began to think about the things these tricky deer have done in the past.

I remembered over the summer I was picking string beans when I decided to lie down in the tall grass to take a rest. The light was right and I wanted to watch bugs. After a while of bug watching and wondering if a snake would slither through I got up and went about my business planning to come back to pick more beans. The next day I discover the deer have wallowed in the same area I laid down in. I scratched my head and said, “Huh.” Undoubtedly the deer tried to get my stink on them in a pivotal move of strategy to hide their scent when men with guns came a-calling. Well played; well played. How smart is that?

I realized that while looking at these deer they were nothing more than black silhouettes dancing across the late evening to disappear at their leisure into the beige high grass by a now defunct watering hole.

This shadowing effect got me to thinking about how in hunting we are obstructed, confused, or enlightened by shadows or dark solid moving objects. Seeing the movement across the fields of animal bodies that look like dark specks, or see things ghosting by in our periphery before first light or at the close of day will mess with your mind.

The shadow that is cast by mid-day sun is not solid yet in the evening the lack of sunlight causes a dark shape to seem like a shadow. That is why you should always take care when you aim your gun at what you are going to pull the trigger on. If you can’t see it, don’t put yourself in a bad situation.

It’s amazing the act of casting a shadow because it can be ether-like, an illusionary solid, or even one of the mind. How could one possibly apply the shadow to hunting aside from something you think you see but might not be, all that it seems.

Here is the opportunity for the shadow of the deer to help us as individuals accept our own shadow.

“The persona is what we would like to be and how we wish to be seen in the world. It is our psychological clothing and it mediates between our true selves and our environment just as our physical clothing presents an image to those we meet. The ego is what we are and know about consciously. The shadow is that part of us we fail to see or know.” (Johnson 4)

We are followed by the shadow of things when ever there is the orb of enlightment. The shadow can not hide. Yet our shadow is constantly with us, yet we forget it is there sometimes whispering in our ears as projection. This projection is cast onto the outer realm of our bodies onto other people, things, or self.

It would be safe to say that we truly aren’t the person we really are except around people that have grown up with us or know us intimately. Outwardly we put on this display to entice other people to befriend or take us seriously with no guarantee they will do such or any idea there has to be a mutual exchange of interactions.

Accepting one's shadow to balance out the dark and light aspects of ourselves deep down is the most honest thing a person can do. Trying to rectify these two poles and bring about a certain amount of unstable balance is a challenge for the person who hunts. Owning up to the facts that we take animal life, ingest that life, and carry on in the wake of what would be considered destructive behavior is embracing that part of oneself that is capable of such things for the sake of survival. Others who are not presented with dealing with this darker half as a hunter still encounter the shadow in their life as love, hate, obsession, resentment, etc. No one is immune or above the shadow. The shadow presents itself in different ways and is never destroyed only countered.

We are solid objects that can look and seem as dark formless purveyors of death from the perspective of the outside viewer when the hunting act is considered. Being honest with yourself on why, how, and to what extent you perform as a hunter rules the way in which  you form a code of morals to deal with the world at large. This world has no limits even when attitudes are projected onto you by others. There is the constant push to be like everyone else so bonds can be formed. Is that really necessary to fit into the square my little circles? Own your darkness and you own yourself; this is when the light breaks through and comes in. Huntress, own thy shadow.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

PS. Can't wait to see which one of you magazines grabs this up and posts it on the cover, in an article or on a meme.

Literature Cited:
Johnson, Robert A. Owning Your Own Shadow, Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche. Harper Collins Publisher, New York, NY. 1971 Print.