Dave Richey

The links in yesteday's entry are working now. Strange how certain things work on my home computer and not at work.
Found
another Michigan-focused outdoor blog which I'll commend for your reading, that of Dave Richey, the former outdoor columnist for the Detroit News. Seems to discuss pretty much everything that people in this part of the world stalk, whether on land or water. On the down side, it may supply too much additional fodder for daydreaming.

I will take issue with one point he raised recently:

Many anglers and hunters seek outdoor entertainment, and that's what they get when they share a fishing trip or a hunt. We are being entertained by ourselves or others, and by the common sharing of such goals as hitting the Hex hatch right or helping each other take a buck during firearm season. By doing so, we further reinforce our need to have other people nearby.

Camaraderie and joking is part of what has become a tradition of sharing, and spending time with friends or relatives. Sadly, it has ended going it alone for most people. The time-honored thoughts of man against wilderness is a thing of the past. It's now a group of people against nature.

Many sportsmen feel safer in crowds where someone makes decisions on where to go, when to fish or hunt, what time to meet for dinner, and such mundane things as picking a place along a runway for each person to sit. Fishing and hunting has become homogenized, sterilized, and pre-packaged so the angler or hunter never have to think for themselves. It's like being in the Army where officers tell people when to eat, sleep and do their job.

I do nearly all of my fishing alone. I'd agree that company on the stream can be a nuisance when your companions are more casual about the sport than you are, or are given to idle chatter. But those few people you meet in a lifetime who seem to connect to the outdoors much as you do--however that may be--enrich the experience immeasurably. If company in itself seems to be the problem, you may not have found the right company.
Bought my first online license today, a small game license which I'll put to use tomorrow. For some reason, I find license-buying a pleasant ritual, at least when I can do it in a small sporting goods shop. Maybe because it is one of the few "communal" aspects of the sporting life as I live it. No time for that at the moment, though. The important thing after all is to avoid a ticket, isn't it?