Boyfriend and I live with one foot in the hunting world and the other in the foodie world. This season, those groups have really started coming together ... sometimes better than the hunters themselves do.
Having been blessed with some good hunting and a full freezer, we've been sharing game with our friends, and one of them is Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, an insanely popular food blog. We sent her off recently with three teal, including one I'd gotten while hunting with the boys in the Delta.
She had never cooked wild duck before, and she blogged about the experience this week. It was especially cool to see everyone's reaction. As a hunter, you get to the point where you brace for serious negativity whenever you see hunting brought up in a non-hunting forum, but Elise's audience passed that nonsense and went straight to the talk about food.
It was also cool seeing a picture of my duck in Elise's kitchen. How did I recognize it? Unfortunately, my duck slapped the water hard when she went down, so her otherwise unsullied breast meat was a tad bruised.
Ironically, as Elise was blogging appreciatively about the duck I got that day in the Delta, another hunter had stumbled onto my story about that hunt and posted something unkind about it (titled "The secret is out fellas") on The Refuge Forums. Another hunter quickly chimed in and referred to my blog as "crap." In the end, six more hunters - only two of whom I know - came to my defense.
But who'd've thunk I'd be taking crap from fellow hunters while getting thumbs up from non-hunters?
© Holly A. Heyser 2008
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11 comments:
Not surprised about the negativity nor the support.
As I see, people who enjoy certain activities for the activity itself are more prone to be welcoming to newbies.
Then there are people who participate in a certain activity for other reasons (related to ego, insecurity, habit, so-called tradition, etc) and they seem to seek to protect the activity from others in order to keep it supposedly exclusive. And these are usually the very same ones who break all the courtesy and sporting guidelines and end up causing injury to themselves or others.
In other words, there are those who love doing what they do and there are those who just love being ostensibly special.
I came from SoCal, so I've seen it a lot. Mostly from the "my beach, my wave, go home" SurfNazis. So, I'm not surprised that there are HuntNazis, too.
Hey Holly!
What a j*ck*ss, and on a public forum too. My site gets it share of these too, it's just that their comments never see the light of day; I delete them before they're public. Nothing but great comments on the duck post though, surprising to me, sometimes I get members of the vegan mafia showing up and comparing me with Hitler when the posts get a little too close to the source of the meat.
Your cinnamon teal was delicious, thanks again for sharing your bounty!
Girlfriends, don't knock 'em 'till you've lived with one! He is a sad, sad, lonely man. And likely to remain that way!
In blighty we have a word for people like that, it aptly describes a chap who erherm 'keeps his own company' and rhymes with anchor.
SBW
Some men just are not comfortable with women who hunt or want to learn about hunting. I ran into that on a couple of forums when I first started posting. Some of the guys would ask what I was doing there or why I even wanted to be there.
Luckily, most of the male hunters I've met have been eager to share their knowledge and very encouraging. It is unfortunate, but true, that you will get a troll every once in a while.
Yeah, just yesterday I saw another post on the Refuge Forums from a guy who asked why the hell he'd want to go hunting with his wife. Why would he want to let her invade that special space of his?
All I can say is I feel sorry for guys like that - sorry that their wives aren't also their best buddies.
The good thing is that guy's comment was in response to a post who was proud of his wife's hunting prowess, so you're right - the trolls are in the minority here.
Welcome to the world of the Internet, where everybody is perfect because nobody has a face... or at least they don't have to show it. It's a world of confrontation without consequence, and where everyone who wants to be is perfect.
Takes a thick skin to stick around this world. You're a journalist, so I have no doubt you'll hang tough... but it still sucks sometimes. No?
I tagged along with my husband when he went duck-hunting the other day, because he *begged* me to. I wasn't terribly interested at first, but I could see how very much it meant to him to share with me something that gave him so much joy. And I had a blast, despite getting freezing water down my waders and nearly dying. I exaggerate. A little. ;-)
Now I'm wanting to join him for the final weekend of the season, if possible, and I've just finished plucking my first birds tonight, with some guidance from Hank. I found you both via Elise's blog, and plan to keep reading.
I may not be learned about hunting, but I like to think I DO know good writing when I see it, and sister, NO ONE can say that this blog is "crap." I've seen "crap," and...this ain't it. Chin up, and don't let the turkeys get you down!
Thanks so much!
And I'm really glad to hear about your hunt, and sorry about your leaky waders. If you have a leak in the boot, try Shoe Goo. If there's a leak in the waders, there are repair kits. If you go to your nearest hunting store, they can probably help!
Good luck on getting out for the closer. We're planning to hunt 'til Sunset on Sunday - it's like closing ceremonies of the Olympics, being there for the final shots of the season.
Five days of season left, at least three hunts in the works. Which reminds me - better get to bed, getting up at 0-dark-thirty.
Heh--they didn't leak; I fell down. REPEATEDLY. It was to be expected, as I am less than graceful when I'm NOT up to my hips in icy water with only boot-grabbing mud-paste to walk in.
I won't tell Alex about your five days of upcoming hunts. He's already despondent that he can't get off work and won't be able to catch any more than the final two!
Holly,
I was ready to get on a plane and get all medieval on someone. But luckily for the perpetrators many came to your defense.
It always ticks me off that there are those that just can't keep there mouthes shut when they don't have anything nice to say.
I mean, I occasionally do that, but I'm more often than not, right. Mostly...
BTW I really enjoy everything you write! It really is well done in all aspects.
Regards,
Albert
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
Thanks Albert! I love your blog too. Great stories.
Interestingly enough, I think I ran into one of the guys who was commenting on the Refuge Forums when I was out hunting on Wednesday with my friend Dana. Granted, everyone looks alike in camo, but this guy had the same face and facial hair as one of the commenters (whose photos I've seen on other forums). He was one of those who seemed on the fence about women hunting, though, so my conversation with him was limited to "How'd you do today?" and "Oh, we got scaup and spoonies today."
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