Hunters get some love from a metro paper

Hunters never expect to get much positive attention from city newspapers but they're getting a lot today: The Sacramento Bee has a Fall Hunting Preview! And yes, I did a lot of writing for it.

This is a big leap for a major metropolitan newspaper, because I guarantee you they're going to get grief from anti-hunting readers who'll demand to know why the outdoors section today is devoted to something they don't do. (Never mind the fact that I don't climb rock walls or ride mountain bikes or ski or do lots of the other stuff that typically gets covered in metropolitan newspaper outdoors sections.) Glory? Read more...
So I'm really hoping hunters show the Bee a little love in return. A lot, actually.

If you live in the Sacramento Area, please buy the paper today. The chart I did on page D4 is worth the price of the paper all by itself: It's a full-page look at everything you can hunt in the fall in California - seasons, limits, legal methods of take, etc. It's something I've always wished our Department of Fish and Game would do. (Now that I've done it, I see why they don't - it was a major pain in the butt! But useful. It's going on my wall. I might even laminate it.) You can see a PDF of it here, though if you can't print on big paper, the type might come out pretty small.

If you don't have access to the paper, please read the stories online and share some positive comments.

Here are links to the stories:

Challenge, excitement of deer hunting prove a strong lure by Li Lou.

Bans on lead ammunition spread by Adam Weintraub.

In the field, humans and dogs enjoy a 20,000-year collaboration by me (and this is the story that seems to be attracting the flame comments).

Sac Valley is good for the goose and good for the goose hunter by me.

There's Zen in the art of reloading by Jim Jones.

Outdoor Gear: Keep warm, stay in touch by Jim Jones.

And oh, by the way, the Bee's food section featured a story about wild game cookery yesterday - click here for that. Boyfriend was quoted in it, and a recipe of his was featured.

The good news is all of the stories are well done - I don't think hunters will find anything to quarrel with.

The only disappointment? Not one ad from the outdoor industry - despite the fact that we have three major hunting retailers that Sacramento-area hunters patronize (Sportsman's Warehouse in Rocklin, Bass Pro in Manteca and Cabela's in Reno).

Advertising support is essential, because unlike idiots like me who are willing to write for free, newspapers require revenue to pay for reporters, photographers, printing and everything else it takes to put out a paper.

I wasn't involved in ad sales for this so I can't say why there aren't any such ads in this section. All I can say is if hunting businesses were approached by the Bee and they said no to ads, I'd be very disappointed in them.

At the very least, though, we can say with great enthusiasm today, "Three cheers for the Bee!"

© Holly A. Heyser 2009