My Father-in-Law passed away Thursday evening.  It was not unexpected, but is still hard just the same. 

Today, and this weekend, will be spent with family and friends.

Make sure to take the time today, to let those you love, know how you feel about them. 

You just never know. 

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I often wonder when it happened.  When did we – as a society – become so out of touch with reality.  How did it happen?  When did it happen?

We all started as hunters and gatherers after all.  But somewhere along the line people became extremely detached from the whole process of where “food” comes from.  If you’re a meat eater, an animal has to die for you to eat.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a lion, or a human, in order for you to survive, another animal’s life has to be taken.  It’s a simple fact.  A lesson in cause and effect.

Even if you’re a vegan, a plant has to die in order for you to sustain life.  And while I don’t agree with your personal choice, I can’t dispute it, because it is just that – a choice.  If you make that choice, I have no reason not to respect it, as long as you aren’t trying to shove your choice drown my throat.   But in the end, by making that personal choice of where your food comes from, something ultimately has to die.  It’s life.  It’s how the earth works.

With all this being said, why then, is hunting, and its ultimate result in the death of an animal, so shocking and disgusting to such a large part of the population these days?  When did this change occur?  What caused this change to occur?  Is McDonald’s and the local grocery store at fault?

This obviously wasn’t an issue with the Indians, and it wasn’t even an issue when the first settlers arrived on the continent.  When then, did the killing of an animal in order to eat, become such a problem for everyone?

I think the answer lies in how out of touch most people are with nature.  In today’s  “Instant Gratification” society, we have lost touch with how Mother Nature works, and where exactly our food comes from.  Today’s kids are raised thinking food comes from McDonald’s, rather than from Mr. Brown’s farm, or Dad’s gun.  They have not been taught the basic principle’s of life:  That for a building to be built, something has to die; that for land to be tilled in order to plant food, something has to die.  It is simple Mother Nature, and at times she can be one bad mother.

With that thought in mind, I think it becomes easy for today’s kids and adults to assume that hunters are bloodthirsty killers.  After all, they have never had to kill anything in order to eat.  They can go to the grocery store for that.  They’ve never caught a fish, cleaned it, and enjoyed a nice meal.  They can go to Red Lobster for that.

I do realize – that in this day and age – hunting is not necessary in order to sustain life.  It is, however, necessary in order to sustain my way of life.  A way of life that has been around for centuries.  I know where my food comes from, and it definitely isn’t from McDonald’s.  I know how to appreciate life, because I have taken a life in order to sustain mine.  I think everyone would be a little better off having experienced such an emotional event as taking an animals life in order to live.  It grounds you.

When did we become so out of touch?  When did we forget where our food comes from?  It happened because modern society allowed it to.  It happened when we all became dependent on the grocery store for our food.  It happened when we ventured away from nature.

I’m proud to be part of the group that is still “in touch”.  I know about cause and effect, and I’ve seen it first hand many times.  I know an animal’s life must be taken in order for me to live.  I know something must die in order for new crops – that provide energy for my body – to be planted.   I know all of this.

I have no disconnect when it comes to how food arrives at my table, because I am a hunter.

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It seems like this week has been slow when it comes to blogs.  Of course, this site is no exception to that rule.  I’m not sure if it is the time of year, or what, but it does seem like everyone’s in a little bit of a lull.  I haven’t been seeing the normal amount of new posts from my fellow bloggers, and the number of comments the last couple of days is way down.  Is this a trend?

I know there are a lot of factors that can contribute to the lull this time of year:  Weather, season’s are closed, ect.  I also think – and let me know if any of you fellow bloggers are experiencing this – that the weather is effecting my brain.  I really just can’t come up with any meaningful posts.  And when I do, I have a hard time finding the ambition to put the post together.

I could blame it on the winter blues, and of course, I could blame it on having a four month old.  But at this point I think I’m going to blame it on Mother Nature.  All of us go through “cabin fever” this time of year, and us bloggers are no different.  How are we supposed to come up with outdoor blog topics, when it is too frigid to even think about venturing outside?  I’m all about hunting in the winter, but not when it’s -25 below.

In a month or so we will see this yearly trend start to change.  All of us will start to come out of our funk, and the temperatures will start to see the 40 degree mark (hopefully).  All this snow will melt off – allowing for scouting and shed hunting – and things will start to get back to normal.  And then turkey hunting is right around the corner.

Are any of you experiencing this “blog slowness”?  Let me know in the comments.

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I only had a few minutes to throw this link up so give it a look see! With all the fighting going on between hunters about who is right on a lot of different issues. I think if we all just stopped and smelled the roses for a minute while were outdoors we would all understand why we are there!

In the words of Fred Bear…

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=18381697

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It has been one heck of a week.

It started with me coming down with a real bad cold last Wednesday, and ended with a family emergency on Friday.  That is still going on as of today (but has stabilized), and with that I just don’t have time to put together any sort of post.

Today I will be trying to get caught up at work, and getting things back to as normal as they can be.

And for all of you wondering – Abby is fine!

So stay tuned.  We promise we will be back to our regularly scheduled posting shortly.

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