May 28th, 2008
By Arthur

I already touched on the What Can We Do? portion of this challenge, imposed to us by Kristine, but now I want to touch on the other side of the challenge. I want to talk about the What Should We Do? portion.

I am going to take a slightly different approach to this part of the challenge. Plenty of other bloggers have listed their ideas for what the community, as well as the organizations that support hunting and fishing, should do in order to help promote our way of life. Rather than rehash all of those ideas here, and I think there are some good ones, I am going to focus on one main point that I think outdoor organizations need to do in order to help protect our heritage.

The point I’m going to make, and Kristine touched on this one as well, is to learn lessons from PETA. PETA is everywhere it seems. They are in the schools, on television, in Hollywood, and just about anywhere else you can think of. They are an in-your-face type of organization, and while I don’t think that hunting needs to be so outlandish with its message, I do think that our outdoor organizations have failed on many levels when it comes to exposure.

The main thing I see that would help to get our message out there is marketing. Why don’t we hunters and fisherman market ourselves? I think we need to not only market ourselves, and the activities that we love, but we also need a bigger push from the organizations that we support to help market us. I’m sure Kristine, with her expertise in this field, could shed some more light on this topic for us, but why don’t we have television and newspaper campaigns supporting our cause? Sure you might see some advertising when there is a hot hunting topic in the news, or a vote on a particular hunting or fishing issue coming up, but where is the everyday marketing of hunting? I think a newspaper or television ad that promotes the outdoor lifestyle would go over great in many communities. Why not an ad that shows our love of the outdoors, while promoting the things hunters and fisherman help to protect? An ad listing the positive things that come from participation in hunting and fishing? Also, there has to be some prominent Hollywood or music stars who participate in hunting and fishing. Why not have them do a celebrity endorsement of our outdoor heritage. PETA does this with their ads that promote not wearing fur. Why not have a star who does this by promoting their love of the outdoors?

I think the whole concept of regularly running positive outdoor lifestyle commercials would do wonders for the hunting and fishing community. It would be a great way to counter the nonsense and lies that is distributed by PETA and the HSUS every day through various outlets. I honestly can’t believe that this has not been brought up before. And while I don’t think certain news outlets would be any help, because of their anti-hunting stand, I do think that local as well as national organizations could benefit directly from running periodic television commercials that show all of us fisherman and hunters as the honest, nature loving citizens, that we are.

What do you think?

Popularity: 32% [?]

March 06th, 2008
By Arthur

I actually saw this a few weeks back, but I kept forgetting to write a post about it and update everyone.  I have talked about the Michigan DNR and their budget woes a few times this year.  In one post I talked about how the governor was going to allow a portion of the State General Fund to be transferred to the Game and Fish fund to help with their budget shortage, and in another post I talked about how the DNR had magically found 20 million dollars after this agreement was worked out.  The story keeps unfolding.

MUCC, after the DNR found they had a 10 million dollar fund balance instead of their projected 10.8 million dollar shortage,  called for an independent audit of the Game and Fish fund.  The MUCC felt that they couldn’t clearly represent their members without having a good grasp on where the money in this fund was actually going.  I was all for this move and thought it was the best way for the DNR to put themselves back on the positive side of the sportsmen in the state.

It is still unclear to me on where the status of this independent audit is.  What I do know is that now the Michigan DNR will  be providing monthly budget updates to the Natural Resources Commission and the public.  From the MUCC website:

These monthly budget reports will summarize the DNR’s appropriations and plans for spending (by DNR division) for the current fiscal year which ends Sept. 30, 2008. They will be updated monthly, with explanations of any mid-year changes necessary due to legislative transfers, supplemental appropriations, Executive Orders, and revenue adjustments. More detailed division reports are planned for dissemination quarterly to the Natural Resources Commission.

This is still not the audit that I was looking for, and I plan on digging a little deeper to see if I can find out if this audit is still going to happen or if the MUCC has decided that this monthly budget update is sufficient enough.   I think it is definitely a positive move by the Michigan DNR, and will be a great resource for all the groups that are interested in the Michigan DNR’s monetary status on a monthly basis, as well as a good resource for people like me who are curious about the status of the budget.

If any of you are interested you can find this monthly report here.

Popularity: 26% [?]

February 16th, 2008
By Arthur

We did attend the Big Buck Night event this evening, and I have to say, for it being the first time that this event took place in this particular location, I thought the turnout was very respectable and even exceeded expectations.

We all had a very good time, enjoyed a good meal, and had some fun chatting and talking to friends.  Of course we also got to enjoy some big buck stories and see some incredible deer that were taken in our county.  As promised Mark Thomas, a member of the QDMA board of directors was the guest speaker, and he did a very good job.  I have to be honest though, and say that his message was a little over the top for me, but his underlying ideas were very good and something I will try and use in the future.

I have to apologize because I don’t have any pictures.  We were allowed to take cameras in, but it would have been too much of a hassle to get everyone’s permission to put their pictures up on the website.  A friend of mine took some pictures of all of us at the event so when I get them from him I will share (hopefully you read this Ron).

All in all a good night, good food, and it went to a good cause.  I’m looking forward to the QDMA REACH banquet in April.

Popularity: 21% [?]

February 16th, 2008
By Arthur

Finally it has arrived.  Jeff, his girlfriend Jodette, Jenn, and I will all be heading over and meeting up with some friends for Big Buck Night.  I have never attended one of these events, and it is also the first time that this event has been held in my hometown so it should make for an interesting night.

They are limited to the first 250 guests so we are going to get there early, especially since we live right down the road from the event.  I always freak out about these limited seating events, so hopefully it all goes smooth and we are able to get in the door and get a seat.

MUCC’s Michigan Out-of-Doors Television staff and crew will be there, as well as Tony Hansen, the editor for Michigan Out-out-of-Doors Magazine.  Hopefully we get to meet a few of them and get to chat and introduce ourselves.  Of course I can’t forget the most important thing;  getting to see some big bucks and hear the stories of how those lucky hunters got the chance of a lifetime.

I also went one step further and purchased tickets to the QDMA REACH banquet that will be coming to the same location in April.  By doing this I got tickets to that event, my membership to QDMA,  as well as one free admission into the Big Buck Night show.  Not a bad deal and I’m looking forward to my first QDMA event.  I have been skeptical about QDM in the past, but I’m willing to give it a shot after talking to a couple of gentlemen I trust and also after some encouraging words about the program from Jeff over at Lowcountryhunting.

Speaking of QDMA, the guest note speaker for tonight’s event is Mark Thomas, who is on the board of directors for QDMA.  I have heard that he is an excellent speaker and worth the price of admission.

So we are looking forward to the big event tonight and hopefully we will get some good insight as well as have some pictures to share before the weekend is through.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Popularity: 25% [?]

February 11th, 2008
By Arthur

Jeff and I have had this argument back and forth a couple of times now. What exactly it is that we want to get out of having our little website? It seems we never can come to an agreement on exactly what our mission for the site is. The debate still continued yesterday.

Jeff’s dream and mission for the site would be for us to have SimplyOutdoors Productions. He would love to start a production company and be producing amateur hunting videos for everyone to enjoy. He would also like to be sponsored and travel the United States filming these hunts that depict two average working guys and their outdoor adventures.

My vision is different. First off, I’m a pessimist, so I tend to lean towards the negative side of Jeff’s goal. In this day and age everyone is trying to start their own production company. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to look around and find a couple of guys who are trying to start their own outdoor company. They are everywhere and that means there is a ton of competition in the market that Jeff wants to pursue. That makes me very nervous.

The other part that I am always leary about is this. I never intended for this site to be a money maker or anything of that nature. It started as fun and I personally want to keep it that way. I’m not sure that can happen if we actually turned it into a full fledged business. It seems to me, that normally when a hobby like this becomes work, some of the pleasure of it goes way and I never want that to happen.

Now I know what all of you are wondering-”He said what Jeff wanted to do, and what he doesn’t want to do, but he hasn’t said what his goal for the site is.” Well here it goes. My mission statement for SimplyOutdoors would go something like this:

SimplyOutdoors.net will strive to be a positive voice for the outdoors. We will promote all persons, especially young people, who engage in outdoor pursuits as well as work to support our local and national outdoor organizations. We will promote our love and passion for the outdoors by working to portray a positive image of hunters and outdoorsman through various outlets. We will HAVE FUN!

There, in a nut shell, you have my mission for our site. I am thinking I might officially adopt it. I do want people to read the website, but most importantly I want every person that reads it to leave with a positive feeling about hunters and our outdoor pursuits.

One day down the road I might completely change my mind and Jeff might be able to sway me to the other side, but for now this is my goal and I intend to stick to it. Now that does not mean that you won’t see some fun things happening on the site. I would love to start filming hunts and doing things of that nature. The bottom line though is that I want it to be fun.

I think we have done a lot to accomplish our goals already and I’m looking forward to the things to come.

Popularity: 25% [?]