Steve Sutton
Well-known member
people used to read....and some of the stuff they read was "good stuff".....unladen by veiled advertisement covering everything from, "how they got there", to what brand of seasoning was used on the meal prepared after this pair or waders, and that underwear, and this hat, and that call, and those shells through that choke and that gun, had been "harvested".......
Sadly, for those who love to read, the hardest hit genre seems to be what used to be called "the field sports", specifically "hunting and fishing"....the internet, and A River Runs Through It, (the movie not the book), conspired to trash, IMO, most good writing about fishing while the internet and an ever growing Waterfowling Gear Industry did the same to hunting which seemingly has become all "young guns" and "harvesting", (when did we decide that we needed to "barbie down" the fact that we went afield to "kill" our quarry?), and can only be accomplished if "some" combination of the latest "in vogue" products are used....
Once in awhile though, every once in awhile, people who still like to read stumble upon small gems....stories that tell you about themselves and not the products used to "harvest" yet another tailgate load of bragging rights......you have to look, and much of it is "old" but if you've never read it before then its "new" no matter the age, right?
To that end I have to pass on the 30 some year old article from Sports Illustrated, (those who remember when SI had an "outdoor column" will surely date themselves in admitting that), that Ed Kavanaugh sent me today....a "story" about growing up in a family that was "outdoor oriented" and how that affected the authors entire life.....how it dictates those that you idolize and leads you to discoveries in your life.....
Things such as that are "enough" to make the attached story a very special read but truly "great" writing needs to strike a deeper cord to be considered that......this one, to me, (and I recognize what "I" think is "great" will be considered "tripe" to others), qualifies as "great" because it focuses on my own "hunting and fishing idol" and brought back memories of my first exposure to him, and how, like the author, he shaped my "favorites" and "goals" from a waterfowling viewpoint......the author of the article might well have "grown up" on the storied Brant Grounds of NJ but he had no greater regard for them, or desire to pursue them, nor did he "revere" the person that had led him to those feelings than I did for the bird and the man.....
So much so that at 16 I took my first "waterfowling trip" to hunt NJ for Brant, as close to the place that the author had written about, as I could......if there is a "foundation" for almost 45 years of waterfowling across the United States and Canada its Brant, the NJ Coastal Marshes and the man who the author of this article had the honor to hunt with.....
Enjoy.....
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/...G1082784/5/index.htm
Steve
Sadly, for those who love to read, the hardest hit genre seems to be what used to be called "the field sports", specifically "hunting and fishing"....the internet, and A River Runs Through It, (the movie not the book), conspired to trash, IMO, most good writing about fishing while the internet and an ever growing Waterfowling Gear Industry did the same to hunting which seemingly has become all "young guns" and "harvesting", (when did we decide that we needed to "barbie down" the fact that we went afield to "kill" our quarry?), and can only be accomplished if "some" combination of the latest "in vogue" products are used....
Once in awhile though, every once in awhile, people who still like to read stumble upon small gems....stories that tell you about themselves and not the products used to "harvest" yet another tailgate load of bragging rights......you have to look, and much of it is "old" but if you've never read it before then its "new" no matter the age, right?
To that end I have to pass on the 30 some year old article from Sports Illustrated, (those who remember when SI had an "outdoor column" will surely date themselves in admitting that), that Ed Kavanaugh sent me today....a "story" about growing up in a family that was "outdoor oriented" and how that affected the authors entire life.....how it dictates those that you idolize and leads you to discoveries in your life.....
Things such as that are "enough" to make the attached story a very special read but truly "great" writing needs to strike a deeper cord to be considered that......this one, to me, (and I recognize what "I" think is "great" will be considered "tripe" to others), qualifies as "great" because it focuses on my own "hunting and fishing idol" and brought back memories of my first exposure to him, and how, like the author, he shaped my "favorites" and "goals" from a waterfowling viewpoint......the author of the article might well have "grown up" on the storied Brant Grounds of NJ but he had no greater regard for them, or desire to pursue them, nor did he "revere" the person that had led him to those feelings than I did for the bird and the man.....
So much so that at 16 I took my first "waterfowling trip" to hunt NJ for Brant, as close to the place that the author had written about, as I could......if there is a "foundation" for almost 45 years of waterfowling across the United States and Canada its Brant, the NJ Coastal Marshes and the man who the author of this article had the honor to hunt with.....
Enjoy.....
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/...G1082784/5/index.htm
Steve
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