Sunday, February 01, 2009

Blog Buzz – What’s percolating in the outdoor blogger world?

© Othmar Vohringer

As the hunting season winds down outdoor bloggers tend to write about other issues pertaining to the outdoors and in this edition of the Blog Buzz I start off with an issue that is close to my heart. Quality trophy pictures, ro the lack thereof. When I visit other websites I am at times disgusted with how little care some hunters take when they photograph their trophy animal. Deer are covered in blood, or are displayed right next to a gut pile or exposed to the viewer with the slit open belly. I often think what other people might think when they see a picture like that. Thanks to Adam from Foggy Bottom Outdoors and his brilliant article, Tips for taking quality deer pictures, hunters will now be able to take pictures that portray their hard earned trophy in a esthetically pleasing manner and thus increase the fond memories of the hunt. A picture can say a thousand words about the hunter and hunting. Lets make it thousand positive words.

There is a new kid on the outdoor blogger block. Deer Passion (no relation to my blog Whitetail Deer Passion) is written by a “small town girl from Kansas” (Hurray another female outdoor blogger). According to the profile the author loves to fish and hunt and is passionate about conservation too. On the Deer Passion blog these passions are highlighted in a well formulated manner. If you haven’t seen that blog I encourage you to read it.

Talking about newcomers to the outdoor blogsphere, let me introduce you to the Wild Side Blog. Some of you may remember Chad from my product review of Field Dress and their top quality t-shirts printed with beautiful wildlife, fishing and hunting motives of such stunning beauty of which I have never seen before in my long life. Now you get to know Chad personally on his blog where he talks about outdoor issues and lets you have a glance into his persona and the company he so proudly and successfully leads.

At the Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Kristine has worked tirelessly many hours to establish a detailed list of every member and supporter and then added each one to the state and Canadian province they belong. This list is an invaluable tool for regional OBS chapter organizers when they start to organize and host regional OBS events. If you’re interested in the local OBS events or would like to become a chapter organizer – we still need lots of them -let Kristine know. While I am at it, let me give a big cheer and heartfelt thank you to Kristine, like I said, she works very hard on behalf of the OBS and yet she never complains does not get paid and always pushes ahead. She is a woman on a mission for the benefit of all outdoor bloggers. Kristine you Rock! I know this does not say a lot but I simply have no other words to describe the deep gratitude I feel toward Kristine and her unwavering commitment to the OBS.

On the Black Bear Blog Tom Remington posted a story from down under (Australia) of an elderly couple whose sleep was interrupted by lowlifes attempting to ransack the couple’s garden shed. If you ever in a similar position and need the police to attend quickly you should follow the procedure outlined in When you need help fast with a burglary . It’s an amusing story with a sad underlining. Sad, because it shows how reluctant the police is to assist law abiding people but on the other hand act light lightening if they suspect that a criminal comes to harm. Read it and you know what I mean with that.

At Whitetail Deer Passion I started the second Deer Contest. There have so many entries after the first contest closed that I just couldn’t disappoint all the ones that didn’t make in the first one. If you want to enter the contest and become eligible to win a DVD double set of Whitetail Revolution provided by the good folks at Versus Country then enter now. Closing time for the contest is at the end of this month and when this one is over, it is over.

There are, as always, many blogs I would like to write about, but neither have the space nor time to squeeze them all into one post. Check out the blog roll and every other blogs link list and you will realize what a wealth and diversity of information outdoor bloggers provide for everyone. Isn’t it great! You bet it is!!


Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit


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10 comments:

Rod McBellanic said...

Hey buddy. Thanks for the shameless plug. New designs will be complete tomorrow and hopefuly online shorly after. Will keep in touch.
Chad

Othmar Vohringer said...

You’re very welcome Chad. Anyone working as hard as you do to provide a quality product deserves a “shameless plug” from me. I look forward to see your new designs.

-ov-

Anonymous said...

Taking trophy pictures is very important if you ask me. The way you take a picture of your harvest not only shows something about you but it has shows how much respect you give that animal.

Deer Passion said...

Thanks for the mention, Othmar! And, thanks for mentioning the other sites as well, I've enjoyed reading through them so far.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your kind words Othmar. I wish I could do more for the OBS. I feel like there's a lot I'm leaving undone, but I know it has to be one step at a time.

Othmar Vohringer said...

Rick – You’re absolutely right. What also concerns me is that
”gory” pictures shown on the Internet are accessible for view to everybody and if non-hunters see such images it gives anti hunters that much more clout and makes their argument more believable in the public opinion.

Deer Passion – You’re very welcome. I really enjoyed your reading your blog. I shall return to it whenever I have a spare minute.

Kristine – Do more??? Kristine you do a lot for the OBS and with all the other things in life like work and family I would say you do more then what could be considered normal and for that you do deserve a very big pad on the back.

Anonymous said...

Othmar,I'm a tweener here. I understand what you say about shooting pics of your animal and presenting them in an exceptable manner. I agree. On the other hand we often show the taking of meat cuts off the animal, the packing it out on back or horse, and the meat on our table during processing. I feel its very important to make the connection from the the animal in the outdoors to the animal on our table. That is what we are, hunters and providers for the table.

I enjoy your thoughts, they provoke inward examinations - why do I do, what I do?

Othmar Vohringer said...

I agree with you the connection from field to table is important, more so then ever because many people have lost that connection. However, what I am referring to are animals that are displayed in a tasteless manner, such as soaked in blood, blood still dripping from the animals mouth, hunters sitting blood stained astride the animals back. Or still worse, in my opinion, game animals hanging from a game pool with a rope around its neck like a strung up criminal on the gallows.

It only takes a minute or two and a little consideration to convey the field to table message in a pleasing manner this, again in my opinion, is especially important if the pictures are intended to be shared in a venue where everybody can see them, such as the Internet. Times have changed and it is for this very reason why we do not see, thankfully, game strapped across the hood of a truck been driven around town anymore. If we want to win over the average person on the street then we have to respect their taste and opinions. If we don’t we will feed the animal rights portrayal of hunters as gory-bent-on-killing misfits of society.

-ov-

Anonymous said...

Othmar, I may approach this subject down the road on our blog after I give it some time to perculate and go back and review some of our videos. Do you mind? and also have you seen anything distateful on what we do? Sometimes we get used to our comfort zone and don't look at things from anothers perspective, or giving ammo to the anti's.

Othmar Vohringer said...

Gary – I don’t mind if you want to pick the subject up and write on your blog about it. In fact I truly believe that this one of the neat things about blogging. We pick up an idea and then put our own thoughts and ideas into it. That is what makes blogs so informative to our readers.

I have seen nothing questionable on your videos. In fact I have written an email to your son? Tom, a while back to tell him how refreshing, educational and entertaining I find your videos.

-ov-

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