© By Othmar Vohringer
After weeks of negotiations I am finally contracted to write my own by-weekly outdoor column for our local newspaper, the Merritt News. Merritt, our hometown, is a small city with a population of 8’000 surrounded by cattle ranches and logging industry. I guess it would be a fair estimate to say that about 60% of the people living in Merritt are either hunters and anglers, or know somebody that a hunter or angler. This should come as no surprise to those that know that Merritt is situated smack in the middle of some of the best hunting and fishing British Columbia has to offer. To give you some indication how good it is here for outdoors people Merritt is not only known as “The Country Music Capital of Canada” but also uses “Fish A Lake A Day For As Long AS You Stay”.
It was always my conviction that the Merritt hunting and fishing community would appreciate a newspaper column just for them. After doing a bit or my own research on the subject I found out that indeed hunters and anglers would welcome reading in the newspaper about news, tips and opinions pertaining to their interest.
Well, as from next week this wish will be granted to the local outdoors community. Since my column might interest other readers , not from Merritt and the Nicola Valley, too I have decided to post my by-weekly column on my dormant blog My Stand. For this occasion the blog will get a facelift but the title “My Stand” will remain. I chose that title because it relates to hunting, as in hunting stand, but also to where I stand on certain issues surrounding hunting and fishing. A week after the column has been published in the newspaper it will be posted on “My Stand”.
I hope you all look forward to read my column as much as I look forward to write it for you.
This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Tags: Merritt BC, Outdoor Newspaper Column, Merritt News
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Taking time out and regroup
© Copyright by Othmar Vohringer
It has been over two weeks, almost three, since I last posted on this blog. It’s not that I lost interest or abandon blogging. The reasons for neglecting “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” had to do with the resent events over Christmas and New Year. These events have taken a bigger toll on me than I had thought. I simply had to step back a bit and come to terms with it.
Besides that I also was quite busy with organizing our 10th annual ice fishing derby held on January 17, 2010. The derby was a huge success and for me just what the doctor ordered so to speak. Seeing all the happy faces of children and families enjoying a day out on the ice and catching big rainbow trout soon got me into better spirits.
While all this was going on I got an email form a hunting magazine editor. The message was short; “Othmar I need a 2,000 word turkey hunting article plus six to eight pictures by January 25. I am sorry it is on such short notice. Can you do it?” Most assignments for hunting magazines are on short notice and since I had just written a preliminary draft for a turkey hunting article I replied “Yes I can do it”. I sent the article and images off four days ago and today the editor sent another email, “Great article, thank you very much.” To stay in business as an outdoor writer it is imperative to keep editors happy and there is no better way to do that then to finish an assignment on very short notice. Especially an assignment that came about because another writer let the editor down.
Taking time out is also a time to think and regroup. I have done some thinking about the future of Smart Hunting Strategies (SHS) and made some plans of which I will write more at the appropriate time. I am particularly exited about an opportunity that came to me while I was talking to a few anglers. As of this writing I can’t say much more about it but when it works out it will make a big impact and you will read all about here.
That brings me to my blog/s. When I started this, my first, blog I intended it to be just a kind of journal where I chronicle my hunting and fishing exploits. I also wanted to use the blog as a counter balance to the many animal rights and anti hunting blogs. In January of 2006 – Is this blog already 6 years old? - when I started blogging there where no more than a handful of hunting and fishing blogs versus hundreds of animal rights blogs. How times changed!
Today there are hundreds of hunting and angling blogs on the Internet and animal rights blogs have become fewer. Like I said. I never intended, let alone imagine it, that this blog would last as long as it has. But most of all, not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that this blog would become as popular as it is. “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” has taken on a life all of its own and I am curious where it will head. One thing is for sure, even if there are times when there will be long waiting periods between posts I will not give up blogging. This blog and I have become part of each other. I hope my reader look as much forward to the next six years of “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” as I do.
This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
© Copyright by Othmar Vohringer
It has been over two weeks, almost three, since I last posted on this blog. It’s not that I lost interest or abandon blogging. The reasons for neglecting “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” had to do with the resent events over Christmas and New Year. These events have taken a bigger toll on me than I had thought. I simply had to step back a bit and come to terms with it.
Besides that I also was quite busy with organizing our 10th annual ice fishing derby held on January 17, 2010. The derby was a huge success and for me just what the doctor ordered so to speak. Seeing all the happy faces of children and families enjoying a day out on the ice and catching big rainbow trout soon got me into better spirits.
While all this was going on I got an email form a hunting magazine editor. The message was short; “Othmar I need a 2,000 word turkey hunting article plus six to eight pictures by January 25. I am sorry it is on such short notice. Can you do it?” Most assignments for hunting magazines are on short notice and since I had just written a preliminary draft for a turkey hunting article I replied “Yes I can do it”. I sent the article and images off four days ago and today the editor sent another email, “Great article, thank you very much.” To stay in business as an outdoor writer it is imperative to keep editors happy and there is no better way to do that then to finish an assignment on very short notice. Especially an assignment that came about because another writer let the editor down.
Taking time out is also a time to think and regroup. I have done some thinking about the future of Smart Hunting Strategies (SHS) and made some plans of which I will write more at the appropriate time. I am particularly exited about an opportunity that came to me while I was talking to a few anglers. As of this writing I can’t say much more about it but when it works out it will make a big impact and you will read all about here.
That brings me to my blog/s. When I started this, my first, blog I intended it to be just a kind of journal where I chronicle my hunting and fishing exploits. I also wanted to use the blog as a counter balance to the many animal rights and anti hunting blogs. In January of 2006 – Is this blog already 6 years old? - when I started blogging there where no more than a handful of hunting and fishing blogs versus hundreds of animal rights blogs. How times changed!
Today there are hundreds of hunting and angling blogs on the Internet and animal rights blogs have become fewer. Like I said. I never intended, let alone imagine it, that this blog would last as long as it has. But most of all, not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that this blog would become as popular as it is. “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” has taken on a life all of its own and I am curious where it will head. One thing is for sure, even if there are times when there will be long waiting periods between posts I will not give up blogging. This blog and I have become part of each other. I hope my reader look as much forward to the next six years of “Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer” as I do.
This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
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