The Mission Statement

Welcome to Get Out & Go Hunting, a blog for the men, women, and young people who enjoy hunting North America’s big game, small game, waterfowl, and upland game birds.

I’m a talker and I’m a writer: for better or for worse I’m chatty, and sometimes I am provocative and opinionated.  Due to, or maybe as a consequence of this trait I have spoken to many other hunters (in the field and online forums) of their desire to have an agenda-free, non-commercial outlet for hunting stories, general hunting information, and entertaining discussions focusing on the outdoors.  This blog will be my modest attempt to provide some service in that respect.

A number of hunters I’ve spoken to are of the opinion (and I agree with them) that some of the hunting-centred print magazines, television shows, and blogs currently out there have been swayed by product marketers, interest-groups, and political agendas.  This may not in and of itself be a negative; after all everyone has to make a living.  When this does become problematic is when the end result is a decreased focus on the good stories that are out there that actually talk about hunting or when the focus shifts to an detrimental public representation of hunting and those who participate in it.  For the sake of moving this along, I won't go into what forms of media (in my opinion) do and do not add value to the hunting landscape currently; I’ll leave that for future posts.  What I will go into is a bit about what I hope “Get Out & Go Hunting” will be at first, and what it will hopefully evolve into.

1. First and foremost, my goal will be that Get Out & Go Hunting will not sacrifice the integrity of the hunting tradition and the positive public representation of the hunting community for personal, financial, or commercial reasons.  Pretty heady stuff, eh?
2. I’d like for this blog to be about hunting and the outdoors.  That is to say I do not intend to preach about my views on gun control, wildlife management, or the current social/political/religious climate.  Why not, you ask?  Primarily because I do not consider myself expert enough to pontificate about such things.  I may float some ideas that I feel strongly about for discussion, but ultimately I’d like to focus on the experience in the outdoors.
3. While this blog will be about hunting and the outdoors, I do not intend to frame myself as an expert on either topic.  I will not tell you how to hunt, where to go to hunt, what outfitter(s) to use, or what equipment to buy.  I might tell you how and where I hunt, what I use, why I use it, and how I think it works, but that in no way means that you ought to listen to me.  I’d rather just like to make this a nice, friendly place to hear some stories or news about hunting.

For over twenty years I’ve been chasing ducks, geese, rabbits, grouse, deer, and wild turkeys.  I am passionate about the conservation of wildlife and wild spaces, but I likewise do not believe that conservation and environmentalism stand in opposition to long-standing hunting traditions.

But most importantly I have a belief in the future of hunting and the next generation of hunters.  The ultimate goal is that this will be a forum to inspire, educate, entertain, and engage both current and future outdoor enthusiasts.

That’s the mission; I hope you’ll join me here often.

Good hunting,

Shawn