Anxiously Anticipating the Perfect Storm

Folks from the hills still believe fulfilling a participatory biological role in Mother Nature is a personal responsibility. The One-Eyed Hillbilly, Greg Stephens with son, Coleman, and Uncle Joe O'Day. Missouri deer season 2007

Finally, after what seemed like years of waiting, in 1975 I broke into the ranks of the hunting fraternity immemorial. I went with my father and the guys to my first weekend deer camp at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Anxiously anticipating the time when I would finally get to go along, I had mentally envisioned just how the experience would unfold. Dad, on the other hand was old school and oblivious to my plans. He had camped for deer season for many years and he wasn’t one given to change. So, our trip to the grocery store for provisions was just as it had been for his many years previous - quick, to the point, and definitely not in line with my preconceived notions of what we would eat during deer camp. For the weekend our food grubstake included two packages of baloney, one loaf of bread, two boxes of Little Debbie’s brownies, and a case of soda…and that was it. No kidding. Well, at least you didn’t worry about needing a bathroom, with a diet like that you were bound up for the whole weekend! We were going after wholesome and nutritious wildlife sustenance but we were killing ourselves with processed junk food in the process. Looking back now it seems a little ironic.

It’s strange how experiences in a life morph in directions that one never really anticipates. That experience of my first deer camp and the underlying pursuit of hunting in nature formed the foundation for the primary interest and focus in my life. After that first deer hunt I became a student of the outdoor pursuits. I have become keenly interested in how we as outdoors folks interact within the greater scope of man’s society and how man’s modern society views our activities within nature. When one lays a timeline of the evolution of the outdoor pursuits within modern society over the corresponding timeline of the evolution of overall human society, interesting facts jump from the analysis. It appears that the outdoor pursuits began loosing their way after WWII and they have been searching for their collective identity for several decades since. From the 1950’s through today, as man’s society has become increasingly industrialized and mechanized, for some the outdoor pursuits have become less a necessity, descending to the label of a pastime or sport by large societal cross sections. As the population moved from the farm to major urban areas where mechanized agriculture fed more and more of the population, personal responsibility for sustenance became optional. Astonishingly, in just six short decades, there are those who have come to believe that participating within Nature’s Economy through harvesting wildlife for food and clothing has been relegated from natural participation within the fabric of Mother Nature to a cruel and inhumane barbaric activity pursued by the cruel and ignorant.

Hmmm, the cruel and ignorant. Really? This is not a description that I accept.

The people today who are passionate about trapping, hunting, and fishing are the very same types of self sufficient souls that provided the foundation for our human society. Seed stock I think would be an accurate description- a safety net for society, a reset button, much like the “Doomsday” seed vault currently being constructed on an island in the Arctic Ocean. With financial supporters the likes of Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Corporation, various governments, and others investing literally millions in this project, it seems there is value in seed stock, a great deal of value. These financial, technology, and industrial giants see value in a backup plan, just in case we need to start all over. Like the seeds for restarting agriculture, preserving the independent and self sufficient personalities in this world is as important as maintaining a good foundation for a dwelling. Without the foundation, eventually all the rest is for not.

Ironic as it is, through technology I see great promise for the future of outdoor pursuits. While modern conveniences have embolden some misinformed and wrong headed groups to attack us with unscientific, emotionally based, flawed reasoning, modern technology will bring the truth to life. Along with a millennium of natural history on our side, as more and more outdoor enthusiasts become more computer and video savvy, real life video sequences will bring the brutally beautiful yet coldly indifferent truth about life and death in nature to the living rooms of all those who are open to the truth. The great bulk of real life hunting sequences will depict harvests that are exponentially more humane than the treatment those same game animals receive from predators in nature. The great bulk of real life trapping sequences will show, after the initial catch, calm and resting fur bearers in modern leg hold traps as opposed to those harassed and manipulated to the point of exacerbation for effect as depicted in anti propaganda. For decades now there has been a storm directed our way designed to quench the fire of human participation in nature. But the perfect storm is brewing for our benefit.

Modern technology will bring forth the truth - the perfect storm is coming. Beaver taken quickly and efficiently with modern trapping methods - much more humane than even Mother Nature herself would have afforded them. Greg and Alex Stephens, Missouri trapping season 2008

In this modern age I can see the perfect storm bringing our collective identity back to the outdoor pursuits. No longer just a sport, rather, the perfect storm of truth pertaining to nature, personal responsibility, modern technology, health and nutrition, modern equipment, and tough economic times will sway public sentiment in support of the outdoor pursuits. It is truly an exciting time for the outdoor types and we need to be interacting with all sorts from society proclaiming that the perfect design of Nature’s Economy cannot possibly be wrong. We need to be part of that brewing perfect storm. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.