Political just for fishing? Angler Alex Stephens jerking the lips off a largemouth bass.You probably never considered it but this spring while you are jerking the lips off a largemouth bass with a buzz bait there’s someone in Los Angeles parading around naked as a jay bird in front the a federal courthouse holding up a picture of that poor bass with fat lips from all those hooks. Can you imagine how much time this naked person has spent demonstrating in order to direct attention to the plight of the homeless, the starving, the sick, and endless other needy folks all over the world before they got down to demonstrating for lowly fish lips? I mean, I’m sure these folks aren’t quacks who would devote time to fish lips exclusively instead of addressing the truly urgent needs of mankind first, right? Of course not – they have their priorities right. But, they don’t believe in your right to fish so, believe it or not, when you are fishing, hunting, trapping, camping, mushrooming, horseback riding, or anything else we associate with rural life in the Ozarks, you are making a political statement to someone.
Refreshing your daughter's gun safety knowledge prior to turkey season - a political statement or a way of living in the hills? There's nothing political about this lesson for Ellis and Natalie Floyd - it's all business.It’s funny but I never really considered my 6 and 13 year old sons as politically active. But, I guess this April as they throw their .410 and 20 gauge shotguns over their shoulders and head for the turkey blind they are making a statement of their own. I reckon there’s a fella in Washington D.C. in front of the Capitol building dressed up as the Grim Reaper waving a sign with a turkey drum stick painted on it and with words that read, “Tofu not Turkey.” I’ll wager the Thanksgiving meals at his house are ones to remember.
"What's politics?" 5 yr old Remington Floyd practices with his BB gun preparing for his first turkey season next year as dad, Ellis Floyd, watches closely. The precious picture I take of my two young sons in their camouflage with their shotguns prominently displayed at their sides as we return from our first morning hunt will be a political statement to someone too. As I look over our pictures of years past in the Great Outdoors I see the simple and natural Ozark life in the Great Outdoors. I see a snapshot of my children that will hold them forever young for an ever-aging parent. I see my boys learning a heritage and outdoor activity that will provide lessons, food, and exercise for a lifetime. This is not political, rather, just life in the hills. However, to the lady in front of City Hall in San Francisco dressed in a Halloween corpse costume with a red stained tee shirt, holding a sign of a camouflage hunting shotgun with words that read, “No Assault Rifles”, she sees my boys as future Hannibal Lecters. I wonder if the boys sister doesn’t sometimes think the same thing…I know my sister did!
A precious picture indeed! Family friends Ellis, Natalie, and Remington Floyd with their turkey hunting 'assault rifles' just before turkey season 2011.It was hard to get in the turkey hunting mode last weekend with the turn of bad weather but we will be at the farm patterning our shotguns this weekend. We will have on our camouflage garb in true hillbilly redneck fashion while somewhere on the streets of Paris a fashion industry student will be wearing camo and fake fur with a sign that reads, “No redneck fur killers allowed.” Of course he’s got a leather belt, purse, and shoes to go along with his neon-pink hair.
A redneck hillbilly fur killer? No, an educated and informed participant in Mother Nature (oh, and yes, a hillbilly!). The One-Eyed Hillbilly with an otter at Moose Head Lake. It is strange to think that just living our lives has become the source of political efforts by people who think they have the right to take away how we live! I find that amazing and alarming. So this year in order to be more politically correct I’m going to keep a low profile with my meat-eating, fur and camo wearing little Hannibal Lecters – I’m not going to let them color their hair pink. We need to keep a low profile.
A camo wearing little Hannibal Lecter? No a beautiful little boy, Coleman Stephens, spending time with his dad learning the ways of the Great Outdoors (and no pink hair!).Finally, in closing this fun foray into the silly yet very serious world of our way of life in the hills intertwined in politics I would like to leave you with this interesting email that I received that demonstrates how we are part of political thought just by being hunters in the hills:
There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin.
Allow me to restate that number.
Over the last several months, Wisconsin 's hunters became the eighth largest
army in the world.
More men under arms than in Iran .
More than in France and Germany combined.
These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt with
firearms, and no one was killed.
That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of
Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters, all of whom have now returned
home.
Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally
establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would
comprise the largest army in the world.
The point?
America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of
home-grown firepower.
Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of
national security.
That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.
Food for thought when next we consider gun control.
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.
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