First ... a Righteous Rant

It's appropriate, this being the first post on this blog, that it be something of a rant. A guy's got to let off a little steam, you know? Vent ... spew. Perhaps, after I get this out of my system, we can resort to more civil discourse, more agreeable discussion. More respect.

But respect, at least among those of us who hunt and fish, is an earned commodity. We take care to hone our skills, to learn our crafts. We take pride in becoming the best we can be at the quick, humane kill or the decision, should it be the right one, not to kill. And we take care to pass these endeavors down to our children and our children's children so they, too, might come to respect the wild places we visit today in search of fish and game. We have a deep, intimate relationship with the lands we use to harvest our game and to catch--and sometimes kill--our fish. We understand the impact we have on the environment, and work to minimize it or, if at all possible, leave things better than we found them. We're sportsmen and women--not camo-clad dilettantes who take our sporting heritage lightly.