I have thought many times about having a lap top computer for writing blog posts and checking emails while I was away from home. Yet each time I have been on hunting trips I have been either to tired, didn't have the time or was enjoying being away from the electronic age. Usually it has been a time factor, considering that when I hunt I am up hours before daybreak and finish my days hunt well after dark if I have to process game. I'll admit I have been slow in the uptake of computers, resisting owning one until early 2001 when I started producing my Quail Flats Gunning Boxes. I sit here at my desk with a desk top computer and still do not to own a lap top. This is only one small way of being connected these days and anymore it has become somewhat outdated. With the advance of cell phones Blackberries, and now I-pads we have become addicted to being connected.
So much so that there are now actual "addictions" that people suffer from. Not to mention the fact that our youth are more overweight now than ever. While there have been some studies showing that certain computer games are good for then brain, I wonder just how much is to much of a good thing?
For me I am fully immersed in hunting when I am hunting. Be it laying for hours and days on end in a ground blind hunting geese or walking slowly during deer and elk season. Either way I am not interested in being connected to social trappings while I hunt. About as close as I get is having my cell phone on me for emergencies and my GPS when hunting big game. Occasionally a thought will run through my head about a blog topic or idea for a post, but that is all. Were I to actually take out my Blackberry and write a quick post I would not be hunting and I just can't seem to mix the two in the field. Hunting is hunting and blogging is blogging. For me they are two completely separate worlds requiring different skill sets, as well as mind sets.
On a hunting trip this past winter I was with a friend who had their Blackberry in the field with them. I could hear it and I found it quite other worldly to what I was doing. It made me wonder about how one spends their time waiting for their quarry to arrive. while still hunting for waterfowl. Also what about all the little things that one doesn't see or experience because of fiddling with the internet or email while being in the field?
So how many other hunters spend time on their Blackberries etc. while actually hunting? I can assure you that for me all I'll be taking in the field is my cell phone and GPS. I am interested to hear your feedback and thoughts on this subject.
Women's Hunting Journal Integrity For The Hunt
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12 comments:
Terry, this was a good post. I don't do any of that. When I am hunting than that means I am hunting.
Even if I had a blackberry which I don't I would not bring it out hunting with me. When you hunting you have always got to be on the alert for game, you never know where they will pop up. You can't do that by typing.
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No lap top for me either. If I need to do work, it's at my desk in my office. I do have a blackberry and have used it out and about for updates and checking mail but I don't have nearly as many apps as others. Sitting at a desk almost 12 hours a day, I need that time away from it all.
I'm with you, Terry - I take my cell phone, turn it off, and stuff it in the bottom of my back...it is there for emergencies. Not sure I've hunted anywhere where there is cell service, anyways.
There is too much in the mountains to enjoy to think I might need some electrical assistance to pass the hours! If I'm sitting on a water hole waiting for an elk, I might bring a few Louis La'mour books and that is all!
I do take mine but we have been in the odd predicament that my husband's great grandmother was sick and we were taking care of her so we need to be able to be reached at any time. They were put on quiet and were checked constantly, just for that. I will say that I have tweeted about my hunting trips while I am in the tree but no blogging or anything else. It has also worked well when hubby or I shoot something, we can text instead of call, since we are always in different stands. I go out to enjoy the nature and now that his great-grandma is gone there isn't the need to HAVE to have them with us. They will be with us, in case of emergencies, but not really being used. I have too much to look for to be messing with the phone!
I should also add that we have taken the internet capabilities off so that we are actually unable to connect to the internet with the the phones, which we both enjoy. I do have a laptop but hubby did work for someone and that is how we were paid. They knew that I was in college and that it would be valueable to me! I love bartering!
I agree that when I am hunting I want nothing to do w/ my Blacknerry or any other device...other than the gun I am using. I do keep my Blackberry w/ me for safety but it is on vibrate and I only use it as a last resort. I do however have to check e-mails and texts every few hours...this is necessary because of my business and my kids. I need to keep making money to finance my hunting and time away from the office and I need to be available to my kids for various reasons. I have a strict rule that there are to be NO calls when I am hunting....only text or e-mail. It kinda sucks to have to check but it is a reality in thoday's climate.
Thought-provoking post, thanks Terry. You put your finger on it - it's two different mindsets, hunting and computing, it's hard for them to share space at the same time. Maybe just a notebook and pencil to jot down thoughts would be a compromise?
I love that the computer offers me access to blogs, online book groups, and podcasts. But I hate computers as anything more than a tool. My desktop model is so old, it keeps flashing a message at me that I haven't got enough memory on C:/ to run stuff. I don;t really know what that means, or care until it stops running the basics altogether.
There are tools I'd rather spend my money on that will last me longer and bring me more pleasure than a blackberry, laptop or indeed an i-anything: a Zeiss scope, Gen 3 nightvision, Swarovski binos, a decent GPS. Just to name a few!
That said I sometimes listen to podcasts when I'm sat in a high seat doing a lazy stalk...
Thank you all for your honesty and feedback. In the years I began hunting we were still on phones connected to walls and had to talk in one place. Wow, what a difference for young hunters entering the field sports these days. I was glad and somewhat relieved to rear that most of you use these electronics as an emergency tool rather than a distraction while hunting. I own one desk top computer and a cell phone and that is all. Not much interested in moving beyond those at this time.
Good post, Terry. No, I wouldn't want to be engaged with anything electronic while in the field!
I do have a friend who sometimes sits and reads a book when the leaves are dry so he can hear a deer coming a long way off. I'm not sure I'd even want to do that myself.
Sounds like Tom's a chip off the old block. Most of the time I even forget to bring the cell for emergency as there is so little area that it can reach a tower. That is one reason I believe spot and stalk is so interesting, because you have to stay on your toes and focused or you're going to blow it. When I go hunting I do like to pull the plug.
I'm with you Gary, pull the plug!
When I'm actually in the field, the Blackberry stays in the truck, or in camp. However, back at camp, I've found that it's useful for weather updates. On one occasion, I also needed it to check the waterfowl regs. It's been handy. But again, never while actually hunting.
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