What Outdoor Writing Means To Me

My first magazine article was hammered out on an old Royal manual typewriter in October 1967, and was sold to Sports Afield that fall. The story with photos appeared in 1968.

Between the first and the sixth magazine articles was a steady stream of success stories. Everything I wrote was sold to a paying magazine, and two of my six pieces went to Sports Afield magazine.

I've been at it since, and have written scads of stuff: 7,300+ magazine articles, 25 fishing or hunting books, 14,000 newspaper articles and columns, and I did a radio show for several months some years ago. I sold thousands of b/w and color photos here and there, and spoke to large and small audiences as a platform or seminar speaker.

And then, I began writing internet articles on my website. This has led to the publication of nearly 6,000 articles over six-plus years.

I love the outdoors and writing about it.

Do I enjoy writing and photography? I love it; it is the best job in the world, and nothing makes me happier than to help educate anglers and hunters to this outdoor world that we enjoy so much.

I write some of the how-to stuff, and everyone else in the outdoor writing game has to write some as well. I also write some where-to stuff for the same reason, but I'm a firm believer that part of my calling is to write why-to stories.

People need to read why we fish or why we hunt. People, judging by the fact that readers have hit my website at the rate of 550,000+ times a month, means they enjoy the why-to. New sportsmen must learn why ducks circle into the wind; why low-lying wet spots in the middle of a cornfield are so important to Canada geese and mallards; why cottontails run a tighter circle and snowshoe hares make an elongated oval; and why trout have different rise-forms ... plus so much more.

Outdoor writers have a continuing obligation to inform, but we have no obligation to lead our readers by the hand to a small pothole lake brimming with 5-pound bass that would easily be fished out in a week if publicized. We have an obligation to help protect our natural resources rather than to take a do-nothing approach that could cause catastrophic harm.

We must be willing advocates of our sport, and help make these great pastimes of fishing and hunting even more respectable than they already are. We've made great strides in pointing out that poaching is wrong, but it takes far more effort to inform our readers why it is bad.

I once was chosen for Michigan top conservation award -- the Ben East Award for Conservation Journalism -- for a 13-part newspaper series on profit poaching. It led to a couple of attempts and several threats on my life, but I kept hammering away at those who poach.

Writing anti-poaching articles brought threats to my life.

We need to work hard, you and me, to mentor children and adults just getting into fishing or hunting. A new hunter who gets lashed up with a person who winks at our fish and game laws, shoots game after legal shooting hours have ended, or killed more than their limit of ducks have not learned what is most needed.

They have not learned respect for the fish we try to catch or the game we hunt. Without respect, not only for other sportsmen but for the fish or game we seek, we have reduced our angling and hunting population to a point where only a limit catch or shooting a big buck is important.

Many big bucks like this are poached every year. Only you can help stop profit poaching.

The question of why we hunt or why we fish is sadly lacking in much of today's outdoor literature. People want to know the latest way to catch more walleyes or become better at deer hunting. We, as outdoor writers, must take our readers beyond the how-to and where-to, and try to teach them something about the seldom talked-about, why-to.

I had a phone call some time ago from an old friend who also is one of the most prolific outdoor writers I know. He was talking about respect, and doing something to help those outdoor writers who are no longer active. The organization he and I belong to wants to give something back to writers who helped mentor him and other budding writers.

It's a great idea. I still write, and continue to mentor writers. I've had a major hand in helping two local outdoor writers, and perhaps 50 other writers across the country, and about 10 in this state. The idea of them helping others is great, and I will also continue to help in my own way.

Giving back something for what we've taken from the outdoors.

Much of what being an outdoor writer means is giving something back for what we've enjoyed for so many years. It can be giving publicity to organizations that do good work for our lakes and streams; mentioning local hunting clubs who build wood-duck boxes; it means helping out with local Hunter Education programs, and it also means lending a hand when something need to be done.

Catching two big brook trout like this (right) may seem an impossible take. It takes luck, some skill and being in the right spot at the right time.

Just last week I paid the long dollar to become a lifetime National Rifle Association member. Mind you, I've been a dues-paying member for nearly 40 years, and now at the age of 70 I'm becoming a life member.

And I'll bet you thought this outdoor writing gig was a piece of cake. The writing and photography is reasonably easy with the proper mind-set and equipment, but the most difficult thing of all is to get through to our readers and make them think and understand, and that's one reason I enjoy writing "think-pieces."

Instead of wondering what the DNR is going to do for you this year, consider what you can do for other hunters and our natural resources. That mind-set will help our fishing, game and the environment.

And it will help all sportsman and non-sportsman in the long run.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors