I missed the boat on this one

A friend, who keeps track of things much better than I, emailed me recently with kind words of congratulations.

My mind hurriedly ran through all the obvious things: my retirement, 32 years of marriage, good kids, gobs of grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

I didn't hit the lottery so it wasn't that. I knew it wasn't because I never buy Lotto tickets.

C’mon, already. I’m not good with guessing games.

Eventually he offered his congratulations on having hit the 2,500th consecutive daily weblog. Twenty-five  hundred of anything is a bunch, but that many without  missing more than a few surprised even me.

I emailed him back, thanked him for bringing this to my attention, admitted I'm a bit clumsy when it comes to keeping track of such things. If there had been a quiz, and the prize was $1 million if i could answer what landmark event had happened, I'd have dropped the ball and driven home penniless.

So, taking a backward look at more than 2,500 daily blogs, what do we have? We've seen the numbers of readers go from 10 to 15 per day to 25,000 to 30,000 on a daily basis. We've seen reader numbers rise and fall with the seasons, with the highest readership from September through June, and watched them tail off a bit during July and August.

The number of "unique hits" has gone from a paltry 200 per month to a high of 850,000 per month. My monthly average readership now is unknown because the counter quit working. However, that number was more than many outdoor magazines I've written for over 43 years.

Many people have become friends because we share some of the same philosophies, enjoy the outdoors, and we share our successes and failures in the woods. We often like fishing and hunting books, and one person is a very thoughtful and kind man.

This blog business means trying to be timely on a daily basis, providing solid how-to and occasional where-to information, and writing blogs that anglers and hunters want to read. The next statement probably should be left alone, but that's not my way.

Writing blogs isn’t terribly difficult but requires more mental strain than physical.

Some blogs are perhaps more meaningful to me than to my readers. I've written quite a few stories about my twin brother and I, and the things we did together as adults and kids. He died Sept. 10, 2003, and I began my string of daily blogs in November that year.

The blogs have come from everywhere outdoors. I love to help people develop their five senses, and that has been featured here. I've written about all types of fishing from bass to trout, and all types of hunting from bears to muskox. I write from my heart, and if a story makes you feel like you are with me on the trip, I've accomplished my goal.

I've railed against urban sprawl, the loss of wildlife habitat, working on streams to control erosion, fishing the hex hatch, some great techniques for hunting rub-lines and scrapes for deer, and how I never look a game animal in the eye or think about killing that animal.

My list of blogs appears endless but it hasn't reached that point yet. I've covered the failings of the DNR in recent years in their mismanaged way of controlling antlerless deer, and why in some areas there are too few deer now, even by DNR admission.

One squawk of mine is that Region II turkey hunters get shafted every spring. We can't obtain private-land turkey tags although birds come and eat bugs in our clover fields, and yet when drawing time comes for spring hunts, drawing a 1st season turkey tag is difficult, if not impossible. Private-land tags are available in Regions I and III, but not up here in Region II.

We've documented the apparent slow demise of Lake Huron salmon, and what may be a slower year fof Lake Michigan salmon anglers. People, including me, are wondering where the coho salmon are. No one seems to know. but of recent years the seem to show up a bit later each year.

I’m a goal-oriented person so my next goal is 3,000 of these things. Read on.

I try to write informative articles on all types of fishing, and bow hunting for whitetails is a special love for Kay and I. But, we can't write about deer every day so we also cover hunting ruffed grouse, waterfowl, woodcock and ringneck pheasants. We touch on fox and coyote hunting, and love to write about fishing for bluegills, crappies, salmon, trout and walleyes.

It's my intention to make you feel what I feel on my fishing and hunting trips, and allow you to learn some of the things I know or learn. A life spent in the outdoors is a never-ending quest for adventure, knowledge and outdoor observations.

I'm old enough to know there is more to fishing and hunting than catching and killing. Sometimes just being there is enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll end this and prepare for tomorrow's day off.

Thanks for celebrating this landmark occasion with me, and thanks to my friend for telling me about it. Happy trails.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors