Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
Interesting me, because facts have a way of strangling speculation and pestering us daydreamers. I have longed to scratch some of my itches in public, so here they are. You may not itch in exactly the same places, but hear me out. Please. There seems to be a current fad that is, like a lot of fads, foolishly logical – the left-handed operation of a fly reel. "Why are you doing this the awkward way?" the sensible, right-handed angler asks before forcing you to listen to a tedious explanation about how fighting a trout of a pound or so requires the mightier of your appendages. If a 20-inch rainbow (you should be so lucky) exhausts you, take up something less strenuous, like free form verse. The Labrador retriever is, arguably, the most perfect example of the kindness and compassion of the Almighty. Eve wasn't bad either, mind you, but just think about it . . . ideas that defy proof appeal to The most satisfying way to catch bass is on a topwater plug. Least satisfying is the common worm rig. Nymphing for trout with a bobber (strike indicator indeed!) has little to do with real fly fishing; it is, unfortunately, quite effective, but so are explosives and electric shockers. Bureaucratic nitwittery has finally enacted a series of laws in every state I know of that seem to be specially designed to totally discourage youngsters from ever taking up hunting. Read the laws in your state and imagine yourself being 12 or so. Add up the hours and the costs and the bother, divide by enthusiasm, and subtract a young man or woman, just when we need them more than ever. Why have hunters and fishermen gone so deeply on the defensive as to resort to wimpy phrases like "harvest" or worse, "reduce to possession?" Would a Marine DI urge his troops to "harvest the enemy?" Are we retreating to the dark ages when piano legs were referred to as "limbs" and death was couched in a myriad of circumlocutions that didn't make the matter any less realistic or irreversible? Is the current proliferation of state stamps, at extra costs, another bleeding of the sportsman? In many cases I suspect it is. Does your pheasant stamp money really go for pheasants, or should we remain skeptical? Is it too much to ask our public servants to tell us where our money really goes? It might make for amusing reading at worst; at best it might provoke some of us to ask some harder questions. The wild turkey is our most overrated gamebird. Other than giving us a spring hunting season and the chance to fool with a variety of calls and patterns of camouflage overalls, what have we got? The next most overrated bird is the Canada goose. Most underrated are the pintail and the sandhill crane. Just my personal opinion, of course. "Hill's Law" says: "The surest way to find something you've lost is to replace it with something new." Another is that "One size doesn't fit all." An increasing number of clothing makers don't know their XLs from the Ss. The best all-around shotgun shell is a No. 7 ½. Number 7s are even better, but WWW.PURDEY.COM