Love - a strong word

I didn't get a chance to get to the woods this weekend, and I never knew it would hurt so bad. I have realized that all I think about now is being in the woods. Whether it is just going to check cameras, looking for new summer patterns, or viewing the small plethora of wildlife we have here in Southwest Georgia. Every weekend I manage to drive the 30+ miles to our property to check our cameras and do a walk through the woods. This weekend the funds were not there and gas to work took precedence over gas to check cameras. I never in my life thought I would miss it as much as I do, but the thoughts keep coming to mind, "How much growth have the bucks put on?", "Have the does started to drop yet?", "Are the feeders empty?". The questions continue to mount. Then it hit me, this is what love is. Answers.com defines love as "a deep, tender, ineffable, feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person," as well as, "an intense emotional attachment." I would have to say that love not only can be felt towards a person but also for a place, such as the outdoors. When the thoughts of the outdoors outweigh the thoughts of my workload and financial difficulty, I have to say I love the outdoors!

Team Huntress more than just fun

I have been really encouraged and entertained lately by the blogs that have been posted about the Team Huntress event held June 12-14 at Pheasant Phun. Although I did not get to attend this grand event, I still have been greatly impacted by it. The event was about more than fun, it was about empowering women on their path toward outdoor success.

Some of you know I edit an online hunting show called Team Weekend Dreams, and our host, Frank Ellis, took part of his family vacation to go and film part of the event in hopes to make it the focus of a future show. Well, this decision didn’t make his family very happy, in fact his wife Holly was skeptical, but understood that Frank feels females in the outdoors is vital to the future and would make a great show to inform females of what is available to them so she agreed to go.

Upon arrival, the group received a greeting with open arms, and a process had begun. Over the next few hours Dave, Jane and the rest of the group started chipping away at Holly and the skepticism was fading quickly. Through spending time with their kids and including the entire group in the festivities it wasn’t long and Holly was enjoying being there, not to mention the fabulous time had by their kids. Every time I spoke with Frank while they were there, and let me tell you there were many times, all he could talk about was the great time they were having. But most of all was the transition that Holly and their daughter had made. Before going Holly wasn't the biggest outdoor fan. Now, Holly and their daughter can’t wait until it is time for the event to be held in 2010 in Missouri.

Frank told me his most memorable moment was on the way there his daughter Kailey (12) was upset that she had to give up part of her vacation for a boring seminar as she said. Then only to find her eyes filled with tears and upset because they had to leave and couldn’t stay for the entire event. His 8 year old son Lucas spent the rest of the vacation talking about his new buddy Hawk who gave the archery instructions and his buddy Dave who he spent a lot of time with and got to help chauffer the ladies in Big Green.

After hearing about the events and reading the blogs, I told my wife, Teresa, about it and had her read a couple of the blogs, and now she is interested in attending a Team Huntress Event and wants to start going to the woods with me more often. I hope her new found interests in the outdoors grows and when hunting season comes I can have her in the stand with me, running camera of course, hehe. Until then, I will continue to get her in the woods and continue to relay the blogs and tweets to keep her interests up.

Thank you to everyone at Team Huntress and the event staff for empowering three women that I know of to find and strengthen their love for the outdoors. May you continue to infect people with the bug we all have come to love!

Giving it a try

This is very strange for me. I am not an avid reader or wirter. However, my recent addiction to twitter and reading others blogs about the outdoors has inspried me to break out of my norm and give something new a try. So here it is. Hopefully I can rise to the occasion and entertain you the reader. Please be patient with me as I learn, and I am willing to accept any advice one may have, so fell free to offer. Although I do retain the right to accept or reject any said advice. Thanks for taking time to enter my world here in Southwest Georgia, but beware, it may be scary at times.