Ego check

[Hammsolo]

Speaking for myself, some stories just aren’t that interesting, and don’t need to be told.

I also find myself with no time, and no energy.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Simple, add fishing into this question and then "Holy Hannah"!

You can't be trusted as an angler if you don't lie about everything. #scientificfact

 

[noharleyyet]

One of my favorite threads...

 

[thomas89]

Me telling a story about unintentionally crop dusting my dad all day in the elk woods:

 

[Irrelevant]

Two more thoughts.

Lamberz: your reference to literature is understandable, but also, isn't most literature intended to be monetized? We are often under the illusion that it's simply to tell a story, which is a more noble cause, but in reality, someone is likely making money. I've seen very few exceptions.

Another smart guy told me. "The internet is a weird place to keep a journal." Wise words. I'll admit that the dopamine hit (i.e. ego stoke) plays a part in my "journaling" here on HT, which is why there is less and less of it every year. However, some of you yahoos I actually like a lot, and do value your input/interactions. It is difficult to share a hunting story with 10 people, whom I've mostly never met in person, scattered across the country, hence, there is still some merit to making a single post.

 

[brymoore]

I don’t post most of my big game hunts because they’re boring. I’m not sure that the story of shooting a spike elk on opening morning for meat is exhilarating. I’ll post an interesting one once in a while. I did post a whole sheep hunt with pics once. I do post bird hunts and garden pics with a short update.

When I do post a story, it’s true but paraphrased to keep the story short. Luckily, I can’t remember the last wounding or miss by my family except for one buddy who kept wounding bears. We never actually found one of his woundings so no story. I would have told about his bad shooting.

 

[Nameless Range]

Another smart guy told me. "The internet is a weird place to keep a journal."

I have mixed feelings about this. If a journal is just for you or a small select group of folks, then yeah. But if you want your journal to be read broadly or to last, then the internet is far and away the best place.

For example, my social media is 90% family, geography, and greasy food. I do like the thought of my kids, or maybe even those beyond, seeing what some member of their lineage thought about these subjects when they were too young to grasp it, or were in the midst of being fully absorbed in their own lives. Part of that might be a desire to know who my own father was and what he thought about when I was young or nonexistent. My grandpa lived with us the last 7 years of his life, and I loved him so dearly but Alzheimers rendered so many of the questions I asked him unanswerable due to the extinction of his memories. Maybe there's an argument that it's best not to know. That said, I could imagine the children/grandchildren of a lot of HT members reading their ancestor's hunt recaps with fascination and appreciation. God, I would love to read a 1939 hunt recap from my grandpa.

The risk of course, is the internet often brings out the worst of us, and I increasingly think can derange anyone, and I often fantasize about never logging in again.

 

[noharleyyet]

I have mixed feelings about this. If a journal is just for you or a small select group of folks, then yeah. But if you want your journal to be read broadly or to last, then the internet is the far and away the best place.

For example, my social media is 90% family, geography, and greasy food. I do like the thought of my kids, or maybe even those beyond, seeing what some member of their lineage thought about these subjects when they were too young to grasp it, or were in the midst of being fully absorbed in their own lives. Part of that might be a desire to know who my own father was and what he thought about when I was young or nonexistent. My grandpa lived with us the last 7 years of his life, and I loved him so dearly but Alzheimers rendered so many of the questions I asked him unanswerable due to their own extinction. Maybe there's an argument that it's best not to know. That said, I could imagine the children/grandchildren of a lot of HT members reading their ancestor's hunt recaps with fascination and appreciation.

The risk of course, is the internet often brings out the worst of us, and I increasingly think can derange anyone, and I often fantasize about never logging in again.

Where else can you get an honest eulogy prologue?

 

[2rocky]

I’m not going to throw someone under the bus with details that embarrass them because it is a violation of “bro code”. We read these reports to inspire ourselves. Now if the discussion is centered around dealing with the inevitable embarrassing consequences of poor judgment then it is worth discussing.

Babe Ruth hit 714 career home runs but also struck out 1330 times.

 

[Irrelevant]

I have mixed feelings about this. If a journal is just for you or a small select group of folks, then yeah. But if you want your journal to be read broadly or to last, then the internet is far and away the best place.

If you want your journal "read broadly", then your ego is the one making that request. It just is. I'll be the first to admit, my ego can, at times, be quite fragile, and enjoys a good stoking (stroking?). Hence why I have several lengthy threads on here... But there can be different buckets right? I want you guys to think I'm a decent human, who you might enjoy a beer with. Which is different from trying to get you to think I'm some backcountry badass. Or is it? Maybe I'm out to left field on this.

For example, my social media is 90% family, geography, and greasy food. I do like the thought of my kids, or maybe even those beyond, seeing what some member of their lineage thought about these subjects when they were too young to grasp it, or were in the midst of being fully absorbed in their own lives. Part of that might be a desire to know who my own father was and what he thought about when I was young or nonexistent. My grandpa lived with us the last 7 years of his life, and I loved him so dearly but Alzheimers rendered so many of the questions I asked him unanswerable due to the extinction of his memories. Maybe there's an argument that it's best not to know. That said, I could imagine the children/grandchildren of a lot of HT members reading their ancestor's hunt recaps with fascination and appreciation. God, I would love to read a 1939 hunt recap from my grandpa.

Image reading that same hunt recap in a leather-bound journal vs via a Google search? Would it be the same, feel the same? I don't think so. I maintain a pretty helter-skelter journal that documents way more of my personal struggles than it does my triumphs. Some of it was written with the hope that someday, my kids will read them and better understand their father. Some of them are written for me as a way of venting or coping.

 

[geetar]

If I had a really good tag and I knew a bunch of other HuntTalkers knew about me drawing the tag and were wishing me success I'd share the story no matter the outcome. Most of my hunting success and failures alike are fairly ordinary though so I usually don't post it.

 

[TrapperJ]

Its like this if I think it im gonna say it and im gonna tell the truth on my hunts and ill admit I dont know that much so ill ask and details matter so with me truth is the way (all was a lie)

 

[Ben Lamb]

Two more thoughts.

Lamberz: your reference to literature is understandable, but also, isn't most literature intended to be monetized? We are often under the illusion that it's simply to tell a story, which is a more noble cause, but in reality, someone is likely making money. I've seen very few exceptions.

My god Magnum,

There are seas filled with unpublished works that were created for reasons far beyond monetization.

"Language was invented for one reason: too woo women."

Robin Williams.

We write to tell our stories, to pass down knowledge & history. I'm old enough to remember when we put a ton of resources into getting all oral traditions & history written down or recorded for posterity. I'd say the vast majority of writing is done not for monetization but for business (technical writing is an art form as well, just more stringent in its discipline), followed by writing for fun. Fan fiction, open Mike poetry nights, 16 year olds desperate for an awkward encounter, and a few 46 year olds too.

We are a species that excels because of our ability to write, communicate, turn a phrase and most importantly: to woo our prospective partners.

And not bore me when I read hunting stories, but it seemed narcissistic to lead with that.

 

[Nameless Range]

If you want your journal "read broadly", then your ego is the one making that request. It just is. I'll be the first to admit, my ego can, at times, be quite fragile, and enjoys a good stoking (stroking?). Hence why I have several lengthy threads on here... But there can be different buckets right? I want you guys to think I'm a decent human, who you might enjoy a beer with. Which is different from trying to get you to think I'm some backcountry badass. Or is it? Maybe I'm out to left field on this.

Image reading that same hunt recap in a leather-bound journal vs via a Google search? Would it be the same, feel the same? I don't think so. I maintain a pretty helter-skelter journal that documents way more of my personal struggles than it does my triumphs. Some of it was written with the hope that someday, my kids will read them and better understand their father. Some of them are written for me as a way of venting or coping.

It's hard to think of any actions - particularly those associated with expressing oneself - that are independent of personal desires. Be it those things that seem altruistic or not. Philosophers have mused on this for a long damn time, and as you point out, whether something is seen as egotistical or not is really an attribute of magnitude and proportion to reality. I think you're a decent human being I might enjoy a beer with.

I'd love a leatherbound book, but one of the reasons a hell of a lot of effort in the last 40 years has been dedicated to digitizing the physical is because the digital is searchable, longer lasting, accessible everywhere, and accessible to everyone - generally. Physical things get lost, burn up, spilled on, etc. Also, I'd be printing out photos and maps to accompany the journal entries that are my sweet Chicken Fried Steaks of Montana Photo Album on the facebook. There is something special about the physical though. I've got a basement full of maps, many of which are available online, because of that specialness.

I think if someone has a physical journal, that's awesome. I had one when I was younger and it's kind of embarrassing to read.

 

[TOGIE]

Nearly all my stories on HT involve barely legal bucks, cows, and a "bull" with milk on its lips.

Boy if it was truly all about ego I'm doing it wildly wrong.

When reading other peoples stories, what makes it enjoyable is not what they're hunting or how big it is when they might get it, it's what happens along the way and being able to find yourself a bit immersed in an outdoor adventure. Having to use some of your imagination in tandem with the writing to place yourself in that place makes it all the better.

That's what I want to create, cause it's fun - it's fun to relive and put it into words, enhance it with good pictures, and hope that a reader can find themselves along for the ride, so to speak, in that place.

Grant's Ram hunt last year was so damn enjoyable to read because of how much wild, remote, and epic stuff that hunt entailed and the pictures of that beautiful place, not because it was a ram IMO. Conversely some glory elk tag and ram hunts are really quite stale of a read and my interest in the threads fizzle out. There was a recent thread about a brief backpack trip outing to lake that i found to be just as good or better than many hunt threads. It's not putting animals on the ground that necessarily creates a compelling story, it's just more often than not the topic at hand on this website. Putting something on the ground is quite nearly ALWAYS the smallest component of things that take place during a hunt and honestly should be treated as such IMO.

In the end, I just wanna enjoy some good stories and hope that others can enjoy some of mine. Honestly though, we'll see if I bother this year, for plenty of reasons I'm still chewing on.

But goddamn those red notification dopamine dumps sure are nice.

 

[Irrelevant]

My god Magnum,

There are seas filled with unpublished works that were created for reasons far beyond monetization.

"Language was invented for one reason: too woo women."

Robin Williams.

We write to tell our stories, to pass down knowledge & history. I'm old enough to remember when we put a ton of resources into getting all oral traditions & history written down or recorded for posterity. I'd say the vast majority of writing is done not for monetization but for business (technical writing is an art form as well, just more stringent in its discipline), followed by writing for fun. Fan fiction, open Mike poetry nights, 16 year olds desperate for an awkward encounter, and a few 46 year olds too.

We are a species that excels because of our ability to write, communicate, turn a phrase and most importantly: to woo our prospective partners.

And not bore me when I read hunting stories, but it seemed narcissistic to lead with that.

Ok, I'm going to take a play from my wife's playbook and say I was only partly correct. The vast majority of the published work is for profit, including technical papers. However, that is dwarf by the amount of writing we do everyday via text, email, and social media (like HT).

And technical writing is an art form, one I am currently practicing on the other monitor.

 

[Elky Welky]

I'm shocked that the guy w/Hemmingway for an avatar likes concise writing.

What do you mean? Hemingway was so concise he only used one "m" in his name .

Wholly agree with your assessment, good writing is good editing. I enjoy quality creative nonfiction, which is its own tricky art form.

 

[cgasner1]

What do you mean? Hemingway was so concise he only used one "m" in his name .

Wholly agree with your assessment, good writing is good editing. I enjoy quality creative nonfiction, which is its own tricky art form.

Aren’t most your hunting stories creative nonfiction?

 

[Hem]

SIX SEVEN.

 

[Irrelevant]

SIX SEVEN.

My kids literally just introduced me to that phrase like 3 minutes ago