"Outdoorsman"

[chunkylover58]

A thread likely to go nowhere.

Anyhoo ... "Outdoorsman." How would you define the term? I ask because I once went into a huuuuuge (Like, Walmart-sized) outdoors store in Tennessee called "Outdoor World," because I wanted to get the latest edition of the Sierra Club's "Guide to Hiking the Smoky Mountains." Where else but an "outdoors" store to find such a tome about my favorite pasttime: hiking? They didn't have it. Why? Well, as the lovely and differently-toothed hillbilly lady behind the counter explained: "Sir ... this is an OUT-DOORS store. Huntin' and fishin'. This ain't no hikin' store." Hmmm.... and all this time I'd been doing my hiking outdoors. Silly me. What a waste of my time, apparently.

This perspective is not limited to the clerk at Outdoor World. Living in the South I have discovered that a person like me who enjoys getting out into nature, hiking 10-15 miles a day, trekking to the tops of mountain peaks, roughing it up with a campfire and tent and all that, is NOT an outdoorsman. However, if I were to drive my pickemup truck to the edge of the woods, climb up a tree and sit for 8 hours in a stand with a beer in one hand and a high-powered, scoped rifle in the other waiting to shoot me a critter, or a sit in a boat for 8 hours with a beer in one hand and a fishin' rod in the other, THEN I'd be an "outdoorsman."

Nothing against fishing or hunting (Well, I have some issues with hunting, but that's for another thread) but I just think the difference in perception is a bit odd.

 

[tablariddim]

It's just that the sales lady's reasoning was wrong (maybe due to her weird teeth ) and maybe the store's buyer also suffers from said dental affliction. Logic seems to be a luxury in that store, maybe you should subscribe to the magazine instead.

 

[Xev]

"Outdoorsman" is a hokey pc term for "hunter" which is a hokey pc term for "illiterate white trash that occasionally gets drunk and terrorizes animals"

No 'fense to some hunters - I've hunted, never killed anything but tracking deer was a good thing to learn, I've fished, hiked, camped, and of course I've seen that not all hunters are like this.

Just the vast majority are.

Happy New Year, I've just regaind consciousness.

 

[Skutt]

Im not much of a hunter although I've done it , killed it, ate it but it just doesn't float my boat. I do enjoy a good day of fishing out on the Columbia for sturgeon or salmon. When I was young I wanted to move to the wilds of Alaska and become a hermit but didn't make it. Thats taking "outdoorsmanship" to the extreme. I still dream of that but now after all the years have past it just isn't a reality. Mabey when it's time to die. If I could pick the day it would be good to get far far away into the wilderness and simply lay down and expire. The parts of me that the animals don't eat will simply go back to the ground. I like that idea. Would I be an outdoorsman then? :bugeye:

 

[ScRaMbLe]

I'm pretty much against hunting as a 'sport'. Give the kangaroo a flak jacket, a 4x4 and a high powered semi-auto and then maybe you've got something that could be classed as a sport.