Everyone loves to tell a story, and many of us in the online world like to write out our stories for publication on various web sites. I presume it’s because when something good or great happens to us or someone we know, we usually want to relate that experience to others; we’re sociable animals by nature. I have always enjoyed telling stories about my adventures as well as my family’s and buddies’ experiences, so it was a good fit for me to begin writing for the Louisiana Sportsman website as a field reporter. They also allowed me to write some articles in their magazine. My latest venture was accepting the opportunity to begin writing for BayouBucks.com. As much as I enjoy writing these articles related to my hunting experiences, I get equal pleasure from reading the articles and forum posts written by others on this web site—some by friends and others by sportsmen I hope to meet someday. Their articles have been very insightful, informative, and most-entertaining to me.
My first and most important priority in writing either an article or a firsthand story is accuracy. To me, if a writer is telling a story untruthfully or embellishing his accomplishments, he is doing a disservice to himself, hunting, and all of us as sportsmen. Readers want to read hunting articles for their entertainment and information value. I believe they want the information to be entirely truthful and factual. If they wanted to read about something that did not actually happen, then they would choose to read a fiction novel.
In my reports, stories, and articles, as well as the other writers’ articles on this website, we strive to bring authenticity to our readers. For the integrity of BayouBucks.com and ourselves as authors, we owe it to readers to bring them the truth about our adventures. If we miss a deer with an arrow, you are going to read about it. If we scare a deer off because we’re too noisy in the stand, again you are going to hear about it. Have I published every mistake I’ve made in the woods? Hardly. There is not enough time in the day! But on any given hunt, some things do go wrong, and I think readers like to know that what happens to them also happens to me and everyone else, for that matter. It’s not like the TV hunting show where the guy gets the trophy buck on every hunt and never misses a shot. That’s not the real world of hunting, and everyone of us know that to be a fact.
Too many times all we get to read is about the “perfect” hunt. Take it from someone who is in the woods during deer season as much as anyone: that “perfect” hunt is a very rare event. It can happen, and when it does it’s very magical and memorable, but it’s most definitely not the norm. At times, I think we all enjoy reading about when things go wrong, because in hunting (especially bowhunting), things do seem to go wrong. Most of the time it’s the little things that cause us to either not get a shot, or worse, to miss the shot whenever we do get an opportunity. To report these events as they actually occur is everything to me. Does this mean we have to tell the readers exactly where we killed that big buck or caught that trophy bass? Good question!
