A new joint venture: To The Bone

It's been almost 10 years since I ended my old blog, NorCal Cazadora. While I have found many other venues for my writing since then, none have been the right place for a lot of the most serious stuff on my mind - the big questions about how and why we interact with nature as hunters.

Blogs as they were back then have either disappeared or morphed into straight-up websites. Facebook has become the place where discussions happen, but woe unto you if you write a blog-length Facebook post. Instagram is a place for pretty pictures, not intellectual discovery.

Then came Substack. Like traditional blogs, Substack is a platform for meaningful writing, but its delivery system is a built-in newsletter (not search engines), and its revenue model is subscriptions (not advertising or sponsorships). This, it turns out, is exactly what Hank and I had been looking for. Hank, too, used to enjoy putting thought-provoking posts on his blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, but that site is now more focused on the how-to of putting wild food on your table.

So, I'm excited to announce we have started a joint Substack newsletter called To The Bone. Click on over to check it out - there is a smattering of free posts to sample, and you can be a paid or unpaid subscriber. Subscriptions cost $5 a month or $50 a year.

 

Why should you have to pay for anything when I used to write at no cost to you on NorCal Cazadora? Two reasons: No ads is the obvious one. But the important one is that our writing requires experience, thought and time, all of which have value.

It's been so gratifying getting back to the writing I love. There is much to explore. I hope you'll join us on the journey.

© Holly A. Heyser 2022

Killing a treed bear: a post for Fair Chase Hunting

Hounds work to pick up a cold bear trail.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

I did something this weekend that I wouldn't have dreamed of doing three years ago: I hunted bears with hounds, and shot a bear out of a tree.

Did that get you emotionally riled up? It does that to everyone - not just non-hunters, but many hunters as well. That's why I decided to examine my reasons for going on the hunt (and for having an aversion to such things previously) in a post for Fair Chase Hunting, the blog of Orion The Hunter's Institute.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

Announcing... a new blog gig!

Photo illustration by Holly Heyser

I know this, combined with my previous post, is going to make you feel like you're in a house of mirrors for a moment, but bear with me.

I'm excited to announce I'm now a contributor to Fair Chase Hunting, a hunting ethics blog operated by Orion: The Hunter's Institute. My first post is an ethics discussion about the rabbit hunt that is the topic of my August column for Shotgun Life.

I won't be doing that every time, just linking back and forth willy nilly, but this piece in particular had a lot of crossover interest.

What? Oh. OK, I know it was just a few months ago that I said I was done blogging. But aside from the fact that I'm one of many contributors to Fair Chase, which lightens my load, hunting ethics is a topic of great interest to me, and it would've been insane to turn down an opportunity to be part of this ongoing discussion.

I'd like to publicly thank Orion Executive Director Jim Tantillo for reaching out with the offer, which is especially noteworthy given that I've argued with him elsewhere in the blogosphere quite vigorously.

While the Fair Chase Hunting blog makes clear that posts there don't necessarily reflect the official views of Orion, it says a lot about Jim and the organization that they consider open and spirited debate to be valuable. If you're not already a reader of Fair Chase, please head on over and check it out.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012