I am a city kid who spent most of his early life wishing he lived in the country, and with the move to the NRV in 1987 I got what I wanted. Ten minutes from my door is an abundance of woods, water, and wildlife. This area has innumerable opportunities for people who enjoy hunting, fishing, and boating, something for everyone at every stage of life.
The NRVO is a personalized, rambling blog, reflecting my viewpoints, interests, and experiences. I'm an opionated guy and therefore I take sole responsibility for its virtues and flaws. Nevertheless, many friends who are wonderful writers have been generous enough to add their own contributions and I'm always happy to get new material from my readers.
I believe that the saddest development in outdoors sports has been the exploitation of hunters and fishermen as nothing more than dumb consumers who can be gulled into buying stuff that isn't needed to enjoy their sports. While it's true that outdoors magazines have always been commercial operations, once they were based on the celebration of the outdoors experience, and the threads of memory and lore and adventure that bind one generation of outdoorsmen to the next. Regrettably that is no longer true. The print venues and the "outdoors shows" on TV today are nothing more than what a late editor of mine called "A great big steaming wad of advertorial." There are very, very few exceptions to the rule that such magazines are beholden to their advertisers and not their readers.
That's not the purpose of the NRVO site. I don't regard hunting and fishing as competitive or spectator sports; I cringe at the dreadful "outdoors shows" that consist of half-hour-long commercials for gear, featuring "sportsmen" decorated with commercial logos and pitching products to people who don't need them. They are not—as they ought to be—the means by which newbies to the outdoors can learn, and experienced outdoorsmen pick up some new knowledge. While I'm interested in newer and better stuff to enhance the outdoors experience, I'm also a guy who hunts and fishes with a lot of "obsolete" equipment, some of it older than I am. That stuff still works.
I hope that my readers will find something in the NRVO that resonates and gives them enjoyment. I welcome any comments and suggestion, so please feel free to send them along. meanwhile, enjoy!
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|OPENING PAGE|
| SEASON LOGS |
| HUNTING | GUNS | DOGS |
| FISHING & BOATING | TRIP REPORTS | MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS |
| CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OTHER WRITERS| RECIPES |
| POLITICS |