LAST EDITED ON Dec-23-10 AT 06:15PM (MST)[p]Californians get beat up multiple times daily on most outdoor message boards.
Kalifornia, Californicator, Caliboy,you name it.
Granted we are a 'blue state" but there are lots of them out there.
Most of it is due to the population of treehugging liberal freaks that inhabit California.
I see it as the "Urbanization"of America.
People that have lost touch with their outdoor heritage.
All major US cities and suburbs are inhabited by these types, not just California.
For some strange reason, people lump us California hunters into the very same category as our mutual enemies.
I see it constantly.
Statements like "I wish California would fall off into the Pacific", "Transplant all the wolves & Grizzlies into Cali."
Everyone seems to complain about Californians moving into their home state and then wanting to change it into California.
Hell, I bet some wish they had what I have here.
A nice home in the country, with hunting & fishing available just a few minutes away.
Funny the guys I run with are the very same type of people as the hard core hunters found anywhere else.
They live to hunt & fish, love and respect their quarry and it's habitat and are respectful and law abiding when travelling out of state to hunt.
It sickens me to see good honest hunters get their vehicles vandalized and be labeled with a scarlet letter simply because of their license plate that is on their rig.
It seems like even the most hardcore California hunters (and I know plenty) get lumped into this phukked up category of incompetent slob hunter.
It seems that this label is pased down from generation to generation in some places.
I've been here & on other message boards quite a long time and have always tried to show the positives of my life in California.
Wide open spaces, ranching, beautiful rivers with incredible fish, a two buck limit that is completely obtainable if you put forth the effort even on public land, great waterfowling, great predator and bear hunting and plenty of rugged scenic mountain country that is open to all.
An example would be my recent post thatwas a tribute to my son.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/cgi-b...z=show_thread&om=17096&forum=DCForumID5&omm=0
I often see fellow California hunters bemoaning their misfortunes of living here as well and that just fuels the anti California fires even more.
I'm just a working stiff that punches a clock in a grocery store.
I'm no rich guy that buys his way into every outdoor opportunity, I've done a few big guided hunts, but I'm 99% a DIY guy.
I've enjoyed a great outdoor life with my family that I'm sure rivals a lot of people that live in "prime outdoor destinations" such as the Rocky Mountain States.
Sure I'm blessed to have some connections to private land hunting, but I feel that there is plenty of opportunity here if a guy gets serious about it, and that our hunters and fishermen are really no different than those found in other states be they good, bad or ugly.
Anytime you try to generalize an entire population the size of either Texas or California you are going to be more wrong than right.
Sorry for the rant, I guess I just get a tad battle weary.
HH