Blast Update, Politics And Keeping History

Outdoor Blast Update

The 2020 GON Ag-Pro Outdoor Blast was officially canceled a few weeks ago. This was a painful decision, but with all the restrictions in place and uncertainty from week to week, it was not a tough call. No choice, really.

Time to put a fork in 2020 and get ready for 2021, and that’s where we are with the Blast.

Say mask one more time… dare you.

Politics Of Everything

Speaking of wearing masks, everything is about politics these days—dramatic partisanship, anger, literal hate for the other side—and all the while trying to convince each other who is right on social media.

I had an interesting conversation with an old friend at the feed and seed the other day. Just catching up—he has two kids at UGA, and I have one there. He lamented a fairly dramatic political shift in one of his kids since being at college. I’m sure I don’t need to tell which direction that shift took when this kid left his rural home and started a college education in Athens.

My friend made a great point, and it got me thinking… dangerous, I know.

His kid was saying how unfair our country is when some people have so much less than others, and that people who have more should give more to make up for that disparity. Interesting side point here: Most everyone agrees with this concept—the main difference is some people prefer to help others by giving through church, specific charities and organizations, while others think giving it to the government is the answer to all our problems.

My friend reminded his son there’s a pretty good allowance going into his account each week for a comfortable college lifestyle in Athens. The debate with his child pretty much ended when he said, “How about we take a good chunk of your allowance and spread it around to those who don’t get one?”

What a great idea! If kids in college are buying into the idea that everyone should get a “living wage payment” even though they don’t work, if they believe in free healthcare—apparently for everyone in the world since they also want open borders, and free college regardless of effort or accomplishment… These are ideas thrown out there to buy young votes. Maybe these young people should go ahead and start living that life now. Instead of coddle-care by parents who want their kids to have the best, maybe a little real-life education in the bank account would be an apt life lesson. Kids who support those ideas might as well figure out what all of this is really like now instead of it taking 15 years of real-world employment while watching people who don’t work get a big chunk of their paycheck.

Man, I truly hate politics. I apologize for going there. But I do love our country (cue the Lee Greenwood song).

Please do your part in this upcoming November election.   

Deer Records, Outdoor History

We are very proud of GON’s Georgia Deer Records—broken down by county, WMA, categorized by weapon. Some counties have more than 500 hunters listed just in the bow rankings. No other state has anything remotely close to this, and it is only available to Georgia hunters due to an incredible effort by a handful of people—decades of work and crazy effort that quite frankly no other publication would consider trying to tackle.

The older I get, the more the history of hunting and fishing in Georgia means to me. GON isn’t just a monthly magazine and website, it is a recording of the people who made their mark in the Georgia outdoors, whether through conservation efforts, catching a big fish, or killing a big deer. It mattered when it happened, and it should matter 100 years from now. This recording of the Georgia outdoors is where GON shines.

I hope the majority of readers continue to be appreciative of the work these people at GON have done and continue to do, and that they feel an annual subscription is a bargain. If not, all of this will eventually just go away.

We work our tails off every day so that doesn’t happen, and we certainly can’t do it without our supporters—that’s our readers and the businesses who value y’all and continue to advertise in the magazine.

Let’s keep it going.