The Hunters Chronicles - Friday 7th September 2012

Whilst my passion for, and enjoyment of, airgunning and shooting remains, I have not been out hunting for quite a while now.

Opportunities have come and gone without regret nor mourning. I have recognised them as such and have allowed them to pass and analysed my thoughts and feelings upon each occurrence.

Whilst I had designs for the Hazelnuts that grow here and intentions to harvest them, I can see that my fears of them being completely devoured by the Squirrels with none left for me are unfounded. There are plenty to go around for us both. Times when a squirrel has shaken a branch above me, even though I have had my rifle in my hands, he has continued unmolested in his foraging. I cannot justify his death solely on the grounds of perceived 'burglary' nor can I really find motivation to honour his body fully by preparing it for consumption. Which leads me to my next realisation;

I have had a much lowered desire and hunger for meat whilst the temperatures have been mild. I recall in Winter and Early Spring a hunger and lust bordering on something almost vampirical in its magnitude.

When I compare then to now, I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau's - Walden; Or Life In The Woods. In it he made reference to hunting animals and decided that he disliked the 'mess' it caused in its processing in comparison to the other foodstuffs he had available such as beans and fish. I feel that at this time of year when I have so many vegetables, fruits and nuts available to me, I can relate to his logic, albeit temporarily.

The local rabbit population has decreased dramatically on the land I had permission to shoot over and now I have been asked to end my visits until the Pheasant season ends on the 1st of February. On the one hand, this news saddens me as the fields I have roamed for nearly nine months now have become familiar and though I may not always be successful in my hunting, I do value my time spent wandering and watching. The gains will be harvested, I hope, come February when healthy, recovered, and abundant rabbit numbers greet me. The meat will be most welcome during and after the 'hungry gap'.

Recently, Blackberries and Elderberries have been a very welcome addition to my diet. I have long awaited the arrival of the Elderberries, to the point of foregoing the delicious Elderflowers, as I intend to make cordials and tonics to combat the coughs and colds of Winter.


For now, the Armoury will undergo further tweaks and changes. My .177 HW95k and TX200 rifles are now crowned with new scopes that have vastly improved my shooting. A fair number of pellets have been sent downrange zeroing and learning the half mildot reticle and aimpoints.
The .22 SMK TH208 is the next to benefit from my attentions. This requires yet more paper punching due to the different behaviour of the calibre and sharper drop off of the pellet. I hope to utilise the hard hitting medium range capabilities of this rifle in Autumn and Winter when meat returns to being a regular on the menu.  Perhaps another reason I have abstained from gunning down the squirrels, a subconscious restraint. 

I do hope those of you who have looked forward to more regular entries are not too disappointed. It would appear that this may be a rhythm of the seasons for me. I will say that Autumn is most certainly here and I expect that my avian brothers and sisters will be as eager as I am to gather all those berries that too briefly hang from the branches. I would be most grateful if the Pigeons were to take an interest!

The neighbours seeking respite from the ravenous midges, mosquitos and horseflies. An August absent Summer.

Soul Soothing - Saturday 11/06/11

The Fallacy Of The Monetary Market System.

"The majority of our society appears to choose to engage in a practice whereby an individual will attempt to convert their labour into currency, then currency into the very thing their labour could have produced. This practice is exploited by government and corporations. It's inevitable inefficiency exacerbated by numerous 'taxes' including, but not limited to, inflation and interest." - Mike Jones

About 11:00 Emma said "Right let's go!" So we did. Out of the town and into the woods then on to Swifts Hill. The sights, the smells, the sounds. They soothed my soul.

Later, I couldn't help but recall the little dip I experienced at Lammas whilst reading Walden.
Utilising the wonderful phenomenon that is hindsight/retrospect, I believe I can clearly identify the ingredients of my state of distress. I wanted what Thoreau had. Whilst stuck in the paradigm that had me believing my potential was confined within rules and boundaries, it is completely understandable.
I believe that herein lies the source of many peoples pains and resultant 'misery'.
My salvation has come through realisation and understanding of my power to bend , break and create those very same 'rules'.
There is only one law aside from those of nature. Do not cause harm, injury or loss to any other being.
Under this one law we can live up to our otherwise limitless potential. Should we choose instead to be governed by the sixty million odd statutes, we will find this limitless creativity and freedom, limited. Simple huh?

If your reality is not to your liking, recognise firstly that it is you who created it and perpetuates it. By this line of logic, it stands to reason that you can end and destroy it. The poor unenlightened beings whose ranks once included myself, mistakenly jump to the conclusion of suicide. That is definitely not what I am advising. Quite the opposite. What is the opposite of death and dying? Life and living.

Don't like your job? Stop doing it. Don't see your partner and/or children enough? Change that if you and they want the same thing, namely each others company. Don't think those two simple examples are possible? Why not? Where is your evidence? My chosen reality is my evidence and I believe proof.
Look around you. Where are the gun men? Can't see any? So where does your fear lie? I think you and I both know that answer. Money is where your fear lies. More accurately your fear of a lack of it.
You believe that a lack of money means you will die. You believe it is a lack of money that is killing people in the distant and removed "third world". Rubbish.
Aside form possible blame lying with the actions of the same government that supposedly acts in your name and interests, the truth is far more simple.
Death results from a lack of food/water and/or adequate shelter and/or ill health and/or inflicted harm/abuse and/or a foul mixture of the above.
These people who are dying from AIDS are not dying because the drugs are not available...
Enforced poverty is the deadliest form of violence combined with a population conditioned to believe, and die, resulting from the false idea they need money.
The same applies the world over. Why do pensioners freeze to death each winter in Britain, a resource rich country, when trees and fuel grow in their gardens and outside their homes? Heat could be generated, better still, shared.
Why do children as well as grown adults starve to death in this country?
If I ever found myself in that scenario my family and I would be in Tesco filling our faces. Sure, the corporation slaves might get upset. They might call the corporations henchmen and will enforcers otherwise known as "Her Majesty's Police Force". God bless em those lovely people would inadvertently or otherwise provide us with state funded food, shelter, even clothing!

So there you have it. Identify, analyse and attempt to find hard solid evidence, initially to support your "fears".
What I believe you will find after your identification and analysis is that once you break down your fears into actual effects and ramifications, it will be more difficult to prove your fears than it is to disprove them. I could be wrong. I speak only form my experience. Try it. What have you, or I, got to lose?
More to the point, and here is an infinitely more important question;

What have you and I got to gain?

A Bodger's Workshop.

Robin Goodfellow - Saturday 16/04/11

Yesterday after jotting down a Diary entry, I continued in the same vein as Thursday doing whatever I felt moved me. I again visited Ayres, knowing he would be on his own and would perhaps welcome the company. Interestingly he was having a 'silent' day. Happy to listen, just not to speak, the stickers across his chest read. It seemed wrong to break the serenity, so we sat, climbed trees and swang on ropes and a rope swing. Finally, he gave me his iPod gesturing that I should listen to it. On it was Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment audio book. I closed my eyes and absorbed the words. I understood how the 'now' or present moment matters. How our inner purpose is whatever we happen to be doing and should be aligned with our inner purpose in order to bring true happiness and fulfilment.
It was with all these feelings in mind, that I demonstrated my desire to be treated, recognised and respected as the free and independent being I am and wish to be. I did this by having a cigarette. It caused Emma to exhibit ALOT of emotion and she disappeared for the afternoon. Did I feel guilty? No. I cannot own or be responsible for the feelings, thoughts, actions or deeds of any other being. I had realised, that in that moment, the only thing preventing me doing what moved me, was the thought and opinions of another.
I refuse to be ruled by any other than myself. Even if it is my partner. I explained my reasoning. At that time I also had no intention of returning to being a 'smoker'.
I believe that despite the upset, we have both benefited enormously.
To put it into context I shall quote Thoreau; "As if the sun should stop when he had kindled his fires upto the splendour of a moon or a star of the sixth magnitude, and go about like a Robin Goodfellow, peeping in at every cottage window, inspiring lunatics, and tainting meats, and making darkness visible, instead of steadily increasing his genial heat and beneficence till he is of such brightness that no mortal can look him in the face, and then, and in the mean while too, going about the world in his own orbit, doing it good, or rather, as a truer philosophy has discovered, the world going about him getting good".

To me this says, we are of the most benefit to others and ourselves, when we do that which moves us and when we follow our true genius.

Rocket Stoving A Nettle Brew.

Cap'n' Van Winkle Banging Out Some Shanties.

M Jones

At The Devils Feet - Sunday 10/04/11

Henry David Thoreau's Walden is rapidly becoming my bible and creed. If I were a believer in re-incarnation, I would swear that this man was myself in a previous existence. Although he was obviously more disciplined, not having impregnated a girl at the age of 17. I envy his freedom and fear the loneliness of the life he describes. Whilst I could abandon my now second time pregnant partner and young daughter as could any truly free being, I live in terror of my conscience. I am petrified of myself even if I follow what I know to be my life's true course and calling. My battle at this moment in time is to fight that calling with every fibre of my being until the day I can act upon it without regret. I know this to be pure folly. A foolish idea that will inevitably find me prostrate at the Devil's feet begging for another chance to live my life how I want to live it. I am aware I have always felt trapped and emotionally blackmailed into servitude of my 'lover' and it is my own moral code that binds my being and soul to her and my daughter. My daughter who has become a dear friend to me compounding my heartache further still. In the past, I once attempted suicide in the belief it would grant me the release I crave. I know now that the answer lies not in the darkness, but here in the light of this life, presently just out of reach.
Thoreau's work has become to me, akin to a pornographic magazine. Naughty. Taboo. Forbidden. I can only read a small portion at a time before my lust and envy grow too strong to bear. I flirt with the dream, then reason with my poor heart and convince my disturbed mind that what is portrayed within this books covers will never be mine.
It is in moments of bitter confusion like this that I pine for a cigarette. Could it be I enter a 'Self Destruct' mode? If that which I desire can never be mine then what point is there to this miserable existence?
If I were my own counsel I would advise myself to burn the book and never dare read another page. Ugly filth such as tobacco and nicotine are easy to live without, beautiful literature is not.

M Jones