I\'ll Be Going Now

Hmmmm...I don\'t think I explained myself very good. Which might be why writing a book is hard for me. Putting my thoughts on paper is difficult for me. I\'m just a dumb truck driver who loves elk hunting, and devoted my life to it.

It\'s not secrets, but more of a plan, a system if you will for still hunting elk. There have been a couple of books on still hunting written, but the focus has been for deer hunting. I thought a book on still hunting specifically for elk might have some interest. Then again it might not have the interest to support a book.

Lets try looking at it this way. I get asked questions on still hunting on this forum. It\'s not that I don\'t want to answer them, or i\'m afraid to give away information that i\'m saving for a book. Even though I said that it\'s not really what I meant. The problem is I can\'t give a complete answer in a post. I have to leave out so much in my answers that I don\'t feel i\'m giving a good answer. The answer aren\'t complete, and don\'t have all the details to be understood completely. If I gave complete answers it would be like writing a whole chapter from the book in a post. I type way too slow to do that. So, I end up just giving a basic answer that probably isn\'t helping all that much. Does that make sense?

Still hunting can be very simple, and be fairly successful. It can also be very complicated, and be more successful. My still hunting over the decades has evolved quite a bit. I found out the more I pay attention to the details no matter how small. The more successful I became. The more I studied elk behavior, the more I knew what they were going to do. The more I learned about moving through the timber. The better I became at doing it un-noticed. I became better at all of it by paying attention to the details. No matter how small they were.

If the book ever gets written it will be full of the little details I feel are important to be a good still hunter. When you put together a lot of small details. They become a big detail, and can\'t be ignored for the most success.

If you take nothing else from this. Take away to be anal about the details. No matter how small. It\'s easy to say a small detail can\'t matter much in your elk hunt. Maybe not, but a hundred small details will. Whatever method you use to hunt for elk. Be the best you can at that method. If it\'s calling. Then be the best caller, and understand all there is about calling in elk. Don\'t do anything half-ass. Whatever you do. Give it 100% of your ability. The elk deserve no less, and neither do you.
 
Pete
This thread has traction and interest.
Use it to your advantage.

1- your posts are welcome here. Vague or not
2- writing a book is not easy.
3- people want your information. The rest up to you
 
Pete, what about writing the book in a blog-type format? Anytime you feel like writing about something, you can sit down and do it. You can also go back in and edit it if you miss something. I am not a tech guy, so I have no idea if this is possible or not, but could we do a blog on this forum for Pete? Maybe something that you have to pay $5 to join and view and that $5 goes to the RMEF? I think the forum could work, but it would end up being pages of info with comments mixed in. If it were in blog format, maybe people could comment or ask questions on the bottom to keep it cleaner looking. I also think by people asking questions, it could drum up more ideas for you to write about. Thoughts? Am I off my rocker??? :D
 
Great idea Derek

And JF has already installed it


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Pete,
How about a blog?
 
I\'d prefer to do the book if I can. I have a lot of work to do. I want to take pictures of all my hunting areas to better illustrate what i\'m talking about in the book. I want to show different situations, and how I hunted them. Different surfaces, and how to walk softly on them. Blow downs, and how to hunt them. Etc etc.....

I have lots to do, and would like to do it at a relaxed pace. I have no deadline to get it done, and i\'d like to keep it that way. As i\'ve mentioned i have a hard time putting into words what i\'m thinking. I also do a lot of things by instinct when hunting. I have to think about why i\'m doing those things, and try to put it in words so it makes sense. I want it to be easy reading, and easy to understand. I want someone to read the whole book, and not have any questions. That\'s my goal.

I want it to cover everything from getting in shape for elk hunting to butchering the meat, and everything in between. A big project for this old coot, but like everything i\'ve done in my life. I\'ll give it 100%, or I won\'t do it at all. It will take time. To be a good still hunter you need infinite patience. It\'s not something you can turn on and off. It needs to be in your genes. So, i\'m patient about this book.
 
Pete, while I understand you would still like to do the book, I\'d say sleep on it for a bit and give the blog idea at least some thought . Based on what everyone is saying, it could cost quite a bit for you to publish a book. And it sounds like it could take a long time to reap the rewards of it and actually make a profit. I think Swede wrote his book quite a few years back and he is still a few years out on profiting from it. So, you could start making the RMEF money right away and not have to wait until a long ways down the road. You also wouldn\'t have to front a bunch of money to publish the book.

The other reason I think it could be a great idea is people could ask questions. If you write the book and complete it, there is nowhere to address questions. Maybe you would potentially miss something that you wish you would have put in, whereas a blog would allow you to address questions as they come about and keep everything completely relevant to teaching people to still hunt. It would also give you the ability to edit as you go, so if you forget something or miss something, it is fixable. The other thing is you can write at your own pace. There is no rush to finish the final product, you can add as you go. Maybe you pick up a new tidbit this year during your hunt or something happens that you want to write about...and boom, you have instant access to share it.

The final thing I would tell you is that books are slowly becoming extinct. More and more people read \'books\' on their ipads, kindles, etc. A blog would probably get you more attention and more money for the RMEF.

Just give it some thought. I personally feel you have a ton of useful knowledge to share and I want to make sure that it happens. I\'d hate for you to continue thinking about writing a book and then something comes up and it never happens. The blog would get the information out a lot faster and guarantee the information is shared and that your legacy and teachings from your father are shared and passed down.

Just my long winded two cents :lol:
 
I\'ll give it some thought. I\'m rather stubborn when I have my mind set on something, but i\'ll think about it.
 
Maybe I don\'t understand the blog idea, but I don\'t see it working, Pete. There\'s too much out there for free for me to go paying a blog to read it.

Now, a blog as marketing? I think that might be a great idea.

In short, I just don\'t see them as mutually exclusive. Your web presence complements your book, and directs people to it. You can post anything about your tactics on-line ... the more you do, the more I\'ll want to read your book -- even if it\'s basically the same thing. Don\'t believe me? Come see my collection of books! Swede\'s is there. And some guy named Paul, too! Both of them posted plenty on-line, and I found their thought intriguing enough that I wanted to get their books, and really spend more time hearing exactly what they had to say.

I\'ll say this ... if Swede and Paul had no on-line presence, I would have never, ever bought their books. Do you think Cory Jacobsen could really sell DVDs like he does without his on-line persona?

Now, I know that even with all that, neither is making a fortune (for themselves or a charity) but I think their on-line presence was a net positive for their book sales.

I\'ve learned so much from guys on-line ... I read their posts but I really wish they\'d sit down and really expand on their thoughts unlike what a person can do on-line. For example, I think Andy referred to Dan Moore\'s methods. Well, I\'ve read about them, listened to his interview, etc., but regardless of what he has put on-line, if he wrote a book -- even if it was basically the same thing -- I\'d pre-order it today.

Your method of hunting really intrigues me. I would know nothing about it if it weren\'t for this inter-web we correspond with. I would buy your book as soon as you write it and I really can\'t imagine how posting excerpts or thoughts from the book would detract from that. On the contrary, I think it would really push the book!
 
\"Deertick\" said:
Maybe I don\'t understand the blog idea, but I don\'t see it working, Pete. There\'s too much out there for free for me to go paying a blog to read it.

Now, a blog as marketing? I think that might be a great idea.

In short, I just don\'t see them as mutually exclusive. Your web presence complements your book, and directs people to it. You can post anything about your tactics on-line ... the more you do, the more I\'ll want to read your book -- even if it\'s basically the same thing. Don\'t believe me? Come see my collection of books! Swede\'s is there. And some guy named Paul, too! Both of them posted plenty on-line, and I found their thought intriguing enough that I wanted to get their books, and really spend more time hearing exactly what they had to say.

I\'ll say this ... if Swede and Paul had no on-line presence, I would have never, ever bought their books. Do you think Cory Jacobsen could really sell DVDs like he does without his on-line persona?

Now, I know that even with all that, neither is making a fortune (for themselves or a charity) but I think their on-line presence was a net positive for their book sales.

I\'ve learned so much from guys on-line ... I read their posts but I really wish they\'d sit down and really expand on their thoughts unlike what a person can do on-line. For example, I think Andy referred to Dan Moore\'s methods. Well, I\'ve read about them, listened to his interview, etc., but regardless of what he has put on-line, if he wrote a book -- even if it was basically the same thing -- I\'d pre-order it today.

Your method of hunting really intrigues me. I would know nothing about it if it weren\'t for this inter-web we correspond with. I would buy your book as soon as you write it and I really can\'t imagine how posting excerpts or thoughts from the book would detract from that. On the contrary, I think it would really push the book!
Click to expand...


John. I agree with everything you said. :clap:
 
You don\'t think if a book was good that it would sell on just that merit? Even if you didn\'t know the author? There\'s 10 million hunters in the US alone. How many do you think are on forums?

I\'ve only had a computer for about 7 years. I got one to do some gaming, and never dreamed i\'d be on fishing and hunting forums. I thought gaming would be a nice hobby to get my mind off of hunting. Sort of a rest to keep me from thinking about the same thing all the time. It worked well for that. All my hunting friends don\'t post on hunting forums. They\'ve asked me why I do it, and I don\'t think i\'ve ever given them a good answer. I\'m not sure I have one. I certainly don\'t do it to get questions answered. I bring this up, because I have to wonder what the percentage of the overall hunters in the world read forums?

How would forums compare to someone going to Amazon, and typing in \"still hunting\", or \"elk hunting\" to see what comes up? How would it compare to RMEF promoting the book since they\'ll be getting the profit? I don\'t know, but i\'m thinking about it.

btw...The books title will be..........Still Hunting for Elk...........What elk hunter won\'t be curious about that?
 
\"Still Hunter\" said:
What elk hunter won\'t be curious about that?
Click to expand...
The one who never hears about it. :angle:

RMEF is ONE way to market it. Why limit yourself to ONE marketing strategy?

Hey, I don\'t know much about this, so you\'re right to be careful with my advice ... but I do want to buy it when you get it done!
 
\"Still Hunter\" said:
I have to wonder what the percentage of the overall hunters in the world read forums?
Click to expand...

Re-ask ... what percentage of hunters who buy books about elk hunting read forums?

My guess is that it\'s high, but I don\'t know. Certainly, I know a lot of bowhunters who\'ve never heard of Bowsite. Still, I think the ones on forums tend to be \"thought leaders\", and will lead others to your book.

I\'m just saying don\'t limit yourself.
 
My simple thought with the blog is that you charge $5 or $10 to be able to read it. Cheaper than a book, so who wouldn\'t want to do it? Say you get 200 people to join in the first 6 months, that\'s $1,000-$2,000 straight towards the RMEF or however you choose to distribute it. How long will it take for a book to make that money? Based on how I\'ve heard Swede talk, I\'d say a long time. I think it would be interesting to see how much the RMEF would promote a book too. I am guessing other people have tried to do the same thing, but who knows. They have a lot to promote already, so who knows if they would go for a book or not.

Who here wouldn\'t pay $5 or $10 to read Pete\'s info? If you do it through a site like this, then all of a sudden you have threads mentioning the latest still hunting blog. Draws more interest, which gets more people to join it.

Truthfully, if I were not on some of the forums Pete has been on through the years, I wouldn\'t have ever heard much about the details of still hunting and probably wouldn\'t ever think about buying a book titled \'Still Hunting for Elk.\' Just being honest.

I think you should talk to Swede and anyone else you know who has written a book. How long does it take to write it, edit it, and publish it? How much does that cost? How many books do you have to sell before you start making money? All things to think about...
 
One more thing I want to expand on, and this is all just food for thought for you Pete. I know you are stubborn and somewhat set in your ways, but it\'s something to think about: I would consider myself still part of the \'younger generation\' and I feel like books are slowly becoming obsolete. If I want to find information about elk hunting, I don\'t go buy a book on it. I jump online and do an internet search, which is how forums like these are found (and blogs). I cannot tell you the last book that I went and bought and read cover to cover. It\'s almost like someone going and buying a CD...yes, you can still do it, or you can download it from your computer. I know you can also download books as well, but I\'d be curious to see how that works and the money you can make in that. Similar to the music industry, I\'m guessing there isn\'t as much money in it. I also still feel like more and more folks will simply jump online and search for something instead of downloading a book to an IPAD, Kindle, etc. That\'s just my opinion...
 
Ok, i\'ve hesitated to say this, because it might be taken the wrong way, but here goes anyway. I don\'t care if the book makes money, or not. It\'s just something I want to do. I have a good friend who is a professional photographer. He already told me he\'ll take all the pictures, and there\'s going to be a lot of them. Yes, even of my kills. Thought I didn\'t take them huh? I\'ve been thinking about a book for decades, and knew I had to show some proof that the method works. That was the only reason I took them. I would never show them otherwise. Not my style. So, if you don\'t like what i\'m writing. You should like the pictures. It will be all my hunting areas. How I found them, and how I hunted them. I\'ve never seen this in a book before.

It won\'t be a book about bragging about what i\'ve done. It will be a teaching book. I\'m doing it for my love of still hunting. I want others to love it too, but they won\'t if they aren\'t any good at it. It works, and it\'s rewarding, but it has to be done right. I\'ve taught friends how to do it, and they won\'t hunt an y other way now. I want others to enjoy it too.

If the book doesn\'t make a dime I don\'t care. If someone reads the book, and becomes a good still hunter, and grows to love still hunting enough to spread the word. It\'s all the reward I need. My dad gave me a great gift. He taught me to still hunt. I want to do the same with as many others as I can. However, i\'m going to do it my way. It\'s going to take quite awhile to complete the book. I\'m sure i\'ll rewrite it many times until it satisfy\'s me. It\'s going to right, or it won\'t be released. A blog would see me going through the process of changing things, and not be putting out the right info at times. I don\'t want that. Remember what I said earlier. I want someone to read the whole book, and have no questions at all.
 
Pete my friend. It sounds like you have set your mind to writing a book. It sounds as if you have thought about this for a long time and it is just something YOU want to do. I hope you enjoy the process and you get what YOU want out of it. I am looking forward to buying the real PAPER version of it. :clap: :upthumb:

The topic of this thread is \"I\"ll be going now\" . I hope that you will still post here. Some of us will miss you if you are gone. Heck stopping here to post or see whats happening might stirr up a bit of info you might have forgotton that you can put in the book. Good luck on your journey >>>>------>
 
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