At least that’s what they say anyway. I haven’t been terribly active on my blog recently, and that’s because I made a career move that will take me out of the woods — but not entirely off the water for the duration of the summer into part of the fall. I’ll be headed to work over in the Middle East for several months. While it’s a great opportunity, and will expedite my family saving for a hunting property, I won’t be putting out super awesome first hand hunting and fishing articles from the field. What I will be doing is using some of my copious ‘free time’ to be working on more research oriented articles and planning long distance hunting and scouting adventures. We only really learn certain aspects about hunting and fishing by doing them, so I intend on working on some of the more philosophical aspects of hunting and fishing…
Even with all of that, my new location isn’t without its perks. There have been several articles written about fishing in the Middle East, but the shore fishing experience seems dubious at best. After walking up and down the shoreline speaking to surf fisherman about their catch, many just shrugged and in a thick Russian/Ukrainian accent said “It’s small”. Generally the surf fishing experience has many people picking up small fish that would otherwise be bait stealers. Most of the real action is several hundred meters off shore.
Hindsight being 20/20 I should have had my cousin deploy some cellular trail cameras back home to be rewarded throughout the summer by checking my phone between marathon shifts at work to see the various critters traipsing past my stand. Maybe not knowing what the situation is will make me less paranoid about the big bruiser public land bucks I’ve encountered for the last couple years won’t be taken out by the early archery season, which I’ll also be gone for. My lovely wife surprised me while I’ve been out here by attending a hunter’s safety course, meaning that when I get back in time for pheasant and grouse season with a free week of vacation for spending this stint overseas we can really put the pups to the test of all the training she’s been putting them through. It’s hard to be away from the family for so long, but I can only hope the long term benefits outweigh the long nights and desert heat.
