Six Years and 700 Blog Entries

Copyright 2012 by Helenah Swedberg

I just noticed that I am approaching my 700th blog entry here at Rule .303. This thing has been going since July of 2006. Once upon a time this was in large part a political blog but obviously the direction has changed quite a lot. Still, when I look back on my second blog entry ever I see something that set the tone pretty well for most of what followed.

The act of starting this blog completely changed my life. In every possible sense. Writing the blog led to offering deer hunting classes, which were covered by the New York Times and every other media outlet under the sun. People from around the US and even from other countries flew in to take my classes. My first book resulted, 'The Beginners Guide to Hunting Deer for Food.' I haven't exactly gotten rich off of it, but it is consistently ranked among Amazon's top hunting books and I enjoy those rare moments when I'm ranked a few positions ahead of Capstick and Hemingway.

I got a pretty good advance for that first book. Together with my projected income from teaching classes and the confidence that I had in my next project, I figured that I was in a good position to turn pro. I left my day job two years ago and became a full-time writer and teacher.

Most of that time was spent working on my second book, 'Eating Aliens,' which only just launched this past week. I traveled around the US and the Caribbean hunting and fishing for invasive species with some of the best people whom I have ever met. I learned methods of hunting and fishing that I would never have encountered here in Virginia. Throwing cast nets, setting traps, spear-fishing, hunting with night-vision scopes, running down pigs on foot with a knife, etc. I became a better-rounded outdoorsman than I ever thought I would be.

More recently I started writing regularly for Slate.com about some of the same types of things that I have blogged about here. Hunting, invasive species, and the ethical conundrums that conservation forces on us. My audience of thousands turned into millions.

I got an email one day last year from a Swedish filmmaker who wanted to follow me around for a while to make a documentary. The result was the film, 'Close to the Bone' (which will be on the festival circuit this fall and winter) and a new girlfriend in the form of the filmmaker.

Last week I did 14 radio interviews in a single day. Yesterday morning I was on an afternoon talk show in Ireland. In less than an hour I'm on the air in Australia. Spain is up tomorrow morning. TIME magazine devoted a whole page to 'Eating Aliens' last month and Prevention Magazine's website just ran no less than three articles about me in a 24 hour period. The infamous Central Park pigeon hunt video went viral, winning me fans and enemies around the world

Some of you have taken the time to email me over the years, often inviting me to come hunting with you. I've accepted as many offers as possible and I remain open to jumping in the truck and driving someplace new to go hunting or fishing with people I know next to nothing about. This blind faith in humanity has always turned out well for me. I'm always open to speaking gigs, teaching opportunities and hunting invitations from around the US and the world.

Recently I got my first freelance assignment from the Washington Post. After all these years I've finally come all the way around in the media ecosystem. I went from being the subject of news to writing it.

This is the reason why I'm not posting new blog entries quite so often as I used to. Frankly, this job does not pay very well. I live pretty much hand-to-mouth and I still hunt for food as much out of need as desire. There is no paycheck that automatically comes with becoming famous. I'm trying to hold back some of the blog material that I used to post right away in hopes of selling it to magazines.

However, the hot Swedish girlfriend tends to take away some of the sting of low pay.

I have a proper website at long last, which you can find at jacksonlanders.com. The new site is on Wordpress and its only a matter of time before Rule .303 is mothballed as an archive (still accessible) and I will be blogging on Wordpress at jacksonlanders.com. I have no less fondness for Breaker Morant references, but there are technical issues with Blogger that have frankly become too onerous to put up with as a professional writer.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me and with Rule .303 for all these years, through nearly 700 blog entries, several careers, two books, one feature film, scads of videos and a whole lot of interesting meat.