Something New Under the Sun

This morning I was thinking about some of the things I've learned in the course of the starling project thus far. The different ways that starlings respond to structure versus doves and other birds, and techniques I've discovered like running over to get under the trajectory of a flock that passed by out of range in order to wait for the inevitable stragglers spread out over several miles.

Then I started thinking about how this same learning curve is going to play out with most of the other species that I'm going to hunt for 'Eating Aliens.' I suddenly realized something really, really awesome.

I get to write articles and chapters over this next year about things that no outdoor writer has ever covered before. I have read more articles than I can even remember about getting ready for dove season or how to place a tree stand in mixed hardwoods and pines for whitetails. Don't get me wrong - I keep reading it all. But when I go back and read such articles from 10 years ago, 20 years ago and 50 years ago I find that not all that much has changed.

The great challenge of outdoors and gun writers today is writing about more or less the same damn things that Peter Capstick and Elmer Keith did, without it being too obvious that you're re-treading the same ground over and over again. The 'Eating Aliens' project is a means of breaking out of that situation. When I publish that chapter about how to hunt starlings, it will probably be the first time that anyone has written a serious and studied piece about shotgunning for starlings. New ground at last!

This is where I think that outdoor writing should go for a while in order to remain interesting. I'm not saying that Field & Stream should stop printing articles about deer and turkeys. I just think that both in terms of good ecology and in terms of coming up with some fresh material it is time to start looking at 'trash fish' and invasive species as potential prey that are worthy of serious examination and development of new hunting and fishing techniques.