RD Newsletter March 14th

[Buck 120 32]

I thought some of you may enjoy this read:

Ultra–Rugged Newsletter, March 14, 2009

Okay, where to start????????? …. How about this big-rear end dump of snow we just got here in Thunder Bay? About a foot or so, I think. All I know is most of my rabbit snares were buried when I went to check on them yesterday. No rabbits though… but that’s okay, before long the snow will start to melt and I’ll be out there blasting away with my 20 gauge. Those furry little buggers are in for some serious ruggedness. And, my cast iron pot is ready for some serious braising…

During the spring thaw is a GREAT time to be in the woods. In Ontario, our rabbit hunt is open until June… but in early to mid April, the snow is melting fast, you can actually walk around without being swallowed up by the snow itself and the warmer temperatures gets the bunnies moving again. I think they’re mainly looking for food but I would imagine some of them are kinda horny too… been a long winter, eh???

Spring is also a good time to scout for deer. Sure, they’re still not back into their main travel routines, but you will see tracks, poop and you’ll find the odd shed. It’s all good evidence of deer in the area. So if you’re rabbit season is still on where you live, get your rear end out there, bring along a shotgun or maybe even a .22 and you’ll have some great meat for the freezer, plus you’ll be ahead of the game for the upcoming deer season.

If you’re in Canada or the northern US, especially Minnesota, get out for the best ice fishing of the season. Late ice in late March or early April is amazing, especially for walleyes and crappies. I’ve been hearing great reports from ice fishing dudes all winter, sit should be a kick rear end spring. All you “down south” people will be practicing your turkey calls and scouting.

New stuff – alright… we’re still not planning on going back to any major networks in the US at this time. A few reasons, one – the economy is so bad right now, especially in the US and sponsorships packages are pretty hard to come by and two, I am simply NOT paying for airtime any more. I’ve had enough of the rear end-kissing and BS (commercialism and info-mmercial type shows) that’s going on that I can hardly even watch any of the fishing or hunting shows any more. There are still a few I like to watch – “Jim Shockey’s Hunting Adventures,” as well as “Gettin’ Close” with Lee and Tiffany. The coolest show I’ve seen yet is “Arrow Afflication” with Chris Brackett. That guy is wild! I also really like “What a Catch” with Kathryn Maroun… zero commercialism in her show and she’s a kick-rear end fly fisher. I wish I could cast even half as good as she can.

Anyway, what I was getting at is we are about to launch our own on-line network right on our site. Sounds huge, but it’ll start off slow by putting up a bunch of the Officially Rugged episodes, even really old ones from 2001 – 2002. We’ll have tons of stuff on the site too, like funny blooper clips, short rugged segments like the time I nailed a 400 pound blond bear with my bow. Or, maybe the time when I caught a 35 pound pike on a fly rod.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, but I’ve never had the right people in place to do this for me. I’m still useless on computers (mainly because I’m too busy doin’ rugged stuff) but I got a call from Ryan La Via who owns Pastime Productions here in Canada. He produced my cooking demo / pilot for me back in the summer and he’s been doing some other production work for Officially Rugged lately as well. So it was really his idea to get this on-line deal going. We’re planning to sell as many ads as we can on the sight, obviously, but the cool thing about having YOUR OWN deal, is no-one can tell you what do and no-one can charge you money to be “on the air.”

Tom Green used to have his show on Comedy Central and he does it on-line now, on his own. One of the coolest things is that people can watch a show whenever they want to, from anywhere in the world. Most people have high speed internet these days… um, accept for me. I hate to admit this, but I’m finally starting to realize how huge the internet is and how much potential there is to reach a world-wide audience. People can watch your show whenever they want to – for free. So, maybe they’ll have a few bucks after all to buy a T shirt or a DVD???????????

Ryan knows a lot about internet commerce and all this stuff. So, he is going to set up accounts for Officially Rugged on My Space and Facebook. (I can’t believe I just typed that!) But, sometimes I need to put my ruggedness in my back pocket and get with the times a bit. (I am STILL NOT getting a Blueberry or I Pod and I still don’t have a cell phone!) I didn’t really know how much potential Facebook and My Space type sites have, but even mainstream companies and musicians have their own spot. Even the government uses them! So does CNN… I used to think these sites were nothing more than a bunch of nonsense where people go to chat and waste time. But, it’s getting pretty obvious now, that we can use these sites to help us and make us more accessible to a bigger audience, again – for free.

Ryan is also going to put a pile of our stuff up on You Tube and we’ll have the links on our site. It’s also free. How they do it, I do not know. So pretty soon, The Rugged Dude will be going “electric.” If any of you are putting your fishing or hunting videos up on You Tube, let us know and we’ll put the link on our site too. From what I hear, “the more, the merrier” is the ways it works these days. We thought about allowing you to put your videos directly on our site, but we’d run out of space and we’d have to buy more. You Tube is free, so that’s cool. Keep checking back on our site and you’ll see some changes within a week or so. Ryan is working on it as I type…

I was supposed to be in Alaska hosting a two hour documentary for The Discovery Channel last week, but the whole thing got put on hold until next year. I’m guessing there were money issues, but who knows… that would have been a great trip, very rugged! Hopefully, they’ll do it next year.

I’m leaving for Los Angeles on Thursday morning (early!) to tape a show with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. I’m co-hosting an episode of “Grill It!” with Bobby Flay. I’m grilling a whole Chinook salmon and some wild venison steaks (chops). I’m also making some home-made bannock bread on the grill. If you’ve never heard of bannock, it’s a very simple bread / biscuit type thing, first made by the Cree and Ojibwe Indians of our region. All it is – 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 /2 tsp salt and enough water to make a good dough. You can roll it out with rolling pin (unrugged) or just use your hands to spread it. (rugged). Don’t make it too thin. You can add in some cranberries, blueberries, walnuts, etc, if you want. Cooked, crispy bacon is awesome in bannock! Or, if you wanna go “full rugged,” add in some fine gravel or fish scales. You can fry it in a bit of oil in a cast iron pan on medium – low heat, you can bake it, or you can wrap it around a stick and bake it over an open fire. I’m actually going to “grill it” hence the name of Bobby’s show.

We’ll be shooting right in Hollywood, so as usual I expect to be mobbed by hot chicks thinking I’m Brad Pitt. It happens HERE all the time, so you can imagine what it’ll be like in LA… I can just hear it now… “Brad, you should have stayed with Jen!”

I’ll be back on Saturday, March 21. Wish me luck!! I really hope I make some good contacts down there because I am still working on trying to get own cooking show off the ground and they know it. I’ll be flying in from Minneapolis and the plane goes right over my house every day. Hey, I know – on the trip home, maybe I could tell the pilot that since I’m so unbelievably rugged, I could just parachute down to my house… I have a 6 acre field that I could aim for. Actually, no scratch that. No more ladders and NO jumping out of planes!

I’m still waiting to hear back from the publisher about my book, “The Trip of a Lifetime.” I was hoping to hear something before now, but they told me they’re way behind.

Don’t forget to get your name in for this year’s contest for the FREE FLY-IN FISHING TRIP. You’ll see it on the main page of our site and you can enter as many times as you want to… the draw closes on April 15 and we pick a winner on April 20. It’s a random draw, so you just could win this free trip for two and you’ll co-host a show with me. No pink pants of tofu… just so you know. And, don’t be bringing any Richard Simmons workout videos along either… holy $#*&!

One last thing –

A SUPER-DUPER, DOUBLE DOG, ULTRA-KICK rear end SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE SOLDIERS IN THE CANADIAN AND US ARMY WHO ARE OVER IN IRAQ AND AFGANISTAN RIGHT NOW. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BRAVEST AND RUGGEDEST SONS OF GUNS ON THE PLANET - AND THAT GOES FOR ALL MILITARY PEOPLE!! IF YOU EVER SEE A VET, BY HIM A BEER!

We all salute you!

Yours Ruggedly,

RD

[Guest Nonus]

Heh crazy RD.

[Chuck 19]

Hey RD Great news letter and show Catchin rabbits with yer bare hands" Totally Rugged " Blastin them cute tasty critters with a 20 gauge ,Not so rugged

Ahmen to all our brothers In Iraq and Afganistan and for the job their doing..... "Double butt kickin Rugged " Dude....... Chuck

[Guest TerryK]

I was never really much of an RD fan until I had a chance to talk to him for a while at the outdoor show. Great guy for sure and easy to talk to. Nice to meet you RD!

[Guest RAMBO]

Yes, It was great to meet you! Have a rugged week in Hollywood (geting mobbed by hot chicks is deffinatley rugged)

RAMBO