Hello from Madison (and her dog)

[Madison MerFaerie]

Hey everyone!

I've been on MerNetwork for a while and have never formally introduced myself. I live in the Madison, Wisconsin area (hence the Madison Mermaid username).

I have a couple of fabric tails. I currently swim in-place in an infinity pool. It works for me though because it is quiet, solitary, and I can hop in whenever I want. I've been swimming in a big pool before and it was a blast, but I could barely swim because so many adults wanted to talk to me and ask questions. Everyone was super nice though. I'll soon be swimming with the fine folks of the Great Lakes Pod at our upcoming meet-up and I could not be more excited!

Some things about me:
I'm a knitter, newbie cosplayer, belly dancer, archer (compound bow), board game enthusiast, and I love riding horses. I'm married and I have 7 pets: 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, and a leopard gecko. My husband and I are major home-bodies so we spend every evening snuggling the critters and watching movies/HGTV. I know, so exciting!

I hope all of you are doing great and enjoying your weekend!

Here is a photo of my Saint Bernard, Lucille. She makes a much cuter mermaid than I do! :)


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[Moonchild]

Hello Madison and Lucille! Nice to meet you! Hahahahaha
I haven't really introduced myself either so you just gave me something to do :)
Anyway, I am a knitter, archer and animal lover too so we have a few things in common! ;)

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[Madison MerFaerie]

Awesome! Do you use a compound bow? Or a recurve/long bow?

[Moonchild]

Recurve!! I never understood compound bows hahahaha they look too complicated! And I wanted something more traditional anyway, more like Robin Hood but easier to store/carry so I settled for the recurve bow hahahahaha

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[Ashe]

Hello! Welcome :D I've always loved archery but had to use rentals up until now. I was at a garage sale and I found a perfect longbow so I snatched it up for myself. Feels like it was made for me :P

[Madison MerFaerie]

I love hearing about all of you archer mers! I would really like to try a recurve bow or a long bow. I feel like it's such a beautiful art, and the wood craftsmanship is gorgeous. I got started with my compound bow because I was told it's a great way to get a feel for the entire draw/anchor/aim process. I'm going to be attending a ren faire later this summer, and I will definitely be giving a recurve bow a try!

I love archery so much. It's a quiet activity, you can do it by yourself or with a group, and the rest of the world gets tuned out while you're practicing. I guess I love mermaiding for a lot of those same reasons! :p

[Yulia]

I wish I could get into archery again. I started with recurve but moved to longbow.
Didn't want to continue in the course I was taking because of a dumb guy there had harassed me before in a school I went too. :headwall:

[Madison MerFaerie]

I'm sorry to hear that you had that bad experience. Hopefully you'll be able to find a different class to take in your area!

[Yulia]

I have heard there's another one, but they have a huge waiting time. I'm considering just practicing myself, but it's scary with the risk of hitting someone.

Do anyone of you know any good places online to buy bows?

[Madison MerFaerie]

I've never ordered anything online, I've only bought from the place where I take lessons… And most of the sports hunting/sports stores I've visited in person (Cabela's, Bass Pro Shop) seem to stock predominately compound bows and crossbows.

[Aysun_the_Mermaid]

Yus! I have a leopard gecko as well. Mine is... 14ish.
Welcome to the forum.

[Merman Jamie]

Welcome

[ShyMer]

Love your dog <3

Welcome to Mernetwork!

[Seatan]

Welcome! I am also an archermer, though I prefer the recurve to the compound as when you get good with it you can shoot by "feel," a sort of riding a bike ability that you never forget! But for hunting I have to use a compound because I can't pull back more than thirty pounds on a traditional bow so it's not enough poundage for hunting. But I don't hunt much anyway, so... *shrugs*. What compound do you have? I want the Bear Homewrecker sooo bad, but haven't been able to afford it!

[Madison MerFaerie]

I have a Diamond Infinite Edge bow. It's pretty basic but excellent for a starter bow. It can apparently be adjusted between like 10-70 pounds, but I dunno how legit that is. I think I use it at like 30-35… What do you hunt Seavanna? Two of my good guy friends are bowhunters and have offered to take me out with them if I get licensed. No one in my family hunts so it is not something that I've ever been exposed to. I don't oppose hunting, but I'm just not sure if it's for me yet. I am really considering it though.

[Madison MerFaerie]

Love your dog <3

Welcome to Mernetwork!

Thank you! My "little" Lucille is quite the character.

[Moonchild]

Pretty much everyone in my family is a hunter except me xD I think it's one of those things that you either love or hate once you're exposed to it.
Anyway, I love shooting and I kinda see why they love the challenge in hitting a target that's actually moving.... I'm just not okay with the killing part :(

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[Ashe]

Same, Moonchild. Shooting is so exhilarating and I just love that sense of power, but I don't think I'd be able to kill anytime soon. If I did, I would only hunt game animals like deer or small things. I have a things against killing the predators, I would never want to bring a hunter down to the level of being hunted.

[Madison MerFaerie]

I am ok with game hunting (deer, birds, etc) as long as you eat what you kill. I don't believe in trophy hunting at all.

I recently had this same chat with my mom. My perspective on the hunting thing: Animals in the wild get to live life on their own terms. They go where they want, breed at will, aren't force fed, aren't crammed into tiny cages/pens etc. WAY better life than animals who live on feedlots to supply the grocery stores. If I go hunting, the animal gets to live if:
1) It can outsmart me
2) If I miss
I'd much rather eat the turkey that lived an awesome life in the woods than the turkey who was raised in a tiny cage, never saw the light of day, and fed until it was so fat it couldn't even move. By hunting I could reduce my family's consumption at the grocery store, and hopefully that would influence supply/demand from traditional slaughter. That's just my opinion… I know this can be a really polarizing issue.

In other news, I'd like to report that my big Saint Bernard went out into the backyard and was chased by the neighbor's cat. Bahaha, probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life.

[Moonchild]

I agree with you. I am vegan so I wouldn't even do that, but for people who eat meat, I think it's the best option. At least the animal gets to live happy and free and the person is aware of the fact that a REAL life has been taken so he can eat that meal, so they'd appreciate it more/be more sensitive when it comes to animal cruelty


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[Seatan]

Same, Moonchild. Shooting is so exhilarating and I just love that sense of power, but I don't think I'd be able to kill anytime soon. If I did, I would only hunt game animals like deer or small things. I have a things against killing the predators, I would never want to bring a hunter down to the level of being hunted.

I don't hunt predators, just meat animals. And hunting is actually necessary these days to keep deer from starving as we have run off all their natural predators and they would breed like crazy if humans didn't keep the numbers down, leaving them with not enough food to eat. Their are actually strict rules on hunting. You can only kill so many per year and they have to be a certain age. You cannot kill a doe with fawns or a buck that hasn't grown his full rack yet. He has to have so many points. This is for gun as well as bow hunting. We messed up the food chain in the past by killing predators, now we are stuck controlling it, so if people didn't hunt them then the animal patrol would. But I believe on killing only for food, not for trophies.