So what's up with "Jager"?

I've used it for years as the vanity plate on my BMW motorcycles. And it's my chosen user name on a multitude of motorcycle (and non-motorcycle, for that matter) internet discussion forum sites.

Jager means "hunter" in German. In my case, it has a multi-faceted meaning...

First, I am, indeed, a hunter in the classical sense. I take a rifle into the woods every year. A week of my precious vacation time is always dedicated to that. But although that week - and that activity - has always been very special to me, it's really the least of the reasons that I've adopted this particular nom de plume.

More on target is the life attitude it speaks to. I've always been a believer that one can either sit back and passively accept life's events as they are presented - or one can act to actively shape those events. You can be the hammer or the anvil. The spear or its target. The predator or the prey. Take a guess at which I choose...

Most on target of all, the name speaks very clearly to my attitude as a motorcyclist. When riding, I feel like nothing so much as a predator. Especially when riding in the mountains, on a road curling with promise and danger.

See The Devil on My Shoulder or Heart of the Hunter to get some idea of what I'm talking about. Yeah, I know - it's not especially politically correct to admit to such things.

By the way, the pic was of my erstwhile, much-loved K1100RS on a deserted stretch of road near Mexican Hat, Utah, on my solo cross-country motorcycle trip back in 1997.