Perplexed Paul

Dear Miss Lisa,
I'm a man in my mid-60's that loves to hunt and fish and sit by a camp fire.  I'm looking for a woman that likes the same things but no one ever responds to my winks on the online dating sites.  What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
- Paul

Dear Perplexed Paul,
Let's see... where to start.
First off, quit "winking" and start writing.  I don't mean "u r a qt" notes but something more significant that will show the women that you are sincerely interested in starting a conversation.  No single woman I know, and I know a LOT of them, will respond to a wink/flirt and they all agree that they consider them a waste of their time spent deleting them when they could be responding to a note of interest.  

Secondly, give them a compliment on one of their pictures, such as you like their hair, they are pretty/gorgeous/beautiful, whatever comes to mind, but nothing sexy, that's a huge turn-off.  Point out whatever you can find on their profile that you have in common.  If she has stated that she likes to fish, hunt, sit by a camp fire, then you are in luck!  If you can't find anything on her profile in common, ask her if she is interested in something else that may not be 'manly' like hunting but that you enjoy, too, like shopping, long drives in the country, nice restaurants, etc.  Usually there is at least something in common to start a conversation.

Thirdly, take a gander at your own pictures on your own profile for a moment.  If you were a woman, would you be attracted to yourself?  Really?  I would suggest asking a daughter/sister for unbiased help with this.  Are you smiling?  Are all of your pictures of your boat, your dog or pictures you've taken from trips?  *yawn*  Those are all nice once you've met but until the first meetup, trust me, the woman wants to see only pictures of you, closeups, full body shots, just the same as you want to see at these sites.  Are the pictures recent?  Pictures older than 2 years are a BAD idea unless it's a picture of you in college or something to show how handsome you were back in the day, but all women want more current pictures of your face and build.  I give women this same advice, so please don't feel like I'm just picking on the men.  Women are notorious for only uploading pictures of their face and never body shots because they are afraid no man would be interested because they are overweight, too skinny, whatever.

Now go grab your courage, write someone a short note from the heart and see what a difference it makes.  Upload some recent photos, reword your profile to include interests other than hunting or fishing and I will bet big money that you will get more responses than you ever imagined.  
You can do it!