I was browsing around the site filled with all the outdoor activities including questions, comments, stories, complaints, and advice. I've pretty much done all of them at one time or another including spelunking, which tends to be a rather obscure outdoor activity since it is technically not done outdoors.
It made me think. What is my favorite? I don't do all the things I used to do but I still like to hike and camp and fish and hunt. I like to ride my bicycle and my motorcycle. I like to go out on my land and create habitat for God's creatures (food plots, cover crops, brush piles and shrubs that create both food and cover). Most people seem to enjoy the wilderness as a place to visit but if you own a chunk of it, you have to manage it properly. Animals go where the food is. If you build it, they will come.
But what is my favorite thing? Is it hooking into that multi-pound fish, stalking a deer or some other game? Or is it the food that these activities create? Is it hiking ground I've been over before and suddenly seeing it in a completely different way? Is it sitting around the campfire and telling my lies to a bunch of people who've never heard them before? Is it lying back before going to sleep and gazing at the stars? Is it the smells, the sounds or the touch of nature? Is it the wind on my face as I ride my bicycle or the feel of my motorcycle as I cruise along viewing an ever changing landscape?
On the other hand it could be the burning muscles or the cold and wet or the cuts and scrapes and other supposed unpleasantries one has to endure in order to accomplish the goals of the day.
I guess it's all good. I enjoy enriching the land as much as I do taking from it. I also figure I'll be leaving something for others to enjoy. I just hope they'll be able to appreciate it as much as I have and hope to continue doing.
I still have more plantings to take care of this Spring and the fish hatchery is coming by this coming Wednesday. I'm restocking my two ponds and putting in some grass carp and golden shiners in a new pond that has a lot of shallows where I intend to heavily stock crayfish this year.
Keep in touch. It just gets better and better.
It made me think. What is my favorite? I don't do all the things I used to do but I still like to hike and camp and fish and hunt. I like to ride my bicycle and my motorcycle. I like to go out on my land and create habitat for God's creatures (food plots, cover crops, brush piles and shrubs that create both food and cover). Most people seem to enjoy the wilderness as a place to visit but if you own a chunk of it, you have to manage it properly. Animals go where the food is. If you build it, they will come.
But what is my favorite thing? Is it hooking into that multi-pound fish, stalking a deer or some other game? Or is it the food that these activities create? Is it hiking ground I've been over before and suddenly seeing it in a completely different way? Is it sitting around the campfire and telling my lies to a bunch of people who've never heard them before? Is it lying back before going to sleep and gazing at the stars? Is it the smells, the sounds or the touch of nature? Is it the wind on my face as I ride my bicycle or the feel of my motorcycle as I cruise along viewing an ever changing landscape?
On the other hand it could be the burning muscles or the cold and wet or the cuts and scrapes and other supposed unpleasantries one has to endure in order to accomplish the goals of the day.
I guess it's all good. I enjoy enriching the land as much as I do taking from it. I also figure I'll be leaving something for others to enjoy. I just hope they'll be able to appreciate it as much as I have and hope to continue doing.
I still have more plantings to take care of this Spring and the fish hatchery is coming by this coming Wednesday. I'm restocking my two ponds and putting in some grass carp and golden shiners in a new pond that has a lot of shallows where I intend to heavily stock crayfish this year.
Keep in touch. It just gets better and better.