CGS Outdoors - For Those of Us Who Enjoy Getting Out

mwhitt80

Do you enjoy camping, hunting, or fishing? Heck even hiking or riding bikes? Finally there is a thread for you!

mwhitt80

So I'll give you a little background into myself. I grew up bird hunting and freshwater fishing; it was what we did with my dad. Around the time I turned 15 my father bought a salt water boat, and we switched from hunting and catching bass to going after kings and groupers.

I went off to college, got back into comics, and got married. Then about 3 years ago my wife and I moved back to my home town. The salt water boat is long gone and my parents moved out to a lake house (outside of town & right around where he grew up). So I got back into freshwater fishing and other manly pursuits. Now I'm working on the arty side of fishing, fly-fishing.

I wanted to start this thread for the CGSers, like myself, who enjoy being outdoors and away from the busyness that comes with everyday life. Hopefully a few of you won't mind swapping a few stories.

EarthGBilly

The sun! It burns!!!

Fade2Black

I love the outdoors. I own a 160 acre property up by Lick Observatory and Henry Coe State Park here in CA. When I was younger I was an avid fisher, but the lake water at the cabin hasn't gotten much in the way of runoff in decades and without a fresh supply of water coming in and out, my lake has gotten rather stale. Even when the water was fresher, I was never particularly fond of the taste of fish, and I can't really justify fishing only to throw fish back. These days, I've traded in my fishing hobby for that of disc golf. A few years back my brother-in-law erected a 27 "hole" course on the property, so now when I go up there it's usually for a weekend of disc golf. I'm with EarthGBily when it comes to sunlight (being a redhead with fair complexion), but my propensity to turn into a lobster has never swayed me from enjoying the great outdoors.

As for bike riding, that same brother-in-law who set up the disc golf course also founded a Bay Area bikers coalition, that meets weekly. I've partaken in a few of the events. It attracts hundreds of cyclists, but I'm someone who prefers a much smaller and intimate riding group.

Here a few photos that I took over the Memorial Day weekend at that aforementioned property.

my lake (more like a big pond - especially these days, but I've always referred to it as a "lake" and old habits sometimes die hard)




playing disc golf (The jackrabbit seemed oblivious to the wayward disc that almost hit it.)




Despite having a cabin to retreat to, I prefer to sleep in a tent. The air is cleaner outside, the cabin has bats, and when I go up there it's usually with a big group, and it's almost impossible to sleep in if one opts to sleep indoors. Invariably there's always an early riser (dog, kid, and occasionally an adult) who gets up at the crack of dawn.

Speaking of dogs, here's mine. He usually sleeps alongside me in the tent. Though on our last outing, some asshat hunters on the neighboring property shot their guns off at 3AM. The echoing shots reverberated throughout the surrounding area. My dog may be a hunting breed, but he's not a trained hunting dog. He consistently goes into panic mode whenever he hears gunshots, fireworks, etc... He literally clawed an exit door in my tent and I had to grab him by what little tail he has to restrain him from fleeing into the woods. That reminds me, I need to patch that hole before my next trip.

Mr_Cosmic

Being from Northern Minnesota it's hard not to be active outdoors.

My mom and step dad owned a house on an island so fishing, water skiing, canoeing, etc were literally just out my back door.

They've since sold it but I still spend a lot of time on the water with my wife and kids.

I also enjoy deer hunting and I'm excited for my kids to be old enough to go out with me.

Ironically, perhaps, my wife and I love feeding the deer that come into our yard. The kids love to sit on the steps and watch them eating only a few feet away.

I'm on my phone but here is a pic I found of said deer taken through our screen door. Hope it all shows up ok:

[Deleted User]

I find the outdoors exists mainly to throw the comforts of indoors into sharp relief.

John_Steed

I'm a runner. I got a dog. I grew up on a farm. I worked on top of mountains for a long while. Been more out than in.

shroud68

I work all night, sleep all day. Unfortunately Outdoors is the area between my car and front door. I'd love to correct that but have been too tired and/or lazy to bother. Very jealous of the above posts.

Chuck_Melville

I had my fill of the great outdoors when I was a kid, between going to summer camps and long vacations with the family exploring the great wildernesses from the Thousand Islands to the great Alaskan outback. And the thing I got from all of that was how much I eventually hated being out in the wilderness, sequestered inside a tent during a heavy rain or bitter morning cold, sleeping in a sleeping bag atop a rocky ground interwoven with huge tree roots, listening at night to wild animals rooting around inside the supplies that you thought were hoisted up high enough out of their reach. You can have your great outdoors; I'm staying at the motel.

John_Steed

As a kid I devoured adventure books like Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, London's Call of the Wild and the works of Karl May. I reenacted many of those stories. 8->

mwhitt80

That is awesome John. Call of the Wild and White Fang were 2 of my favorite books when I was young. They were a constant spark to my young imagination, and they taught me how crazy scary wolves are. Those things are terrifying.

On a side note I made a fun order from bass pro (an instructional fly fishing video and a few flies), and I bought the Orvis Complete Fly Fishing Guide. I'm going to learn how to do this before summer is through.

Greg

Does mowing the lawn count as being outdoors?

When growing up my aunt and uncle would take me camping every summer and my parents would ship me off to a summer camp somewhere in northern Michigan. Which I was actually thankful for. I enjoyed it and hope to take my kids camping and hiking.

I don't get vacation time from work though, if I want time off it's unpaid. When the weekend comes around it is usually filled with catching up on home repairs or yard work that didn't get done through the week.

Greg

There was also the six years of band camp while in school. They made sure that students were kept busy with outdoorsy activities so that there was no fratenizing going on. Especially with the girls cross country team that always seemed to be there the same week we were :)

dubbat138

Having lived 2/3rds of my life in mega rural areas,I have done more than enough outdoor activities. I am pretty sure I am the only person in my area that doesn't hunt or fish,mainly cause I can't bring myself to harm an animal. And thanks to having heatstroke a few times, I can't handle being outside during the summer to well. But I do enjoy walking/slow jogging 3 or 4 miles almost every night.

Greg

I can relate to @dubbat138. From '85 to '97 we lived at what used to be a farmhouse in the countryside. I used to hike through the woods, always had a friend or two and my dog with us. We had a creek right by our house where during the fall/winter you could fish for salmon, I lost the fishing pole my dad had since he was a teen when I hooked one and couldn't reel it in. And I would bike or walk the five to six mile trek to town to see my friends. Like dubbat I had my fill of nature for a long time, its swinging the other way around though.

Chuck_Melville

My dad and grandfather tried to introduce me to fishing when I was very young, but I just never had the patience to sit and wait for the fish to bite -- and very little interest in learning to gut and clean the fish later.

dubbat138

Back before my dog passed away I did enjoy going out on the back deck and sitting in a chair reading while she ran around chasing chipmunks. Plus it is super quiet out here.

kiwijase

I'm not a super committed outdoors type, but I had some time off work recently, and spent some time photographing the early morning Petone shoreline.

electric_mayhem

just gotten into fishing... i know i know strange for a Minnesotan, but it was never a thing in the family but w/kids of my own it has come into its own. When the kids are a wee bit older, tent camping (the only true camping) is on the list. As well as the BWCA w/some of friends..

dubbat138

This thread inspired me to go out on the lake in my canoe today. Paddled about halfway across then sat there for about 30 minutes reading some comics. Really enjoyed this and might have to do it more often. That is one advantage of living on a private lake,no people whizzing by on jetskis or giant boats.

mwhitt80

electric_mayhem said:

just gotten into fishing... i know i know strange for a Minnesotan, but it was never a thing in the family but w/kids of my own it has come into its own.

the great thing about fishing is that it really doesn't take a lot to learn how. getting good takes time (I'm not a good fisherman), but it's a great thing to do with kids. It let's you spend one on one time with your kids (individually or as a group, little girls I've noticed really love that daddy-daughter time).
I'm excited my wife is having our first. It's one thing that I'm really looking forward to when they get big enough to stand while I do the fishing for them and let them take the credit.

mwhitt80

dubbat138 said:

This thread inspired me to go out on the lake in my canoe today. Paddled about halfway across then sat there for about 30 minutes reading some comics. Really enjoyed this and might have to do it more often.

I love it. I would love for this thread to become the "getting out" version of what the CGS does when it talks about great comics. It's spurned me to get out; I practiced fly casting in the yard yesterday and picked a crap ton of blueberries. Hopefully I get to do the same thing today.

Chuck_Melville

mwhitt80 said:

It's spurned me to get out

There's something unintentionally ironic in that statement...

mwhitt80

truth. I'm channing the way we look at the English language. ;)

dubbat138

I think I will 3 or 4 times a week paddle out in the middle of the week and read some comics.

Fade2Black

This is a recent photo of my nephew/Godson. It was taken at my aforementioned property. For a five-year-old, the kid is actually quite a fisherman.

mwhitt80

great fish.

mwhitt80

Summertime is here again (for some of us summertime was supposed to have started about a month ago, but mother nature decided to sleep in for an extra 30 days), and now it's time to get out and do stuff.

Last week a few of the men in my family made a trip to the BassPro and I picked out an Ascend D10T kayak as an early birthday present. I was on beautiful Lake Seminole Memorial Day trying it out. It's a lot of fun and I cannot wait to get it out in St. Joe Bay. I enjoy hunting, but I love fishing and being on the water. This is going to be a great summer.

Fade2Black

I spent Memorial Day weekend at my cabin.
I'm not sure if it was because of the weather, or because the water fowl had recently hatched, but for whatever reason the perimeter of my lake was teeming with rattlesnakes. One was even spotted swimming in the water.

mwhitt80

@Fade2Black
They've been moving down here for about a month. I've got 2 drainage ponds (from the farm I live on) near my house that are teeming with cotton mouths right now. Be careful during the summer and watch where you step.

dubbat138

With it being warm down here. I have started getting out in the canoe more often. It takes me 20 minutes to go from our side of the lake to the other side. Been doing 4 trips.

Usually I take a break,sit in the middle of the lake and either read a book or just watch all the various wildlife in and around the lake.