Trying to put into words what being an outdoorsman means to me...

Well, I guess the best way to start this blog is to say a little about myself. I'm 40 years old, currently married with a 10 yr old daughter and 13 yr old son and probably the best wife a guy could have. I'm in Law Enforcement, formerly worked as a social worker with at-risk kids, and served in the Navy and Army.

I have been addicted to whitetail hunting since about age 13, when I started hunting with a bow. At age 15, my parents allowed me to hunt with a shotgun, and I enjoy that too but bowhunting is my passion. I also enjoy off-shore fishing, fresh water fishing for just about whatever I can get to bite, and fishing in the Delaware Bay for weakfish, bluefish, flounder and striped bass. I recently bought a kayak for accessing some small fishing holes and find fishing from the "yak" to be alot of fun. I enjoy just about anything I do outdoors, from wading a local stream or river with ultralight tackle, to sitting in a treestand on cool October evenings or crisp November mornings with either my bow or video camera, to the thunderous gobbles of a wild turkey at daybreak, on a cool and damp spring morning, it's all great.

For those of you who have never experienced these things, you don't know what you are missing. There is so much to see and experience outdoors it amazes me every time I go afield. To watch the sun rise or set across a hardwood ridge, ablaze in Autumn’s finest glory…to observe a whitetail buck, steam pouring from his nostrils on a crisp November morning as he strides along the edge of a frost covered, cut cornfield where it rushes up to meet the firery oranges, reds and yellows of the maples and hickories that grow at the woodline, well, you just have to see it to fully appreciate it. To see the flashy colors of the brook and rainbow trout in the cold April streams, or the violent eruption as a largemouth bass bursts through the glassy still surface to grab your lure, as the sun sets across the calm lake on a hazy, late summer evening… You know you are among just a few of Gods wonderful creations.

I guess I’ll end this post with a word about our Creator. I have been very blessed in my life with a great family, good job and good health, and have only God to thank for it. Every time I go afield I see His greatness everywhere, and do my best to preserve it. Please do the same, bring home more trash then you take into the outdoors, and always respect the natural wonders and wildlife you encounter in your Days Afield.

DV