Thread: Greatest Job Ever! report*

What a great report.....you sir, are an inspiration to all fathers....

Thanks everyone.

I grew up with three sisters (no brothers). I spent a ton of time with my dad but he always included my sisters. Often times, he would take them one on one. Over the years, they moved away, went to college, started families and moved back closer to home. One of them was a great bow shot when she was younger but put it down for 30 years. It wasn't until a few years ago (in her mid forties) that she picked it back up again and has been very successful. She also does a ton of fishing. My middle sister never really had much to do with the outdoors. My youngest sister loves to fish. She works in the outdoors industry (boats as a matter of fact).

For me it was never a doubt that I would include my child (boy or girl) into the outdoors. My job is to show her the right way to do things, get her to experience as much as possible, in the best way that I can. Whether she continues to do it when she gets older will be completely up to her. I don't want her mind or memories to be skewed due to a bad experience so I treat ever situation with kid gloves. I explain the reason why we let certain fish go (females during spawning), why I shoot a specific deer over another. The importance of harvesting those animals for the future. I teach her about the importance of what we do, why we do it, and how we can enjoy it at the same time. She understands the importance of trapping, how we can be humane, release non target animals unhurt, and still control the population.

Last week, we caught our 24th "legal" fish. It was a cigar shaped 13.5 inch walleye. I asked her if she wanted to keep it, finish our limit, and head in, or throw it back and keep fishing. Without hesitation she said "throw it back". It was over the side before the words finished leaving her mouth. She was rewarded a little while later with a nice healthy fat 22 inch fish.