My outdoor education

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So where do I begin, I guess a long time ago in a land quite a few miles from here. My father has always been an outdoorsman, not the kind that climbs the Himilayas, but lafayette and Mt Washington in New England. His father taught him to hunt and survive in the wild and in an honarable family tradition, he passed his knowedge onto me. He also had a heavy appreciation for he Native americans, he spent some time in New Mexico learning their ways, eating their food, and experiencing the culture.

He talked about the destruction of the land when he was young. How they built a neighborhood behind the family's property, about how him and his brothers tried to shoot the tires out of construction equipment with homemade bows and arrows. He taught me never to kill anything I didn't intend to eat, about what plants were edible in the woods and how to cook on a fire without proper utensils.

All this training continued later on when I joined the cubscouts, and later the boyscouts, that he led himself along ith a few other fathers. We learned firestarting; useful, knot tying; that I've mostly forgot, marching; which turned out to be very usefull, and other equally awesome outdoor stuff. We did winter camping to learn about surviving in cold weather. It's funny looking back on how much he taught me about survival. There's alot that goes on outdoors and you need to keep your wits about you at all times, even while taking a nice relaxing stroll. Most times you won't catch me in thewoods without a Buck knife and a walking stick. Even if I know the woods like the back of my hand. Longer backpacking trips I like to pack a machete. You ever read that book "Hatchet"? You never know whats going to happen, that's all that kid had was a hatchet and his wits.

I say the training continued like it was ever going to stop in my life. All my teenage years I hunted with my father, and I literally can't hunt with him without learning something. Then my early twentys I had bonfire partys every weekend, that was fire starting prac-app for a couple summers. Then the Marine Corps came calling, it was hands down the toughest and most rewarding thing I've ever done, but, I needed few pointers on the rifle range and had a few things to teach about surviving in the wilderness alone. Like Chesty Puller said, my years of hunting served me well in my military career. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Chesty Puller, but I pride myself in knowing we have that in common.

These days I get in the woods myself, read books on others adventures while trying to find my own adventures. I watch survival shows that my wife hates and try to apply what they do to my outdoorsness. And on the off chance that I do hunt with my father, I listen to his every word, watch his every move, and envy his enthusiasm. Because after all the shows are over, after my last deployment to every clime and place, after the last boyscout meeting and bonfires with my friends, my father will still be the greatest teacher I ever had.

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