re: Outdoor Board Demographics and maybe a little sappiness

will be 42 in a week and a half.

Born in Murfreesboro, TN and lived there till I was 7, moved to Florence, AL, and then to Corinth, MS when I in 5th grade.

My dad and my papaw were my biggest influences for hunting and fishing. My dad said I caught my first fish when I was barely old enough to hold a rod. He said he had to grab me to keep me from being pulled in. Killed my first dove when I was around 8 or 9.

My papaw owned a farm and I would spend several weeks every summer with him. When he was working I'd go with him and fish at the farms he worked at (he was in the chicken business) or I'd go to the farm and play if he had to go into the office. He also let me go out and shoot guns and fish in the creek that ran through his farm.

Neither my dad nor papaw were deer hunters, rather they loved bird hunting. My papaw started taking me quail hunting after he retired and there were still a few wild birds around. My dad loved to go dove hunting. It was in high school that I started duck hunting with friends. That is the one thing that really grabbed me and I still love it. I taught my dad and my brother how to hunt them.

My papaw died several years ago and this past year I got to go on my last fishing trip and dove hunt with my dad. My little boy got to go on both and I hope and pray he remembers them. He died on Christmas morning and I miss him terribly.

ETA: live jb a burb of Memphis now. Been in Memphis for 18 years now.