Do your hobbies and/or your passion for a hobby wax and wane?

Besides hunting, I've been attending Phish concerts for years and I don't think that will wane until they're done playing. I probably couldn't rank the two.

 

I didn't come from a hunting family but, will continue to bow hunt as long as life will allow me.

I really enjoy archery. If I am not able to find time to hunt right, I will still shoot tournaments and what not. I just enjoy it way to much to put the bow down.

My hobbies in life as followed:
Young child to around 10 and continued through 16 was BMX.

10-21 was dirt bikes.

21-29 was sport bikes. Had 4 wrecks 2 of which I shouldn't have walked away from but, did.

30 I started hunting which led to archery addiction.

I'm an adrenalin junky! I love getting that feeling. Always have and always will. That's why I like the hunting part. The archer in me is the perfectionist.

 

I`ve hunted a lot since I was a kid. I don't see that ever changing. There was a couple seasons that I missed some time in the stand due to motocross. I changed that though, for the past few years, once hunting starts I park the bikes for the most part. I`ve seen a change over the years though, I used to stuntride on sportbikes, did that for several years. Thought about picking it back up again but I remembered why I gave it up. For me, things change a lot over time. Makes me want to hunt more than I do, and also go afters some critters I haven't tried yet.

 

Bowhunting will always be a part of my life. It's all I wanted to do as far back as I can remember. I gave up football in high school for it, never partied/went out on the weekends growing up. I just can't see myself not doing it.

Cardinals baseball is another. Mildly obsessed all my life. I will die of a heart attack during a postseason game one day.

Right now it's hunting out west/Alaska. I can't get enough reading about it.

Tournament bass fishing was a big thing for me the last 2 years, did fairly good. However the money wasn't the reason we got started, and we found out fishing the lakes we want to is more fun and up our ally a bit more.

 

I got divorced about 20 years ago. Before that I really didnt have any interests other then what my wife liked.. (ya I know, what a sucker) Right after that I got into dirt track racing. That was my whole life!! I stuck everything I had into it, time and money.






I decided that after I wrecked the Streetstock, it was time to hang up the helmet. I just didnt have the money to compete with the big guys. After that I bought my first motorcycle, an 1100 Yamaha Vstar. Had that a few years, and had to sell that for financial reasons. Thats when I got into bow hunting. That was, and still is a huge part of my life. A couple years ago, I got into building my own trail cams, and now that takes up a lot of my time. But, a few years ago, I bought a Goldwing, and that took over most of my time. 2 years ago, I got into doing something called Iron Butt Rides, on the wing. Way too many hobbies, and not near enough time. I would say that the top 2 in my life now are deer hunting, and and riding my wing.

 

Our interests in hunting, shooting don't wax and wane. But those activities are subject to priorities, in my case family and school, and for my husband, family and work. So in any given year, we may have more or less time to hunt.

 

My hobbies don't wax and wane. I love to shoot and ride (when the four wheeler is up and running). I have noticed that work projects get started and then shuffled down on my priority list, mostly because they are my own projects to make the position better for the next guy, whenever there is a next guy.

 

To some degree......yes. With that said the two constant interests I've had since I was a little kid have been bowhunting whitetails and bass fishing. These don't fade for me at all, if anything my fishing "problem" has only gotten worse over the past few years. I was always into it but since I got out of competitive archery and turkey hunting I really spent more time on the water and bought a boat that allowed me to get out on bigger water.

I enjoy other types of hunting and fishing, but the other outdoor interests come and go over the years. I go through phases on them. I spent some time with Bols a few weeks ago chasing yotes and I've got that bug again right now and want to get back out there soon. It's been a couple of years since I really focused on predators. I used to be psycho about turkeys and killed/called in dozens of them for myself and others and just can't motivate myself to get after them now. Same thing for ice fishing, fly fishing, small game hunting, etc. I can see myself spending some time muskie fishing this year though since our new place is right on the fox river which is one of the better muskie fisheries in IL.

The other things I've really been into over the years were skateboarding, snowboarding, and turbo cars. I'm pretty sure I'm beyond those phases of my life at this point but there was a time that I was nutty about all of these.

 

I got into snake breeding 6 years ago and spent thousands on critters, housing and food. I was hatching and raising hundreds of babies every year. In the past couple years the market has been horrible and those babies stuck around longer, eating more and outgrowing their caging. The impending "dangerous wild animal" legislation was the final straw. I've sold all but one of the snakes and put that money into the house and bowhunting funds.

Here are some babies from this past season...

 

Best examples were 2 hobbies I let wane (and finally totally gave up on) - Xbox and fantasy sports. I'm a much better man for it.
Live in the real. Escape to the woods. Enjoy life, don't avoid it.

 

Well the snake breeding image was stuck on my tablet for an extra few seconds this morning due to a Tapatalk issue. That was fun :D

I can really see myself finally hitting flyfishing a bit harder this summer. I have the whole time off for crying out loud, and it's more than likely going to be my last summer without kids , so it's now or never. Not to mention I live in a flyfisherman's paradise for PA. I've been planting my butt in front of videos and a few flyfishing forums taking it all in.


Waxing and waning.:D

 

I spent a lot of time fly fishing in your area when I was in High School. There is a Green Drake hatch on Pine Creek that is fantastic....some of my best days fly fishing were there during that hatch.

 

Yep, I teach in Jersey Shore. I'm probably going to buy a new setup from McConnell's which is right off of Pine. I've ironically never fished it. I do fish Lycoming and it's smaller feeder streams, though.