As I do from time to time, a few days ago I was talking a trip down memory lane and reading some of my old blog posts.  During my excursion back through the older posts, I came across a post from January of this year that outlined my outdoor goals for 2009.  After looking at the goals I set for myself for this year, and reflecting on the year thus far, I think I’m doing pretty well.

Below you’ll see a list of the outdoor goals I set for 2009; and beside them you’ll see how I did when it came to that particular goal:

1.  Kill my First Turkey – I can scratch that one off the list.  In case any of you missed it, at the end of April I killed my first turkey – a jake.  He wasn’t a longbeard, and he wasn’t huge, but he tasted great – and the video proves that I was pretty excited no matter kind of turkey it was.

2.  Shoot a Deer with my Bow – I can scratch that one off the list as well, because on October 1st – my birthday, and Michigan’s Archery Season Opener - I killed a nice healthy doe.  I still have the backstraps and tenderloins left in the freezer calling my name.  We’ve put a hurting on the venison burger, but have yet to dig into the real good stuff yet.

3.  Fish…..a lot! – We did a ton of fishing this year.  We fished our local favorite fishing hole, fished for some smallies at a local river; fished the heck out of my Father-in-Law’s pond; bowfished for the first time;  fished the Steelhead run – even though it didn’t produce a lot of fish – and managed to fish a couple new lakes as well.  I guess I can cross that one off the list, too.

4.  Appreciate All Outdoor Activities to the Fullest – We all know that our outdoor pursuits can be frustrating at times, and I experience that frustration from time to time as well.  But overall I think we did a heck of a lot of outdoor stuff this year – new and old – and I believe I appreciated it to the fullest.  From riding quads, to fishing, to hunting, and everything in between – even with a bit of frustration involved at times – I’ve still loved every bit of it, especially shooting the doe with my bow and killing my first thunder chicken.

5.  Visit Gettysburg – Regretfully, I didn’t achieve this goal.  After buying the new quads, and all the camping trips we took, we couldn’t work in the Gettysburg trip this year.  It is in the works for next year, though, and I’ve been educating myself for the trip regularly.

6.  Get Abby outside whenever Possible – We can cross this one off the list as well.  I’m proud to say that in Abby’s first year she went camping multiple times – and had a blast doing it I might add; we had her out and about any chance we could; and she even ate a caterpillar.  Well, she tried to eat a caterpillar.  Thankfully I realized what was in her mouth before she started to chew.  What could be more outdoorsy then that?

Overall 2009 has been an excellent year for my outdoor pursuits.  And the good part is that there is still some of 2009 left; not only does that mean there is still hunting season to enjoy this year, but it also gives me a few opportunities to exceed the outdoor goals I set for myself.

Hopefully I can ring in the New Year, while at the same time having to worry about my taxidermy bill; it could happen.

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