The one thing I like almost as much as gardening is hiking. I love identifying wild plants. It's better than gardening in one way, my dogs can enjoy it too without wrecking things. I usually hike at different places in eastern Manitoba, but Birds Hill park near Winnipeg will do in a pinch.

I loooove fishing but haven't done much of it in recent years. DH & I have big plans for this summer now that we live right next to the river.

Not exactly hunting, which I'm not too interested in, but DH used to be a trapper and we have a long term goal to do some trapping together someday. (not a member of PETA in case you were wondering, LOL!)

Love em! Haven't hunted in years but have teens who are pestering for hunter ed and liscencing. Fishing whenever I can- but the lazy way that entailos sitting on a pretty little lakeshore and watching the birds fly around ( I know a place where peregrines were released and nested during re-population) Day trips for hikes and photos, wkend trips to fish, whenever we can manage to get all of us away!

Use to camp and bike (as in Harley) quite a bit in my younger days, however Gardening is my obsession and it has totally taken most of my spare time in life which is good, I stay out of trouble ;)

We do still go camping at least a couple of times during the summer, usually Northern Saskatchewan area.

I love to fish, sitting back on the boat sipping a cold one, soaking up the rays. I also love eating fresh fish, BUT, I donÂt like cleaning it, especially when the black flies are thick ;)

As for hunting, thatÂs not my kind of thing, I couldnÂt even shoot a gopher, although thatÂs a different story for DH, heÂll shoot anything!

Sometimes I think gardening is just an excuse for me to be outdoors. Just like golf is a good excuse to go for a nice walk. And the walk is a good excuse to look for birds. So I leave the clubs at home and just go walk the course (small course, not many people, great place to go for a stroll).

Now, there was a time in my life that I figured a mall with trees was the great outdoors. I announced it often, along with how I thought people who went camping were nuts, so when I informed some people a couple of years ago that I was going to try out camping - in a tent!!! - they pretty much thought I'd gone off my rocker. Hah! Turns out I love camping - who would've known. Camping & hiking go hand in hand for us and, like Gillian said, the dogs enjoy it, too.

I've been fishing but don't really care for the whole ordeal and feel sorry for the fish. I do like the view from a boat - recently I've been thinking of how nice it would be to have a canoe - great photo ops for hubs and great birding ops for me. You can get to so many more places and see more, especially up north in bush country. If I just didn't have this silly fear of tipping the canoe and falling in the water. I'll have to try and overcome that little obstacle.

Hunting isn't my kind of thing, either, nor is it my DH's. He likes to shoot nature with a camera, though.

I highly recommend getting a canoe Pudge. Years ago when friends suggested we all go on a day canoe trip, I thought I wouldn't like it. But as it turns out, I loved it. I was also concerned about the tipping part, but luckily our canoe is very steady and that hasn't happened(knock on wood!lol). There's something just so peaceful about it, and yes, you can get some really good pics of birds that way too. The last couple of years, we've chosen to go camping in the Whiteshell Park and find lakes with islands just so that we can go explore them by canoe.

Camping is a big part of our summers, and our 2 boys just love it and look forward to it all year. It also influences my garden as well. Lately we've been going to more rocky(Canadian Shield) campgrounds and therefore, I've been incorporating more and more rock into my gardens. And also, special rocks make for excellent souvenirs too.;^)

DH and the boys enjoy fishing. I'm not big on it, but I do enjoy the fish dinners. Same with hunting, DH has a group of guys that he goes out hunting with. He goes deer hunting every year, and has gone elk or moose hunting a few times too. Last year he went hunting for prairie chickens and wild turkeys for the first time and really enjoyed it. We found the wild turkey to be very good, but will give the prairie chicken breasts to someone else.

I also love nature photography, but have found that the flowers are much easier to photograph, as they stand still. But I do try to get whatever may come along......my camera's usually not too far away.

Laurie

Good topic, Verena!

I've always been a nature lover. My dad enjoyed identifying birds, and i picked that up from him, though neither one of us could call ourselves "birders". I've enjoyed walks in the bush all my life, too, and after i met dh, i started spending a lot more of my time in the bush - mostly at the cabin at the lake, which our whole family loves.

Dh is the fisher and hunter - i like going out in the boat and will fish, but it's not a priority. I'd much rather be in the water! :) And hunting is definitely NOT my thing.

I also went through a mushroom identifying stage and i did want to get into identifying wildflowers, but for some reason i do that a little haphazardly.

If it is outside, I usually love it. I haven't tried hunting though and I don't know if it is for me. I do not like guns.
I love fishing and eating them. I'll clean them, but I hate taking the fish off the hook.
I love camping, if you call it that. Both of my parents have cabins, so it is just a home away from home. Sitting around a camp fire is one of the best things.
I'm a golfer too. Usually we walk the courses.
I can't hardly wait.
Shelley

We used to do all three a lot a when the kids were growing up. But in the last few years I seem to be doing other things besides fishing, camping and hunting. I still do some ice fishing but I sold my boat a couple of years ago (I hadn't used it in 6 years and needed a bandsaw).
After the kids left home we don't go camping much any more. Maybe once a year with some friends. We never did own a camper and we borrowed my father-in-laws along with his truck. We might still go again as I bought a pickup last fall with a hitch compatable with the hitch on his camper trailer.
As far as hunting goes I haven't gone in about 15 years. When the government started to change the regulations on gun ownership I sold all my guns. I also never had time in the fall because of my job.

Cheers Al

DH & I like to pack up our Westfalia and head north every fall. We've made it as far as the Arctic Circle & have driven every highway that crosses the 60th parallel in Canada. DH is an excellent photographer so that is our main reason for travel, I just tag along with my camera. We enjoy hiking as well, distance depends on how much camera gear we're packing!

Fishing has always appealed to me, more the peace & solitude than the actual catching. I've always thought I'd like to try my hand at fly fishing, it looks so elegant! Would also like to try kayaking. Too bad I'm so dern chicken... :)

CG, you have to try kayaking!! It is so awesome. All the benefits of canoeing except it's much more comfortable and ergonomic. I actually really don't like canoeing. Kayaking makes you feel like you are part of the water. You should take a quick safety course to know how to get out if it flips over... it's no big deal but then you have to swim to shore and get back in. I don't know how to roll back up, it's pretty hard.

Oh yeah, I love fishing but I don't enjoy eating freshwater fish so I let them go or give them away. Not scared to take them off the hook unless it's a big mean jack (gator). LOL.

Me & DH went fishing for the first time this year and I caught a bass :0) It was a nice size bass but in the pic it looks like a skinny little Kate Moss bass.

{{gwi:691908}}

DH is all talk and I had to take it off the hook and fillet it too. Then he wasn't hungry so I threw it in the freezer. >:0( I would have just let the poor thing go if he didn't insist on keeping it.

Anyone else done any camping or fishing yet?

I won't be going anywhere for a bit yet.

My question is where is the baby belly? (I'm on dial-up and my nose was getting closer and closer to the screen while it loaded trying to get a quick peak.)LOL

Shelley

LOL, it's there, I only have certain pants I can still wear, but it's more thick all over than one bump. ;0) The camera made my fish look skinny too :P

LOL! That was my first thought too when I saw the picture..."Where's 'the bump'??"

Nice fish though, did you catch it with a fly or spin-cast? I've never tried bass (we don't have them here) but on the shows they seem to give a pretty nice fight. Is all the fishing in MB with barb-less hooks too, or can you still use barbed ones?? (AB is almost entirely barb-less now.)

We haven't gotten out yet (well DH did get out fly fishing two weeks ago, but he didn't catch anything) but hopefully I'll get to soon. We'll probably hold off on the camping trips for another month or so. We have a 5th wheel, but unless we run the furnace all night it can still get too cool for the little guy. I'm really looking forward to getting out this year though. Larry found out about a small lake out west that has some nice free camping spots, a good beach, and good fishing, so we'll likely spend some time out there this summer. It's always so nice to get that first fish into the frying pan for breakfast the first morning out!! (DH doesn't eat fish, but he'll usually fillet and fry them for me and Brayden. He does have me filleting them occasionally too though. :o)

Verena

Is that you Gil, I've only seen your shoulder in other pics! You skinny lit' thing you!

Oh the fish, congratulations ;)

Sharon

Verena, I caught it with a pickerel rig and salted minnows... no fancy lures. Where I fish is a big concrete dam where the floodway comes out into the Red River... the bass like the turbulent water where the jets come out. I could see them jumping but everyone else was off fishing downstream including DH... duh. I was the only person there who caught anything and it only took me 15 minutes. I've only ever caught bass there, and tiny baby catfish. They look like giant tadpoles, LOL. Our river is famous for giant catfish but I have never caught an adult.

Sharon, you have so seen me, I posted a pic of me on the 'you and your family' thread in my wedding dress facing forward ;0) Maybe I was unrecognizably clean? LOL

LOL, oh yeah, I forgot about that thread, see this is what happens when you get over the hill, enjoy your youth while you can ;)

Yeah, that's it, you we're so squeaky clean in that other photo!

Sharon