OK, I’m sure that I’m not the only husband out there in newspaper land feeling like this. I’ve about had it. We work hard all day, then go fishing until late, then clean fish until nearly 1 in the morning.
Why? To feed the family. That’s why. With economic times like they are, you have to do everything you can to make ends meet, don’t we? You think I wouldn’t like to just sit around and relax instead of hunting and fishing all time? But no, I have to feed the fam.
Do our wives not think that we grow weary heading up to the mountains every weekend all the whole braving the rain, snow and the cold? Maybe we’d like to be able to sleep in just one Saturday morning.
Or maybe we’d like to eat a real meal instead of a can of Beanie Weenies heated over a small fire in the woods, the top of the food covered with ashes or the normal sausage/cheese combo on a cracker.
And maybe we’d like to sleep in our own bed every once in a while, instead of on the hard cold ground. You ever think about that, maybe? If it’s hot, we sleep hot; if it’s frigid, we lay in a cramped tent shivering like a dog hiding out under a local bridge.
And what about when we have to go backpacking and wear the same clothes for three to five days. You ever think that just maybe we’d like to be able to dress up in something nice, warm, dry and comfortable instead of hiking around looking like we’re homeless?
And what about our grueling schedules and really scheduling our year in general? You think it’s easy to juggle our work schedule and still be able to fit in all of the hunting and fishing seasons?
Think about it for a minute. Crappie fishing, turkey hunting, bear hunting, flyfishing, salmon fishing, steelhead fishing, dove hunting, chukar/hun hunting, deer and elk hunting. You think it’s easy to cram all of that into 365 days?
Then don’t forget, you have to put in for all of the special draws. And what about out-of-state adventures? Alaska brown bear and moose hunts and salmon fishing. Next week, I’m headed to Texas for striper fishing. You think a simple trip like that didn’t take some planning?
Then what if you’re pulling double duty to earn extra money for the family if you’re an outdoor writer? You constantly have gear to test. Even when you might not feel like it, you have to get out in the mountains just to have new fodder for your upcoming articles.
It’s no wonder that I feel overwhelmed. A poor guy can only take so much stress without cracking, especially if he doesn’t feel like his woman appreciates him.
I may start a TV venting/counseling show. You know, an Oprah Winfrey-type show but for men, for the abused outdoorsmen types. I think it may be wildly popular.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.
