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A visit with Dad...........

onpoint

onpoint

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
2,568
Location
Gallatin Valley, MT
20 years ago this next week my dad left this earth.
His love for fishing - he was an absolute walleye fanatic - got me started into my life outdoors.
He never hunted - never shot a single animal in his life, but he encouraged my interest in it, trusted me enough to let me take off into the woods with a gun in my hand alone to look for squirrels, ruffies, and rabbits.
I am who I am today largely thanks to him.
He was a big Native American history buff, loved Indian tradition and ceremony - took part in them both. He had a skin neck pouch with some sacred items in it.
Fall 1997, after he died, I cached that pouch in a cleft on a cliff on a ridge overlooking MT's Gallatin Valley. I also hunted Blue Grouse that day up there.
Next weekend, plan to go back up to that lonesome place for a visit with him. Take either or both of my wire faced girls and hopefully shoot a few Blue Grouse.
Lotta' our Dad's got us into this stuff and we are the better for it.

This pic is of him back in the 70's at a favorite walleye haunt up MN's Gunflint Trail. He was a big man, and he liked to embellish things a bit.......

dad.jpg
 
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Sorry for your loss, my dad is going with me to Wyoming this year for his first trip. Sadly I don't think he will make another trip out with me, its been weird the last few weeks thinking of that situation. A lot of our fathers have gotten us where we are today in our work ethic and hunting / fishing. Just keep on passing on all the things we learn over the years to our younger generation. Also take lots of photos to cherish those times.
 
Fine tribute, made me think of times I need to reminisce about mine and why I appreciate time spent with my son.....

Thank you for sharing.
 
That is a great post. I think those of us who have lost our fathers know how you feel, probably more so than words can explain. My father's remains are buried under a rock on our property back home in Minnesota, along the banks of the Big Fork River. His two best dogs buried right along side him.

Thanks for posting this. Got me thinking, in a good way.
 
PAGOAT said:
Sorry for your loss, my dad is going with me to Wyoming this year for his first trip. Sadly I don't think he will make another trip out with me, its been weird the last few weeks thinking of that situation. A lot of our fathers have gotten us where we are today in our work ethic and hunting / fishing. Just keep on passing on all the things we learn over the years to our younger generation. Also take lots of photos to cherish those times.
Click to expand...

Enjoy that trip with your dad. Hope he has a tag(s) too, and fills it.
Mine was both tough and funny as hell. Smoked his last Camel straight - against doctors orders - right before his triple bypass, of which the complications did him in. Had all kinds of hilarious quotes, "don't sweat the petty ones, and don't pet the sweaty ones".
His ashes mixed in with his beloved Missouri Headwaters...............
 
(onpoint)
Thank You for honoring your Father here publicly, as I know that my reading this has given me pause to think of my Father and I am certain many others similarly.
At the risk of making your post my post I would like to share something I have learned from life in regards to being "Father."
There are men in our lives and in the lives of others that have a great effect on us even if they share no blood or marriage to our families.
"Father" in this regard is a man that teaches and influences us at an impressionable time.

I would now like to share a memory of my Father that has become my code.
My Father had a saying " I will help any man that will help himself."
I heard this my whole life, I saw this in application countless times.
One time sticks out above all other:

My Father took me fishing on a day fishing boat in the Delaware Bay for flounder.
We caught about 6 flounder / fluke and upon returning to dock the mates cleaned fish for tips.
Pop had a brand new ( I think Norweigan fillet knife) and he told the mate to use our knife and let us know if it is a good knife.
The mate cleaned our fish and said, it was really a great fillet knife and was nicer than what the boat had to work with.
My Father took out $6 bucks in one hand and the brand new fillet knife in the other hand and offered the mate to choose.
This was 40 years ago this summer and that seemed like a million bucks to me at the time.
With that the mate said " I love the knife but I need the money much more."
Well...........Pop handed him both and said" know you have the money for today and a tool for tomorrow."
When we got off the dock...I asked my Dad to explain.

He said...."I will help any man that will help himself."
He had only 2 children but was Father to many.

Thank you to the OP for making me remember and to you folks for listening.

10Dogs
 
Onpoint,
Thanks for the post. Like so many other hunters/anglers, my father got me and my brothers into the outdoors.
His ashes are up on the top of a ridge where we all hunted elk and deer in Colorado's Collegiate Peaks starting in the 60s. I rarely make it back there now, but think of him often. Good thoughts.
 
Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories, onpoint. It causes me to reflect with nostalgia on traipsing noisily through the aspen groves as a young boy, following Dad wearing his iconic red & black woolrich hunting coat carrying his open-sights 30-30 carbine looking for a muley buck near Belt Creek. Likely it was just a hike with his boy, as I made so much racket that no respectable deer would remain in the neighborhood. He once shot the head off a grouse with that carbine, something that duly impressed this young son. I think of him every time I enjoy the privilege of hiking through an aspen grove.
 
Great post. This weekend my dad visited me up in northwest Wisconsin for the duck opener. Despite 75 degrees at 4:30 in the morning and hordes of mosquitoes my dad got a mallard, 2 woodies, and 2 blue wing teal. My lab made a great retrieve on the mallard that was crippled. These were the first ducks he has shot in years. A morning I won't forget. I am lucky to still have pops around to hunt and fish with. I cherish every moment we spend together in the field.
 
A fitting epilogue to the story......
My little girl and I headed out 0 dark thirty making the 1600 foot climb up the ridge. Had a few muley bucks keeping us company in the morning light. Kicked up a few blues - no shot, as they headed into the canyon abyss. Got to my Dad's spot, my girl got birdy, up go four blues. We teamed up to put one in the vest. Right at the very place as we arrived. Can't make this stuff up.....
A morning I'll remember.
md930.jpg
js930.jpg
 
Thank you for sharing onpoint!
I hunted and fished with my dad since I was a small boy. He taught me to respect the outdoors, the harvest, and gave me a strong work ethic that I have carried with me through life. I got to fulfill a childhood dream when I moved to Montana while he was still alive, having read so many stories in Sports Afield and Outdoor life growing up. I got to bring him up for a visit and show him what he had steered me to when he was in his late 80's. He was so proud. It is seldom that I am outdoors, be it hunting, fishing, hiking or just driving to town in this overwhelming place that I don't think of him and thank him for his guidance over all those years...
 
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