They say opposits attract, and I guess it's true. I love the outdoors and spen as much time in he mountains as I can. Most of the time alone, day or night, it don't matter. There's not mutch that frightens me. My wife, on the other hand, is affraid of her own shadow. She won't go out of sight of the house when we go in the woods. She frequently brings up that she doesn't understand how I can spend days alone in the mountains and not fret non. Is it just mine? How do your wives like the outdoors?

Mine loves the outdoors! Likes taking pictures, fishing, hunting, the whole bit. Does good at hiking mountain trails, too. However, she was raised below sea level (New Orleans) and never grew taller than 5'3" because she was afraid of heights greater than that.

She can hike, but "edges" freak her out...like those along side the road when one is in the mountains. She is getting better. She also does not like 'twisty turny" roads...which is what we have when we are not on the Interstate here. She is getting better at that, too.

When we first met she was afraid to walk down a little slope of YARD! You know, the kind with green mowed grass on it... Yep, lots different than my years of being on logging units to burn slash and follow tree planters as an inspector. We use to say of places I worked that they were as "steep as a cow's face," no exaggeration either.

Having lightning reflexes and cat-like agility has saved my bacon lots of times...

Sparks

My wife was raised by her father--an outdoorsman, but did not camp out all that much as a child. She loves the outdoors, and goes out with me alot, but when we 1st wed it rained every time we went camping which soured her on it some. She hates snakes and bugs, but is getting better. She was a trooper last rendezvous we camped at, but we don't rough it too much anymore. Her back can't take the hard ground, so we "cheat" a little on her bedding. But, by golly, we are 65 yrs old...I still rough it when I can. She is a good shot, but does not hunt. She understands my love of fishing, but does not fish. She often went with her Dad on hunts and fishing trips and just observed nature or read a book. When we lived in Colorado she would hike in the mountains with me and when I stopped to fly fish she'd pull out a book and sit on a rock by the stream. Once I left her on a rock to scout ahead and spooked a puma which ran right past her, close. When I got back she was white as a sheet, but did not complain--but she did get me to buy her a "lion pistol" before our next outing! She can shoot good.

My wife is awful handy to have along on a trek. She can tote as much as most men and don't wine too much cept' for when I want to go cross country. She can't let herself relax if we ain't on a well layed out trail, and gets mighty nervous if she can't see those silly metal trail markers the forest service puts out. She absolutely can't stand to see a harvested animal until its wrapped in freezer paper!

Once, we got into a heck of a war over a large snapping turtle I spyed crawling a little ways from water. I spotted it and quickly told her to hold back our stupid dogs while I go and get the turtle. She demanded to know what I intended to do to the turtle and I replyed that I intended to fry up some of him and make stew out of the rest. Suddenly I was a terrible ogre and incapable of any compassion. This struck me as odd because only the week before she was telling me about eating fried turtle skin while on a business trip to China. Oh well, I spose' some folks just don't like seeing how the turtle's skin get's into the skillet. I rekon' I'll keep her around all the same.

Cain't talk about th' Missus. She'll throw things at me. Pointy things.

My wife likes to camp, but doesn't care for hunting or fishing. She doesn't got to rendezvous with me, anymore, because she doesn't like the "fishbowl" feeling, with all the tourists staring at her and her work schedule has her time off falling in midweek.
Lostrifle, I understand what you're saying. I tried to put my foot down, once, and she stepped on it!

'bout fifteen y'ar ago i wuz at a gun show 'n fell fer a leetle 'riginal halfstock .36, with a genuine golcher percussion lock 'n set triggers--must'a bin bilt fer a 10-y'ar-old er sumpin'. couldn't figger out how ta justify th' $250.00 price tag, tho, 'til it suddenly struck me!! i c'd tell mama it wuz fer HER!
boy, did i let sumpin' outta th' bag--so to speak! (lemme see now, how kin i re-phrase that? quick!) boy, did i open a can o'--oh, well, whatever. now i'm out th' price uv a 'nuther rifle-gun, a pistol, a knife & hawk, a ton o' beads 'n fofaraw, a four-hunnert dollar buckskin dress (she looks like a million bucks in it, i gotta say), and a tin teepee ("i slept on hard ground with you in leaky tents when we were young, buster, and i'm not gonna do it now that we aren't!")
now we cain't make t' enuff ronnyvoos ta suit her, 'n ef i don't watch it, she scores higher'n i do!
thank heaven fer that leetle .36!
mind yer topknots! windy

Well my woman is about the onliest thang in the whole wide would I can say I'm truely afeared of, she is one mean sum a gun when she wants to be, walks a barbware fence in her bare feet swingen a wildcat in one hand n a rattle snake in the other, barbs wont stick n neither critter has got the gumption ta bi5te her, I sayen shes MEAN. She like ta rondezvous but any other camping is O-U-T. guess its wearing the costumes that trips her trigger, as fer hunting n fishing, well thats my bag n she don't care much one way or the other but understands my likeing it n feels thats a good thing for me.She does support the 2nd Amendment n has her concealed carry card n is looking into what she would like to carry. All in all shes a dang good woman n keeps me in line when needed, spec thats her job anyway hee hee hee

My wife likes it all, hiking, fishing,camping and some hunting. But she doesn't like the cold like I do. But, best of all she has no problem with my winter camping/hunting without her. Understanding of my need to comune with nature. Good Woman, just made it 18 years.

My lady of 33 years has always been at my side. She loves the camping/outdoor aspect of our life. She use to hunt with me but now she would rather just be out in the wild with me rather than carry a firearm. She has always cooked what I brought home, and believe me she can cook!! She will shoot when we go to rendezvous and really enjoys the life but when we are out together she refers to me to do the shooting. Not that she can't shoot well, she just enjoys the other aspects of the life.
When we first got hitched we made a promise to one another to not be a leader, nor be a follower, but to walk side by side and be as one. We have lived by that motto for 33 years, and it has worked out well.

Talltree
Keep your tail high and dry.

My wife or 23yrs loves the outdoors, best when it involves some sand and the ocean!

My wife spent 6 months living out of a tent in Oregon before I met her. While courting we regularly went camping and backpacking from the SW desert and mountains to the forests an mountains of the NE and upper midwest. She spends the summers roaming around the desert at night for her work, and she is often up to the top of her waders in playas or wetlands at 2 am right off the Mexican border. She is as tough as they come and has been referred to as the Amazon Woman by some for her work ethic. She does not hunt because she doesn't like to kill things. That is no problem for me since she prefers to eat game. She'll go along with me, she'll quarter, pack and butcher, but she won't shoot a living thing. I can live with that.

On top of all that, she's also smarter than me and better looking, she's downright fun, and she gave birth to a wonderful little girl who is the apple of my other eye.

Sean

All I can say is it's been a roller coaster ride. I think she used the bate and switch tactic when we got married. In college, we shot a couples archery league together, she would go hunting w/ me just to walk along at times. She even bought a bow tag to hunt deer one year. She helped me gut and drag out deer. Things were good. Then one day, it all changed when she ate some wedding cake. Things just haven't been the same since. Best regards. Rockerhound

My wife was raised on the side of a mountain. Her father was a logger and millwright. To this day the only conversation among males in the family concerns fishing, hunting, and working in the woods. She has no problem with me doing those things, and she even encouraged me to get a horse. That said, when we moved to the city, she was very happy to stay there. She has no interest in moving back to the country. She has her friends and her shopping, and I can have the country activities.

My grandmother was the best pistol shot I have ever seen, and a good horsewoman and flyfisherwoman as well. My mother still rides a horse five days a week at 75. She once shot a raccoon in the chicken house at 1:00 o'clock in the morning after coming home from the opera in San Francisco and still dressed in her evening gown!

quote:

Things were good. Then one day, it all changed when she ate some wedding cake.

Yep. Darn wedding cake.

Rockerdog, I know what you're talkin' about. Why is it that a woman marries a man because he's perfect, then she tries to change him?
In my case, the missus says we got married because she was desperate and I needed looking after!

Such enjoyable reading...it's nice to know you men speak of your wives in such a pleasing manner...

Can't speak of my wife any othe way; she'll hit me!

They are truely the better half!!

My wife's idea about camping is to park the RV and hook it up to the elec and sewer!. She hate's hot weather (kinda odd for a South American Lady), and she's not too fond of insects. In fact I have been called to slay several balls of lint that at a distance had the misfortune to resemble insects. As for critters..., it's my job to turn them into meat, and she doesn't want to see the faces! She's good with the omnivore diet, she just doesn't want to have a hand in butchering.

I agree. I have no qualms about the woods. I feel secure there. I was quite pleased 20 years ago when Uncle Sam gave me clothes, a rifle, all the ammo I wanted, and PAYED me to run in the woods!

North American forests, especially hardwood forest, and the Appalachian Mountains are my ally, not my foe. I laugh at "horror" movies where the tenderfoots get all scared as the "monster" comes after them in the woods. I'd want a creature to try that against any true woodsman. Heck It'd be a short film, maybe ten minutes, before the creature'd be hanging upside down while the photos were taken of the "trophy" for the scrap book.

Think on this though...., those of us who have wives that put up with us and "do us a favor" by letting us go running around in the woods for days at a time..., get the whole house without us "underfoot". I wonder who is actually doing the favor?

LD