One man’s baggage ...

Baggage is accumulated as life passes before our eyes. We begin life naked and squalling, and if we live long enough, our busy lifetime of travel in the outdoors will leave us with an accumulation of priceless baggage.

Most of these things are not valuable from a monetary standpoint but they are priceless because they produce fond fishing and hunting memories.

Our baggage consists of the odds and ends and other accumulations of momentoes and memories from a lifetime spent on the water and in the fields; in the marshlands and woods; on the ground and in a tree.

Memories are triggered by thoughts, sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touches.

This baggage is both mental and physical; things that can be held, looked at, and reminisced over. Memories can be found everywhere for a pack-rat like me, and I keep them around for a good reason: every mounted animal, bird or fish, every hat, my bows, firearms, fishing rods -- all have many stories behind them. These momentoes help sustain my life.

For instance: on the wall between my mounted fish is a Shakespeare glass fly rod. I used it every day during my 10 years of guiding brown trout, salmon and steelhead river fishermen, and the stories that rod could tell would be wonderful. Over 10,000 salmonids were caught with that rod, and it was finally retired in 1979 after I landed a 30-pound Chinook salmon.

I heard a muffled creak in it as the brute of a fish was beached, and after removing the fly and rolling the fish upright and holding it until it could swim away, I retired that rod and it now hangs in a place of honor where I can look at it every day.

My junk room (basement) has over 300 different hats hanging from the rafters. There is a unique story behind every one, including one from Detroit's Homicide Squad that states: "Our day starts when yours ends." Typical cop humor.

Hats are favorite tools of mine, and I often wear a different one each day.

There are hats from Alaskan hunts, fishing trips in New Zealand, product hats worn on one fishing trip or hunt, and hats from friends who know I collect them. However, the only hats I keep are those with a fishing or hunting tale that goes with them. I could spend hours studying this worthless hat collection that has provided over 50 years of fishing and hunting memories for me.

Here is a signed copy of Robert Traver's (John Voelker) "Testament Of A Fisherman." It was signed by him on Feb. 1, 1982 and states: "To my fellow writer and fisherman, Dave Richey, with all good wishes." It's worth very little except to me because I valued my friendship with Voelker and often think of him even though he passed away years ago. I look at his Testament, read it at least once each week, and it's priceless memento.

It's been my privilege to belong to the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA), which I joined in 1968, and on my wife's office walls are many writing and photographic awards. Four stand out: OWAA's prestigious Ham Brown Award and the Excellence In Craft Award, Michigan United Conservation Club's Ben East Award For Excellence In Conservation Journalism, and the Michigan Outdoor Writer's exalted Papa Bear Award for Excellence in Craft.

There are many other writing awards, but these four remind me of my 43 years spent writing outdoor copy for my valued readers.

One favorite item was buying Michigan’s No. 1 fishing license and salmon-trout stamp.

The other day, while sorting through some of my life's baggage, was fun. There was a box containing all of my fishing and hunting licenses from my teen-age years to now. I have most but not all of my earliest fishing and hunting licenses from this state, and some date back to the 1950s. One year I bought fishing license No. 1 and 2 and the No. 1 and 2 salmon-trout stamp for me and my wife. No. 1 of each normally go to the governor, but a new DNR employe sold me that license and stamp because she didn't know that was one of the perks of being a governor, whether they fish or not.

It takes a few minutes but eventually a thought brought a heralded moment of fishing from my 1957 fishing license, and those old licenses still have the required Trout Stamp attached. One license held a stamp of Michigan's old Fish Car that was used by the Department of Conservation (now the DNRE) to carry trout to northern streams for stocking.

One man's baggage is another man's treasure trove of outdoor memories. Such is the case with some of my bear, deer and turkey patches. My lot in life is to record as much of our fishing and hunting heritage as possible, and to present it in a way that others can enjoy. Take a moment now, and think about some of your little pieces of life's baggage and what joys they have given you over the years.

We can travel through a life of fishing and hunting, and retain most of our memories. Because, if nothing else, those thoughts will spark a fire in sportsmen.

That fire will blaze into a full-blown recollection of a memorable day or event in our lives that must be remembered long after our ability to hike the hills and wade the streams has ended. Memories give us great pleasure in this life.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors