The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Hunting, fishing, and hiking always seemed vanilla to me when it comes to the potential for injury and death. That could be one reason that a passion for the outdoors hit me when I was a child. My brothers chided me for being a "sissy," and the best escape from the ridicule was avoidance somewhere beneath the trees on the neighboring woodlots.

I began tree-stand hunting for white-tailed deer in my late teens and quickly realized the dangers of the activity. I took the proper precautions with ropes and harnesses and always let someone know when and where I was headed and returning. Aside from t...