It's always been a struggle to fit fieldsports of any kind into my life, primarily because I live in the Big City and so every time I go fishing, shooting, stalking, it's a whole expedition out of town, sometimes with overnight stays, etc. That also makes it expensive. Before I started shooting, I was an angler, and that was limited to holidays. That said, holidays were long and I had few constraints. No money and no transport, but enough freedom and opportunity. These days, the expense is less of a problem, the free time is what's really in short supply. The logistical problems remain the same though, there's no escaping from that. I find I can't properly enjoy my stalking or shooting adventures if I think my absence is putting too much of an additional burden on Mrs PM, mostly looking after Young PM on her own, which already happens a fair bit because of work. Of course, it's always been clear that if I go gallivanting off on my adventures every so often, then it's only fair that I take my turn to offer Mrs PM the same opportunity. Problem is, she doesn't have any hobbies that actually require her to vanish at 3am on a Saturday morning and come back late!
For seven seasons, I was a useless wildfowler. This was in the Dreamtime, before YPM's arrival, but it was the most antisocial form of fieldsport from a domestic perspective. Also, the "returns" were basically nothing at all. Just a pile of muddy kit. I dropped that when I started stalking, and stalking has turned out to be quite a lot easier to fit into life, with the domestic bonus that it quite often actually results in a full freezer.
Nevertheless, the acceptable fieldsports/family life balance has stayed fairly constant over the years. In the Dreamtime, I'd manage maybe 7-8 outings a year (wildfowling, fishing, etc). Now it's more like half a dozen. Which isn't a lot by most standards, and yet my family and friends consider it to be an OUTRAGEOUS liberty that I take.
It used to wind me up really badly. Now, well, I'm reconciled to it and I try to make all outings special. There are many who go out far less. Or in fact not at all.
And then...
... and then there are new hopes on the horizon....
