10 Outdoor Goals for Simple, Fulfilled Living in 2016

An Excellent Bluegill Caught on a Tenkara Rod

Back in 2013 I jotted down a quick list of outdoor goals for the season. Typically, I am not a goal-oriented person. This may make me sound like an underachiever but that is quite untrue. Rather, I prefer to be open-minded and to capitalize on opportunities as they develop. Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have a general sense of direction—just that my daily task focus becomes a burden when it is wedded to long-term goals. However, the outdoor goals of 2013 proved a joy rather than a burden. With them I pushed past my recreational comfort zone and explored the novel, the eccentric, and the off-color.

10"+ Oyster Mushrooms Found in Late December

I’d like to revisit this process in 2016. Despite not having these goals set for 2015, it too was a year of exploration. Primarily, I dedicated most of fishing time to the Japanese tenkara style of fly-fishing. In addition, I spent less time single-mindedly pursuing game and more time smelling the flowers..errr….mushrooms. Between tenkara (which is done without the use of a reel) and mushroom gathering I found myself learning more and dealing with less frustration. In both of these pastimes I realized that their intrinsic simplicity was a reward in and of itself. While my current residence doesn’t allow me to heft trophy largemouths, it does allow me to stalk city parks with teeny pheasant tail nymphs for bluegill. Likewise, my freezer may not always be full of big game—but it does have a few Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa), Oysters Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), and squirrels tucked away. Isn’t that a more Transcendentalist approach? Thoreau goes so far as to say this: “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”

Hen of the Woods Hides So Well You Could Easily Walk Past It

Thus, in the spirit of simplicity I propose the following humble goals for 2016:

• Pick a wild fruit and make something homemade out of it: a jam, jelly, pie, syrup, or liqueur.

Sand Plums Make the Best Jelly on Earth

• Gather and leach enough acorns to eat, whether they be as acorn flour or simply roasted.

• Shoot my longbow more and make it a point to spend more time with my wife in archery.

• Add two more species of fish to my catalog of species caught on the tenkara rod.

Golden Shiners Aren't Your Typical Fly-Fishing Quarry

• Improve my butchery skills and teach someone else the dying art.

• Visit a National Park or National Wildlife Refuge and celebrate such a unique American gift.

Home to Selenite Crystals, Verdant Marshes, and All Manner of Birds 

• Cook a wild game meal outdoors using cast iron.

• Journal a vivid description of an outdoor scene with deep appreciation (like John Muir).

• Change someone’s mind regarding the culinary value of small game or waterfowl.

• Locate and harvest a bounty of Sulfur Shelf Mushrooms (Laetiporus sulphureus).