My dad never did have the time to go hunting or fishing once he had a family to support. It didn't help any with traveling around to all the western states for the company that he worked for along with dragging two kids and my mom with him. Then when I hit high school he was in the veterans hospital for 6 months and never really recovered. But we always had food on the table and a roof over our heads.
But I believe that the hunting and fishing trips that he took me on up until I was 5 instilled in me the desire to carry on with them.
A couple of years ago I took his old 300 Savage 99 out to try to shoot a deer, and while I didn't manage to get the job done I felt like he was with me. He's been gone for 32 years now but when I am hunting I think of him a lot