As a part of Huntsville Outdoors' commitment to promoting interest in -- well, the outdoors -- we are proud to announce our first inaugural "Outdoorsman of the Month"! This is an exciting moment for us. It marks the culmination of an exhaustive search that took us as far as a small watering hole on County Line Road, where we met a FedEx driver, and our new friend, Del.
Del, you should know, is not just an ordinary FedEx driver, but a real renaissance outdoorsman -- a guy who's served in the Armed Forces, canoed a bunch of rivers, drank a bunch of Guinness, lived in Alaska, and survived a face-to-face with a Grizzly Bear. What better candidate for the first Outdoorsman of the Month?
Here's a brief rundown of Del's outdoors credentials. A self-described "fisherman first" who says he learned to paddle just so he could catch those hard-to-reach trout that like the fast-moving streams, the man now owns 4 canoes (2 solos and 2 tandems) and 1 kayak. He's a member of the Huntsville Canoe Club, and has paddled not just local waters such as the Tennessee, but the Hiwassee and French Broad in North Carolina, the Gulf of Mexico, the Little Susitna in Alaska, and the Kenai in Alaska, just to name a few.
His fishing exploits nearly caused his demise on a recent trip to Alaska, where he found himself virtually surrounded by a hungry family of Grizzly Bears (pictured above) just as he was reeling in a nice, tasty Salmon. Del says he survived the encounter without reaching for the Glock that was strapped to his chest, and even made it home with some fish. We aren't exactly sure how, but we've got mad respect for his achievement.
Speaking of Alaska, Del's the kind of guy who couldn't just be satisfied with the occasional fishing trip to America's last great Western Frontier, so he bought a cabin up there. And it wasn't good enough to simply purchase an existing home: he actually met a guy in Talkeetna and had him build a hunting outpost for Del to reside in. The place is beautiful, nestled as it is on the edge of a picturesque Alaskan lake, and perfectly suited to satisfy the whims of the consummate outdoorsman.
Unfortunately, the place turned out to be so nice that another Man of the Wild made Del an offer he couldn't refuse, and he ended up selling the place. He tells us his current goal is to find him a new cabin in central Alaska, and implement a retirement plan whereby he spends his summers in the shadow of Denali and winters on the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Amen to that, Brother. And congratulations on becoming the first Huntsville Outdoors "Outdoorsman of the Month!"
An Open Invitation
Think you've got what it takes to qualify as Outdoorsman of the Month? Or know someone who does? Send us the info -- we'd love to hear about quality candidates. And the moniker aside, keep in mind the "Outdoorsman" by no means needs to be a "man." In fact, we'd be especially interested to hear about the ladies out there who enjoy the outdoors lifestyle.
