Hello, my name is John, and I'm a Duckaholic

Ok, today is January 13, 2013. My name is John Doddridge and I live in Wray, Colorado. Wray is a very very small town in Northeastern Colorado, a farm town about 10 miles from the Nebraska state line and 20 miles from the Kansas state line. I work for a grain company called CHS.  I am a father of 3. One boy and two girls ages 8, 4, and 13 months. And I am married to a wonderful woman named Jocelyn.  So why am I at the age of 31 writing a blog? I'm not sure. I grew up not far from Wray on a small farm. We raised corn, wheat, and cattle. Or I should say my father did. And growing up on a farm I learned the importance of guns and gun safety at a very early age. I have been hunting most of my life. Minus a ten year span were I lived abroad while being enlisted in the US Navy and studying culinary arts in Florida. But since my return to Colorado in 2009, I have spent a good portion of my time either hunting or fishing. And that is what my blog is going to be about. For the next year I am going to have a written account of my sporting adventures. Lets start with a little about how I do things.  I don't make a huge amount of money. We do just fine living wise but I don't have much play money for my outdoor expense account. So I have to be very Do It Yourself when it comes to my hobbies. And in many ways that has made for interesting adventures in itself. I don't have the resources to go out and just buy anything I want. So I must do my best with what I have either making or finding what I need. For instance, when it comes to hunting geese in a cornfield, I do not have a layout blind. What I do have is an old yoga mat and some burlap to lay on and cover up with. And it works. I don't have money to spend on private hunting leases or guided hunts, so I must do my best with public land and land owner permision for locations. These are just a couple examples of what I mean by being a DIY sportsman. I know that I am by far not the only one out there doing this kind of stuff. Now onto the things I like to do. First and formost I am a self proclaimed Duckaholic. My wife would call it a drastically over ridiculous obsession. But lets stick to duckaholic. I love hunting waterfowl. Ducks and geese occupy a huge part of my brain. I literally think about waterfowl hunting 90% of the year. There is other hunting as well -  Coyote, pheasant, elk, deer, wild boar -  I think about these things as well throughout the year but not as much as waterfowl. And fishing. I love to fish. I actually fish more than I hunt. But while I am fishing I am usually thinking about duck hunting. Can't help it. As of today, though, Jan 13th my hunting seasons are about to come to a close. There is only a couple weeks of duck season left and a few more weeks for geese. And so it is now fishing that I have on the brain. Well I guess that will do it for now. I am sure I will be the only person who even reads this blog. And I don't plan to write every day, but hopefully it will be a fruitful year and I will have lots of stories and experiences to write about.