Introduction to Straddling the Two Paths

The split between consumptive pursuits in the outdoors (largely hunting and fishing) and non-consumptive ones (hiking, birding, wildlife viewing, etc.) has been around a long time. I suspect many readers, like me, enjoy both. The line between the two was brought home in recent weeks, going from a nature tour in Florida to dove hunting at Matthiessen State Park. They’re different parts of the outdoors.

The Nature Tour Experience

PALM BAY, Fla.–“Alligator!” our oldest son, Josh Clothier, called, pointing across Turkey Creek while we readied to board Capt. Dave Cooksey’s pontoon for a nature tour the last week of August. Then Josh, who’s lived in Florida more than a year and has learned to tell alligators in the water, spotted a second one slowly swimming the far shoreline.

A pair of alligators swam in Turkey Creek before boarding a nature tour in late August out of Palm Bay.

Wildlife Encounters

We met Capt. Dave at the Goode Park launch, where Brevard County Tours start. When he motored us out to the Indian River section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, we saw lots of birds–glossy ibis, brown pelicans, cormorants, kingfishers, egrets, herons–much startling different from what we have around Chicago.

Bluntnose dolphins swam and dived by the dozens in Indian River/Intracoastal Waterway near Palm Bay, Florida, on a nature tour in late August with Brevard County Tours.

Manatee Sighting

Then he said, “Manatee,” pointing to the shoreline. The bulk of the manatee was easier to spot when Capt. Dave told us to watch for the head out of the water munching shoreline vegetation. This was a Florida.

A manatee chews on shoreline vegetation in Turkey Creek near Palm Bay, Florida, in late August on a nature tour.

Dove Hunting Experience

OLGESBY, Ill.–Days after returning from Florida, I was at Matthiessen State Park for the dove draw. (I didn’t apply in time for an opening-day slot somewhere.)
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