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EDITOR’S NOTE
Growing up in rural Michigan, my siblings and I tended a massive
garden. Together, we hoed, planted and plucked weeds, drowning
tomato worms in a bucket the mealy color of canned peas. Although
it wasn’t always fun, we took pride in helping our parents gather
the fruits – and vegetables – of our labor.
Before winter set in, we chopped down trees – only taking what
we needed – and gathered the wood as a family, stacking the logs
and kindling to feed the wood stove and fireplace that would help
heat our home all winter long.
We didn’t have much, but we had each other and the land that we
lived on, acreage that backed up to a national forest, which afforded
us memories I still treasure.
One of those includes watching my father harvest a deer. After
rising early in the morning and successfully killing a buck, he hung it
from our swing set. I watched him for hours, fascinated and grateful.
The meat would feed our family for months.
I still recall proudly bringing a hoof wrapped in a paper lunch bag
to show-n-tell a couple days later and explaining to my classmates
why that deer was so important to our family.
In this issue of Extol Sports, we feature the brilliant team behind
GoWild, an app for outdoors enthusiasts of all types. Unlike people
who “trophy” hunt, the GoWild team is serious about conservation
and utilizing as much of a catch as possible, which I appreciate.
In these pages, you’ll also find inspiration from a 90-year-old
man who expects to see the age of 100; The Final Say columnist
Zach McCrite’s personal views about former University of Louisville
athletics director Tom Jurich (we moved Zach’s column from the
last page to accommodate the length of his column); a 50-year-old
aerialist who is proving, thanks to Norton Healthcare, age is nothing
but a number; and running routes for people of all manner of fitness
by writer/photographer/runner JD Dotson.
In 2018, my hope is to get more feedback from you, our readers, on
the stories and people you’d like to see us feature. I always welcome
comments, criticism, kudos and article ideas. So, please, send them
my way to [email protected] or call/text 502.551.2698.
Happy New Year!
John Hunter of Go Wild
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