Family-Outdoors was launched in September of 2008 primarily as a venue for a positive outlet for a 14 year old young man, David Mann, who had a passion for the outdoors. He was spending essentially all of his time researching his passion via the internet and printed books when he was not actively engaged living it out through hunting, camping, and fishing. His number one passion is far-and-away the fishing part of the equation. So where does the "Family" part come into the equation?

I knew David also loved to write. His English teachers were not always aware of his abilities and interests. That fact would be born out by the fact that David was not always getting the kind of grades you might expect from someone who has his abilities. David has expressed an interest in journalism and always looked up to his Uncle Brian (Mann), a reporter with North Country Public Radio in the Adirondack region of Upstate New York. So, in a moment of rare insight, I thought as his Dad, perhaps instead of always consuming information from the web, perhaps he could add something meaninful to it and in doing so gain valuable experience. His older brother Daniel, an engineering student in college, was not so much interested in the writing end of things, but was and is interested in the technical end of things and also has a real knack for design. He has put together our logo and has helped in the technical end of various web design issues. Perhaps more importantly, he has been our partner as often as he is able, fitting it in with college athletics and studies, in our outdoor experiences. My wife, Laura, has been ever-patient with our long hours spent writing and designing web content as well as allowing us way more than our fair share of time in the field. David's grandad (my Dad) was instrumental in getting David started fly fishing. It began with a Bennett Springs trout fishing trip and was sealed with the gift of a now well worn St. Croix 5 weight fly rod. It would be a grave oversight not to mention my brother-in law, Bruce, who has been involved for some time in web design and has truly provided a huge portion of the guidance to us to get this endeavor off the ground.

In the time we have been doing this, we have had incredible outdoor experiences as well as enjoyed great experiences through our interaction with our readers. When we travel, either locally or further away, we are constantly mindful of how our adventures might be of benefit to our readers. We have developed several blog sites where we provide more current events or experiences oriented information. David blogs at Fishing in the Ozarks and I blog at my Family Outdoors Blog as well as at Missouri Outdoors. We try to continually update and improve the articles on our site as well as add new articles and new sections to our site. Truthfully, as we evolve, we often look at some of our early material and kind of cringe. This site has turned into a true source of pride for us, and whether we made a dime from it or vast sums of money, it has been truly a labor of love.

Our over-arching theme is that we are tring to provide information that relates to families being able to experience the outdoors in a positive and economical fashion. If we even accomplish this in a small way, we will have fulfilled our goals completely. We have put together nearly 200 articles, or which over 90% is original material.

Daniel Fishing the Ausable River in New York

David Fishing Little Piney Creek in the Missouri Ozarks

Allen (Dad) Fishing Montauk State Park in the Missouri Ozarks

Laura, David, and Daniel, on the Eleven Point River
(Immediately following David being asked to exit my boat because we were stuck on a rock!)