By PJ Maguire

A job in the outdoors is something so many strive for


If you were like me, you would like to have a job that allowed you to spend the workday in the outdoors. Most of us have been told that the most successful people in this world have jobs that they love. It would be pretty sweet to find a career that allowed me to hunt and fish for a living. Ever since I have been young there is nothing else I would rather do then hunt or fish.

Most of the careers dealing with the outdoors I have witnessed or been a part of seem to take away some of the enjoyment of the outdoors. These jobs are very often time consuming with small monetary rewards. Guiding seems to be what most drift to. For me, it isn't hard to get out of bed early day after day for myself, but there are times when getting up early for others is tough.

The lack of realism in outdoor scenes in many Hollywood movies is one area that I feel could be improved. Often these are scenes in which directors try to portray hunting scenarios. Because most directors lack outdoor expertise, these scenes are often skewed and leave non-hunting viewers with a false take. It would be my 'dream job' to be a consultant for Hollywood directors to make these outdoor portrayals closer to reality.

Think about it, not only would you have the ability to make hunting and fishing more appealing to the public, you could work with manufactures for product placement. Filming costs could be lowered through placement of specific products in the film, a form of advertising for manufacturers. This form of advertising happens daily in Hollywood and in the regular outdoor video production companies.

Today there are tons of hunting and fishing videos available to consumers. Believe me, not all of these videos are reality either. Most of the footage is dubbed and much of the dialog is recorded and re-recorded. That's okay, I really cannot fault anyone for trying to make a good hunting or fishing video, but real recognizes real.

I feel that the money one could make from consulting for Hollywood would be greater than that of most other outdoor related careers. Still, as I stated before, I would want to do it for the more accurate portrayal of my passion to the public. Keeping that in mind I feel that I could be very successful.

There are a lot of people who have jobs in the outdoor industry that are successful and enjoy what they do. However it seems as though these career opportunities are limited, and once people get these 'dream jobs' they tend to keep them. Luckily since hunting and fishing are constantly evolving there are new career opportunities being created along the way. Some of these opportunities at some time probably only seemed possible in one's imagination.

So if you asked me what my dream job would be, I would answer with a career that I am not certain even exists. To be some sort of 'Outdoor Realism Consultant' for the Hollywood movie producers and directors that are not familiar with hunting and fishing. But for now I would settle for being the Outdoor Editor for Maxim magazine.