Not much hunting here in the wilds of Silicon Valley… 
Your suspicion was right. Not much ice in Silicon Valley.
Umm… interesting idea, but it doesn’t really click with me.
I tried this once but wasn’t enthused by it.
Thanks,
J.
I think Archery is the natural progression from this. Somewhat physical. Somewhat social. You get to play with neat toys.
Give archery a try.
Don’t you mean regression? 
Guns came after archery.
Now, another “regression” of this would be throwing atlatls. I did this once and it was a blast. Physical, social, and pretty esoteric. People would always ask what it is, because so few know of it. Archery, on the other hand is very well known.
How about radio control cars/boats/planes? Whatever suits you best, there seems to be an RC something.
Now THAT’s a good one. I tried it when I was young, but mostly remember hurting my left forearm. I’ll have to look in to it again.
Initially an interesting idea, but I think my interest would wane pretty quickly.
Thanks all,
J.
Volunteer firefighting.
What? I did it…
Your quest for a hobby sounds very familiar. I’m always considering the same thing. Here are some hobbies on my list:
Archery is a hoot. If you can find a good public archery range close to you, preferably indoors, I’d give it a try. It’s not expensive (unless you go nuts with olympic-quality gear), and a good Archery range will have fun-nights with competitions, inexpensive classes, and possibly leagues you can get involved in.
It sounds like you like to be competitive - how about Pool? Pool has stuck with me as a hobby for 20 years now. Even if you don’t have your own table, you can probably find a pool hall close by. Pool done right requires strategy, accuracy, and finesse. Easy to learn, wickedly hard to master. There are lots of good online resources. Most medium-sized cities and up have public pool leagues where you can join a team and be competitive. Check out the Billiard Congress of America - Enjoy Pool web site for more info. If you learned to play in a bar, be aware that ‘bar pool’ barely scratches the surface of what pool is all about.
Astronomy. Get involved in a local group. Take a few trips the local planetarium on a public scope night and see if you like it. Won’t cost you a thing.
The RC suggestion is a good one. If you’ve never looked into the hobby (or looked at it when you were a kid), you’d be surprised at what’s out there now. You can get miniature indoor helicopters, ‘park flyers’ you can build in an evening and fly in the local schoolyard on electric power, and other cool devices. You can fly video cameras or live video feeds. You can get started for under $50, including radio.
Fishing. This is one I keep meaning to take up in the summers, especially now that I have a daughter coming of age to enjoy it.
Painting. It doesn’t have to be sedentary - depends on the subject. Paint landscapes, and travel around looking for interesting subjects.
If you’re into cars, you could try auto-cross. If you’ve got a car that’s even mildly sporty, you could probably find an autocross course for you. Even if you don’t autocross, you could consider taking a high-performance driving course. Not only would it be fun, but it will make you a better, safer driver.
Carpentry/Metal Working/sculpting, etc. Find something new to do with your hands. I have a friend who builds little ornate wooden boxes like humidors or small cabinets. He either keeps them, or sells them, or gives them as gifts. This is something that interests me - if you make something of high enough quality, it could stick around for longer than you, leaving a little piece of yourself behind.
SCUBA Diving: You can take a local course for a couple of hundred bucks and get certified. Even if you don’t do much diving after, it’s a cool experience.
Sailing: If you live close to a lake where they have sailing instruction, give it a try! I plan to do that this year. It’s a nice combination of technical fidgetry, exercise, and sport. You can buy a used day sailboat for a few hundred bucks, small enough to lash to a roof rack so you don’t even need a trailer. You can even get into racing them, or you can take a vacation later and get certified to be able to skipper a large recreational boat. Then you can go on sailing holidays and rent a 30-40 ft boat for a week or two and sail around.
I was going to recommend bowling, but then you said you don’t drink anymore. I can’t picture someone bowling without a beer!
Wow, lot’s of great suggestions! Let’s take them one at a time:
Archery - yeah, I’m going to look into that from your and the other suggestion of it.
Pool: Hmmm, I used to play a little as a teenager (and no, I’m not going to tell you how many years ago that was ) It’s a possibility.
Astronomy: done that. I even worked for Orion Telescope Center and was married (for a short time) to the sister of the founder of Meade Instruments.
RC: You’re the second to suggest it. I’m going to have to learn more about it.
Fishing: I don’t know, it just doesn’t really appeal.
Painting: Sorry, no talent.
Autocross: would a Prius work?
Carpentry, Metal Sculpting, etc: Possible in the future, but no space for it right now.
Scuba: Tried that. Got deathly motion sick on the first open water dive.
Sailing: Again, I’m not much of a water person.
Thanks again for all of the suggestions!
J.
Extreme Ironing adventure and a well pressed shirt.
Well you don’t have a location in your profile, but I will assume North America, so how about this
Another vote for geocaching here.
Golf is a great suggestion, but I will also suggest disc golf since the costs are astronomically lower compared to traditional golf. It is free to play on nearly every course; the only costs for recreational play involve travel and equipment (i.e. a few discs and a disc bag). There are disc golf courses in Northern California, but you may or may not be near one.
I’ll combine two. Trail a fishing lure behind an R/C boat. Make sure the boat is watertight, in case a big fish pulls it under, briefly. You can fish really shallow water where a full size boat can’t go, not to mention under docks.
That was the same memory I had… then I got into it (following a few years of playing with guns/hunting with them).
I had ONE arm burn… because I didn’t put on my armguard, and didn’t know what I was doing. Modern bows with trigger releases greatly cut down on the injuries that we all got with those red bows.
I don’t see a location, but pretty much everwhere has some sort of 3-d circuit. You get to basically play golf with bows. 30 targets (3d animals), set over a course. You walk between them, shoot at each one, and score. Don’t worry about showing up alone, it’s easy to join in with a group. We’re a very friendly bunch, and I’ve only run into one group that I didn’t want to shoot with. (many years, and many 3d events alone. If it’s not TOO busy, or rules oriented, I’ve often been able to shoot an entire round by myself, with groups allowing me to shoot through.)
Landscaping? I’m not much of a Gardener in the sense of raising edibles but I do find that designing and maintaining a yard to be immensely relaxing and theraputic. There’s less urgency wrt protecting a crop against pests and the like and usually I find that I can just pretty much putter around the yard and do things as I’m inclined (within reason). There’s so many things to find joy in, from designing a compelling arrangement of beds, walkways, hedges and trees that work together synchronously to pruning them for maximum growth and flowering to replanting them as conditions change, elements mature, etc. I can always find something to do, yet usually if need be it can wait if I have something more pressing in mind… like golf.
Musical instruments are out? You might find that playing the guitar or piano could be cool. Or the recorder. Harmonica?
You could also volunteer for habitat for humanity or to help kids read or something. I always like helping out people in retirement homes, they are very appreciative usually…
I’ll have to throw my hat into the geocaching ring.
I’ve been seriously considering it and how well I could blend it with one of my existing hobbies. Spelunking. Your previous rock climbing experience would give you a leg up in the deep underground.
I also get into restoring antique cars. Fantastic sense of accomplishment there and while I hadn’t considered it when I started, it’s a bit of a rush when everyone turns to look at you when you’re driving down the road.
I would like to second archery, it’s a really fun hobby. You can go in a couple of different directions with it.
Um, do you want to get a dog? I have this recent obsession with getting a dog and then training him to be a therapy dog for visiting places like nursing homes and Ronald McDonald houses and such. This would be active yet not strenuous, and also mental. Of course, you’d have to commit to owning a dog, so maybe not a 3 year time frame. I should note that this is what I want MY new hobby to be, only we can’t have a dog in the apartment where we live, so I want someone else to embrace this as their new hobby. Just think, IT COULD BE YOU.
I alluded (sp?) to my location in a previous post when I said “Silicon Valley”. I’m in San Jose, California.
That 3-D circuit sounds cool! I’ll have to check it out, and see if there are any courses around me.
Thanks,
J.