Can hunting make a difference
 

Yesterday morning I was out looking for a certain 10 pointer at daylight.He seems to live out in the open and two night ago I stalked him to within 15 yards but things went bad when he caught me drawing my bow back.My plan was to find him and try stalking him again, that changed when my phone rang.


See last year one of my nieghbor kids was having a bad time in school and at home, hes got some serious issues and may be a little bi polar.He gets in trouble quite a bit as a result and nobody seems sure what to do with him.He was having a bad time one day last fall when I was down there and I asked his parents if he could go with me on a bowhunt that night, we hunted on the ground in a foodplot and had two great bucks come in one of which I missed an easy shot on.

But the most noticable part of that hunt was the kids behavior.His parents told me he would never set still that long and my wife told me to take it easy on him.We got there early and built a little hiding spot in the corn stalks, the kid sat there and for over two hours he never moved, never talked, and paid attention to everything I said and did, asked questions, and listened to my explanations.At the end of the hunt he was a different kid, he was relaxed and amazed, couldnt wait to get home and tell his parents about how close we got and all the things we saw.I took him a few more times that year and never had a problem with him.

I had an old youth bow my son has long outgrown, I gave it to him for Christmas last year.Something changed, all the energy he put into raising hell he was suddenly putting into doing something he liked.He practiced all year, he went to work for a buddy of mine that bowhunts some of the same properties I do all summer and used his money to set himself up with hunting equipment.He studied and took the hunters safety course and passed with flying colors.While I was gone all summer from home working him and my buddy, and my oldest son all hung stands, pruned trees, and got everything ready.He saved up and bought his hunting licenses and tags and started hunting this fall.He would alternate between me and my friends stands and we pretty much let him have the one property to himself most of the year.

Happy to say that phone call yesterday was him calling me, he had made his brother get up and take him to one of our stands yesterday morning before daylight.20 minutes later he made a perfect shot on his first deer, it was a small buck, and it only had half its rack, but it was his first.He tracked it as far as he could then I helped, and when we found it 100 yrds away he made a fair effort at gutting it.When we got to town he watched me and then took over as I showed him how to skin it and bone it out, I did half and he did half.And when I left he was telling his mom how he was gonna work this year and buy some stands of his own and how he was going to my buddies that night to grind some of it into burger and how he was gonna buy some pork from the guy to add into it.He was a happy kid, far from the moody little troublemaker he was last fall when I first took him out.

So can hunting make a difference in a kids life?I would say yes, he isnt perfect, he still gets into trouble, but you will have that with kids.He went from bouncing off the walls to sitting quietly for hours on end and all the effort payed off for him.It was a good day.But right now I got a date with a buck south of town and Im running late.

While hunting provided a focus,your quality time made the difference.

That is a good one.
I bet he will take a kid with him some day.
He will never forget it.
Good storey too.

I think your story proves that it can happen.

Now that's what being a role model and mentor is all about. I love to hear success stories like that.

I think alot of kids suffer from over saturation and information overload in today's society. Spending time in the outdoors is VERY good for kids and you're doing something special and worthy both for him and his parents.

I never enjoy hunting more than with my kids and I can see the effect on them. We spend a ton of time out on the ranch and they love it. It takes an act of Congress to get them to play outside at home but if I tell them we're loading the Jeep and headed out, they get excited.

Further, it gives them focus and a goal. Hunting isn't just about sitting somewhere and shooting an animal, its about the strategy, the sport, the anticipation and planning. If gives one something to contemplate and look forward to. It is and should be hard work to scout, prep gear, self-educate, and patiently watch a plan unfold. These are life skills above and beyond the basic hunter/gather acquisition of lean meat to feed upon.

Letting him peer into that world will give him confidence and self respect. Being an ethical hunter is a repsonsibility and a badge of honor.

Simply outstanding of you to undertake this acitivity.

Awesome story, much respect! The world in general would benefit from more people like you. And I agree, PETA sucks! :-)

I have a kid with attention issues. School is a problem for him even though he is quite smart in math and science. He never sits still. bouncing off the walls all the time. I've been sitting him in a tree with me hunting urban deer this year and I have also taken him out on a few squirrel hunts. He is a different child in the woods. No distractions. One task...all his attention on one thing. He even shushed me for making too much noise yesterday evening. We were sitting over a couple doe and he was dying to shoot one. We had dinner plans with friends and since I see these doe all the time I told him to hold off.
Having something in your life that you care about gives you a sense of purpose sometimes. Connecting with nature, gaining an appreciation of where food comes from, understanding the delicate nature of life in the animals we hunt....all this increases your respect for life and respect for yourself. Some kids are big into sports but not every kid is.
My wife is a high school teacher. Early on in her career she took note of what linked almost all the kids who did well in school and who were just good kids as apposed to the ones who were trouble. It was involvement by parents/adults in their lives, and activities that made productive use of their idle time. She has been determined to give that kind of involvement to our kids. I have to tell you that there have been many times and many fights where I was PO'd about how much time I had to put in for kids activities, but our kids have all been been better off for it. My older two have both done well with traditional sports/school activities, but my youngest has only recently been able to pay attention long enough to take part in organized sports. Baseball,football, soccer, karate, aikido. one of these turned out to be something that he wanted to continue once his initial obligation was complete. This year when I was getting ready for archery season he picked up a few old trainer bows that had been his brothers and started shooting. And he was out there every day. So I bought a used modern compound bow in his draw range and had it tuned up for him. He practices all the time. Not sure if this will be a lifelong thing but for now it is something he does that he takes pride in. Pride is like magic for a kid.

You gave that kid something he didn't have. You gave him something magic.