Introduction

Welcome to the Pass It On BLOG. Topics will be broad, although all will somehow be connected to the value of teaching our youngsters about the outdoors. The older I get, the more I appreciate the time my family spent together outdoors while I was growing up. I was a kid who was naturally drawn to be outside and from a very early age, I was obsessed with fishing. When I was old enough to read, Outdoor Life was my choice of publications. I became fascinated with hunting even though the first 10 years of my life were spent in the suburbs, and I never had a chance to hunt. My family moved to Greensburg, Kan. from Rockford, Ill. when I was 11, and I hunted pheasants with my father that first fall. I was hooked in the first minute of the first morning! I’ve been enjoying and learning about hunting and fishing most of my life, but I still reminisce about the early days of hunting with Dad and Granddad. I took those times for granted when I was young, although I enjoyed them immensely. I assumed everyone had those opportunities. But as I’ve worked with the Pass It On program for the past 10 years, I've learned that fewer youngsters are getting the same experiences I had. I’ve come to believe that the time my father and grandfather spent fishing and hunting with me were far more important than merely passing on the outdoor heritage. I believe the time they spent made me into the teenager I was and the adult I’m still working on. I believe they gave me an advantage over people who weren’t as fortunate. It’s not the hunting and fishing, although I think it’s an important element, but rather it’s the hours of one-on-one time they spent with me. The department’s Pass It On program is designed to recruit new hunters, and it was established to reverse the decline in the number of hunters. However, the real value of the program may be much more profound. I’ll be discussing that idea, as well as relating experiences I’ve had or been told about. Agree or disagree, I’d love to hear from you.