Mentoring Takes Many Forms

When I first heard the saying "It takes a hunter to make a hunter," I was intimidated by it. I was working on a hunter recruitment and retention plan for our agency, and the prospect of getting hunters to mentor and help recruit new hunters seemed daunting. However, in the last 10 years I've learned that the statement is true. Prospective hunters need experienced hunters to help them into the hunting fraternity. I've also learned that nearly every hunter I know is mentoring or has mentored someone. It's what we do and it comes naturally -- especially as we get a little older. I've also learned that my initial concept of what mentoring was and what constituted a mentor was inaccurate.

Mentoring can be as simple as lending someone a book, offering some advice on decoy spreads, or helping them select a shotgun. It could be working with a youngster at the trap range or helping a new bowhunter tune his or her bow. It might be taking someone hunting and it might be a long-term relationship, but that isn't necessary to qualify as mentoring.

And a mentor doesn't have to be an older hunter, although that is often the case. I've had many mentors in my life, some older and some younger. Each had experience in a particular aspect of hunting, and they passed that along to me. In many cases, we ended up learning together. But I know I wouldn't have been as successful or learned as much without the mentors I've been fortunate enough to have known.

I think mentoring happens often without the mentor even realizing it. Mentoring is an important aspect of being a hunter, and it's a treasured part of the hunting heritage.