Optimism Required

The duck season closed Sunday and the pheasant and quail seasons close today. It hasn't been a banner season in this area for either one. Our pheasant and quail numbers were down due to last summer's extreme heat and drought. And while record numbers of ducks were forecast, the drought reduced the amount of water in this area, and we never saw any build of up of ducks. Oh well, the weather was mild, and I enjoyed my time in the field with dogs and friends. My hunting partners and I are already talking about next year. If we get just a little more moisture in the next few months and we can avoid severe storms in May and June -- just maybe our bird numbers will rebound. I've been around long enough to see pheasant and quail make amazing recoveries when conditions were right for nesting and brood-rearing. There's hope. And we still have spring turkey season to look forward to. I don't hunt turkeys nearly as hard as I used to, but one or two mornings in the woods will carry me over until dove season.

Optimism and hope are necessary for hunters. Every year is different, and so much of what dictates the quality of our seasons is out of our control. You have to have optimism. I was reminded of that this past Saturday. A friend and I decided to hunt, even though we hadn't seen many ducks lately and our waterhole was getting very low. We hoped the warm temperatures had kept the water open, and we hoped we see a few ducks on our last hunt of the season. However, hope waned when we arrived to find ice covering the pond and the water lower than expected. We broke ice and placed a few decoys anyway. After an hour or so, we sort of gave up and decided ducks weren't in the cards. Guns were out of reach and we were idly chatting when about 25 wigeon and mallards coasted in over the decoys. No shots were fired, and we cussed our lack of attention causing a missed opportunity.  Only a couple more birds were seen, and we each took a mallard drake, but we laughed about what could have been if we hadn't lost optimism.

We'll get 'em next year.

The Greatest Hunting Mentors

I've written a lot lately about mentors because I think they're important to our hunting heritage, and I think they too often go unnoticed. However, I failed to mention a group of individuals who are undoubtedly our greatest hunting mentors: hunter education instructors. Teaching a class in a Hunter Education Course may not fit your definition of mentoring, but when you look closely at the dedicated individuals who teach, you'll see it differently. And for many, calling them dedicated is inadequate. There is a core group within this collection who spend countless hours and weekends conducting classes. They don't do it for the money because there isn't any, and they don't look for recognition. They do it for the kids. And most take it a step further and introduce  youngsters to hunting when they aren't teaching. These instructors teach the curriculum, following the student manual, but they also communicate their passion for hunting, and that's really what mentoring is about. If it's been years since you took a hunter education class, you should take another one. Better yet, find a youngster who has an interest and enroll with them. The new alternative delivery that combines at-home internet study with a field day of shooting, gun handling and trail walks is not only educational, but students have a blast. And it's truly  gratifying to see these remarkable instructors at work.

Reluctant Mentors?

This winter I read a newspaper editorial about the writer's frustration with the department's Special Hunts Program. The program is designed to provide high-quality opportunities to hunters by limiting the number of hunters in an area on a given day through a lottery draw process. Our public lands managers realize that not everyone has exclusive access to private land and that some hunters avoid open public land because of hunting pressure. By going through the application process, hunters can draw opportunities for a variety of hunts, including waterfowl, upland birds, and deer. There are also hunts that cater to youth and novice hunters -- part of the department's hunter recruitment and retention program. The writer was dismayed that mentors would be allowed to hunt and he didn't agree with the definition of novice. He also took issue with the fact that some of these hunts took place on areas not previously open to hunting, or refuges, as he called them. In my opinion, his view of the entire program was clouded by a few hunts he disagreed with and the fact that he missed the application period. However, my real problem with his piece was his interpretation that the days when "adults were willing to give of their time to see youngsters enjoy life" were gone. He thought that today's adults wouldn't take youth hunting without the lure of hunting themselves.

I wonder how many hunters the writer actually knows. I'm not sure I know a hunter who hasn't mentored someone, and most mentor every season. It's a natural part of the hunting heritage. However, we've identified "not enough time" as one of the biggest barriers to hunting, so if we can provide high-quality opportunities for both mentor and youth or novice hunters, why wouldn't we?

And I have no problem with mentors hunting with youth. I don't know about you, but I learned to hunt by hunting with my dad and granddad. I watched and learned, and it was a natural process. When Dad or Granddad killed a bird, I was as proud as if I had bagged the bird, and I felt part of our success. Most public land managers who design these hunts want participation. They especially want youth involved, and I guess they're not worried about an adult mentor's real motivation.

The Special Hunts Program is popular. In fact, I think this is the first negative comment I've seen, but I guess we can't please everyone. But make no mistake, today's hunters are "Passing It On."

Simple Outdoor Pleasures

I recently glanced at a photo taken earlier this fall and was immediately flooded with good feelings. It was a picture of me and Creede, by 11-year-old black lab, sitting in a make-shift duck blind. It wasn't a particularly good day for duck hunting because it was too warm and almost dead calm. The ducks didn't fly, but my cousin and me and the Big Black Dog had a great time. We enjoyed being miles from town on a special piece of land lush with a flowing spring, especially noteworthy during the prolonged drought. While calm winds didn't keep the ducks moving, the quiet allowed us to hear quail whistle just before dawn. We heard geese honking in an apparent territorial dispute a quarter mile to the south, and we heard the crunching footsteps of a white-tailed buck that cruised through the creek bottom behind us checking for does. I'll admit we were a little frustrated with the lack of ducks, but viewing the photo gave me only positive feelings. Hunting starts as a past-time or hobby, but if you stay with it long enough, it becomes part of your being. It's not so much that you go hunting but that you are a hunter, and you learn to enjoy every minute of every day in the field. It's an old cliche, but it really does boil down to just being there. Being there was important and it fuels the memory today and will fuel the memory 20 years from now. There aren't a lot of things in my life that impact me that way. I'm really glad Dad took me hunting 40 years ago.

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.

Best Christmas Gifts

I know now that our family went through some lean times financially when I was young, but Mom and Dad kept me from realizing it then. They somehow always managed to make sure my sister and I had the things we needed. At Christmas, we weren't lavished with lots of expensive gifts, but I always felt special. Mom and Dad would prod us for one gift we really wanted, and we usually got it. I didn't have expensive tastes then, but I usually wanted something that had to do with hunting and fishing. I still have a Weaver variable power rifle scope I got my twelfth Christmas. It's still attached to the .22 rifle that belonged to my Granddad, who gave it to my father, who gave it to me. And I still remember the Christmas I opened a large, rectangular box to find a beautiful Remington BDL .243 bolt action rifle. I hadn't asked for it, thinking it too expensive, but Mom and Dad somehow managed to buy it for me. I killed my first mule deer with that rifle the following fall, and even though I don't rifle hunt much anymore, it's one of my most prized possessions. I recently loaned it to a friend so he could take his grandson deer hunting. He wondered if I was interested in selling it. I just laughed and said I could never part with that gun. It's far too special because it carries the memories of that Christmas and all the hunts that came after.

The Life Journey of Hunting

When someone passes on the hunting heritage to another person, what they're really doing is helping that person embark on a life-long journey. The hunting journey's destination is never arrived at because it is always changing. You may have heard of the five stages of the hunter. The first stage is the "Shooter," and it's especially true with young hunters. During the shooter stage, a successful hunt is marked by lots of shooting and opportunities. The second stage is the "Limit" or "Bagger" stage. In this stage, a successful hunt is when the hunter takes a limit of game. The third stage is the "Trophy" stage. During the trophy stage, the hunter measures success by taking trophy-class animals, such as a deer that qualifies for Pope and Young. Success during the trophy stage requires more time, better skills and the possibility of coming home empty handed. The fourth stage is the "Method" stage. During this stage, the way a hunter hunts is the most important and satisfying aspect. Hunting ducks over decoys or bowhunting deer are good examples of method hunting. The final stage is the "Sportsmen" stage. During this phase, the hunter focuses on the overall experience and is likely to mentor other hunters, finding as much enjoyment in their success as in his or her own.

The fact that a hunter's goals and aspirations are always changing is one of the true joys of the hunting journey. And it's possible for a hunter to be in several different stages at the same time. A hunter who has hunted waterfowl for years may be firmly in the method stage, hunting over decoys and measuring success by the effectiveness of the decoy spread and calling. However, if that hunter recently took up turkey hunting, he or she is likely still in the early stages of evolution, wanting lots of opportunities and experiences to learn from. The final stage is truly the pinnacle because a hunter has learned to enjoy every aspect and minute of every hunt, including the preparation. Results are unimportant, and success is always attained.