DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Kids and getting them involved in the outdoors

Thought I would share a wonderful experience I had over the weekend.

I was very fortunate growing up that my grandfather got my involved in fishing and hunting and to this day is a passion of mine.

Since my daughter was very young I continued on the tradition with her and I call her my little fishing buddy and have taken her on several trips with me and she has gotten hooked too no pun intended. (Pretty cool as not many 16 year old girls would want to get up at 4:00 in the morning to go fishing with their old man)

So yesterday I had a charter trip booked with one of my charter captain friends on lake Erie and I said to my daughter how about we invite your friend Evan to go with us.

They have been friends since Kindergarten and has kind of gone through a tough time lately with parents divorce etc. and has no father figure currently in his life.

Evan is pretty shy and initially declined as he said he had never caught a fish or even been on a boat. I told him don't worry about it, I will buy your license and we will teach you everything and he finally agreed to go with us reluctantly.

Long story short I am 100% confident that I now have another fishing buddy as we caught 24 walleye and the young man was smiling ear to ear.

No phones, no social media, just a beautiful morning on the lake with my daughter and her friend enjoying the outdoors.

When we got home I showed him how to filet fish and he thought that was really cool too and did a nice job. We then all ate a great meal of fresh caught walleye.

After dinner when he was leaving he said to me, Mr. Miller this was one of the best days of my life and thank you. (He also said when can we go again

Sorry for the long post and I guess my whole point is if you can get a chance to do something small to get someone younger involved in the outdoors then do it as these kids need to experience it.

I know it was a day I will never forget seeing the smiles on the young mans face and my daughters as well

Good on you.

You are correct - kids need to get off the phones and experience life.

I know it was a while back now, but my parents would make me do hw, be active/outside/etc and wouldn’t let me watch tv or play video games until like a half hour before bed. I think it’s even more important today

sounds less about it being outdoors and more to do that you provided that kid a positive male influence in his life that he desperately needed.

good man.

I know in Ohio my father volunteers at youth hunting and fishing camps put on by the lakes and trails organization...

linkie...

I think the age requirement is minimum 9 years old....My brother, my cousins, and I all went to these camps....they teach fishing, water safety, gun safety....

all sorts of fun stuff to do with hunting and fishing themes....the hunting camp is in the fall.....fishing is in the Spring.....I think its just a weekend thing....

Great story! There's something about connecting with nature that nothing else quite compares to. Good on you for passing some of those traditions along.

Tyler-thank you for posting that link as I am definitely interested in getting involved with the group.

Watching the sunrise on the lake on the boat yesterday just made me smile and to also think about my grandfather and that he was looking down on us smiling (his ashes were sprinkled in Lake Erie and it was his love)

He was a hard working man that grew up in the depression era and used hunting and fishing to provide for his family and taught me everything and most importantly to respect wildlife and the beauty of the outdoors.

When he got older and knew he was going to pass away he sat me down and said, please whatever you do pass along the passion that we have for the outdoors. (Browns too as he is who took me to my first browns game in the old stadium and I was immediately hooked :))

I've worked tirelessly preaching gun safety, fly fishing, tracking, ethical hunting to kids or anyone who shows interest. I have two grown daughters who are experts in the outdoors. And...I have a good deal of young men and women from 24-30 years old who got a start by listening and putting what they learned into practice. Very satisfying. Keep it up!

Nice job, Miller Man!

Have a niece who's dad started taking her hunting and fishing at a very early age. She's 16 now and a couple years ago got herself in something like a field and stream magazine with a pic from a geese hunting trip. I fished as a kid, but never cared to hunt because I don't like game meat. She amazes me though. You could drop her off in the wilderness and she would survive just fine.

It wasn't a long post at all... and I truly enjoyed reading every word of it.

I tend to agree with Swish. Sounds like he just appreciated a role model teaching him a new skill and taking time to spend with him.

So the story gets even better now and I think I definitely have this young man hooked on the outdoors.

My daughter and her friends all came over to our house last night and Evan was with them.

I was in the garage starting to work on getting my hunting gear ready for the upcoming season. He came out and thanked me again for taking him fishing and I said it was a great time and we will definitely go again.

He saw my crossbow that I was working on and he said wow that is really cool that you shoot that and hunt deer with it. He then asked me would you teach me to maybe shoot it?

I said to him, yes I definitely will but with one stipulation and that is he will have to go thru a hunter education course first.

He said that he definitely would like to do that. I called his mother and she thanked me for being so nice to him and told mehe can't stop talking about our fishing trip.

I asked her if it was OK if I signed him up for the classes and told her I would attend with him. She said yes please do! He needs a hobby in his life (he doesn't play any sports etc.) and really needs a male figure to be there for him right now.

I signed him up for the hunter education course and I will attend with him the weekend of August 24th and 25th.

Looks like I may now have a deer hunting buddy with me for my upcoming season!

Thought I would share as it really has made an impact on my life that you forget some of these kids don't have a father figure in their life and do not have an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and someone to teach them.

Good stuff, Millerman. Good stuff. Changing one persons life at a time, is how we change the world.

Man, that's wonderful! It sounds as if he needs you in his life right now and you can go a very long way in having a positive influence in his life.