New: Kids Mentoring Program

[Neal]

I have been working with Stelmon on this project, but thought I should make it available to all.......Some of the members of my club have started a "mentoring" program to help introduce kids to the outdoors and hunting. We are specifically looking for kids 12-17 who would not likely have an opportunity, through friends/family, to do these things. We will first meet with the parent(s) of the kid, get them their hunters safety training, teach them to shoot, and most likely actually take them on their first hunt. We have done this on a small scale over the last few years, and their is nothing like being their when they get their first deer of pheasant. If any of you know a youngster, in S.E. Michigan, that may be interested please contact me at NealE@Eastlind.com

Neal

[flatsman]

I don't know of any kids in that area. Thanks guys it's a great thing you are doing.:cool:

[Hunter333]

I would like to see kids other than those in SE Mi involved. I live on the west side and would be more than willing to volunteer out this way. Let me know if you have any people out this way. if there arent any, how can I get this going over here?

[northern_outdoorsman]

I live near Romeo and would love to help out. Can I have more info about the club? Email me>>>>Don

[Neal]

Hunter333~ I would check with some of your local hunt clubs to see if they already have a program. If not, try to find a kid on your own, contact your local chapter of "parents without partners" or also contact your local hunter safety instructor, sometimes they have kids who are interested in hunting, yet have no where to go.....Good Luck

N. Outdoorsman~ I belong to the Southeast Michigan Bowhunters Chapter of Safari Club International. It is, in my opinion, the best pro-hunting organization around. I am chairman of the Humanitarian services committee, that operate these programs (Sportsmen Against Hunger, Mentoring, Sensory Safari) We just created a website...it is still under construction, but has a lot of info. http://www.scibowhunters.org/

if your interested in joining us, we could sure use the help. Let me know. BTW I live near 18mi and Van Dyke

Neal

[stelmon]

Neal, no luck yet. But I will keep trying

[Neal]

Thanks Stelmon~ keep up the good work.....If we can get some new kids soon, I can get them into our hunters safety camp in August.

Neal

[northern_outdoorsman]

Neal E-mail Me and let me know where ya live, I grew up right in that area and my parents still live there!

[goose hunter]

I'm going to have a couple of duck/geese hunts for the youngsters only this year. I may even get a few in on our farms for the early deer hunts. I never saw a young person as happy as the first time they take something all by there self. I get a few fathers that like to do the shooting and let the kids take the credit. It is alot better when there is no gun in the adults hands. If you have anyone in the Milan area that needs a hunting place get back with me on it.

[Hamilton Reef]

Neal and Stelmon have a good idea here for the regular hunting seasons. It's better than the special violators season set up by the DNR to have the kids shoot deer in the summer. I can support the youth programs that are ethical.

[Neal]

Goose~ Thanks for the support, I'll keep you in mind.

Reef~ If you don't have anything positive to say, then ......well you know. I don't want this positive, good for hunting, thread turned into a debate on the youth season..........please save it for the sound-off forum. Your comments are counter-productive here.

Neal

[Hamilton Reef]

Neal, Your youth mentoring program for the youth is a good idea and you should be a good model to show the youth DNR how such a program can be operated with out pandering to the violators. That's a good positive for the youth. It might also help if you don't show the chip on your shoulder to the kids. There, that's all positive.

[Neal]

Any kid participating in this program will, obey the laws that apply. They will be with the property owner or a responsible, veteran hunter assigned by the owner. The fact that some hunters may break the law, does not make this program or its legal participants unethical.

A chip on my shoulder?.......You bet......I like to call it an attitude, it is this positive attitude that allows me to wake up every morning with a desire the make the world a better place and not become complacent with apathy......I think our youth could use a shot of that.

Neal :D

[Neal]

Here is the story of a kid we took last year. the story is written by my brother.

Take a Kid Hunting!
by Bob Easterbrook, Jr.

Hunting season is just around the corner. And my bodily calendar knows it. I get this way every year as the countdown to October dwindles.
But this year is different. My internal clock is running about one week fast. Why is that? It’s due to Michigan’s 2nd annual Special Youth Hunt. This weekend, exclusive to kids 14 to 16 years old, occurs on September 22 & 23 this year.
If you have not mentored a youth in hunting, you don’t know what you are missing. If you want to feel that elated, overwhelming burst of emotions you get only with your first deer again, it’s time to get cracking.
For last year’s inaugural youth hunt, I thought I would try to find a youngster and help him or her get off to a good start in hunting. After all, it’s what we are supposed to do, right? Involve new people to carry on the tradition of our proud hunting heritage.
My kids are too young yet, so I focused my attention on the 50 kids who attended the chapter’s State Hunter Apprentice Program last August. One young man seemed to catch my attention. His name was A.J. He was 15 years old. And like a Labrador retriever shaking with excitement waiting for the crack of a shotgun, A.J. seemed to have a real fire burning inside of him, waiting to immerse himself in this thing called hunting.
In a nutshell, the week after the program I made a call to his mother, arranged to stop by to meet his family, and got enthusiastic permission to take him to the gun range and hunting.
My hunting partner Ralph Cagle eagerly agreed to pitch in with the mentoring task, even digging up a huge bag full of retired hunting clothes and gear that he presented to A.J. before the hunt.
The September youth hunt arrived and we spent two fun-filled and hard working days in our 80-acre swamp. A.J. had a crack at a nice buck, but buck fever overtook his body, setting his heart racing and instilling this strange and uncontrollable shaking that we’ve all encountered, but can’t really explain to a non-hunter. It was something he had never experienced before. He was both amazed and amused by the phenomenon – and he liked it! It was a great educational experience for A.J., and he handled himself very well in the deer woods. We told him we weren’t done with him yet - we would give it another go sometime.
The hunting season whizzed by at it’s normal quick pace and come December, our planned hunt with A.J. fizzled due to the generous dumping of snow we received. I just happened to be chatting with chapter Vice President Ivy Gelzins, and he graciously invited us out to his place near Holly.
With just a few days until Christmas, we put in a long morning and evening out in the hardwoods with a foot of snow on the ground and a steady drizzle of rain to soak everything we owned. We spent the middle part of the day drying everything at Ivy’s house so we could go back out and soak it again. I asked A.J. if he new many sane people who did this kind of thing for enjoyment. He was definitely becoming one of us. He somehow loved this odd torture we put ourselves through.
Not a deer was seen that day, but we did have a good time and enjoyed the hospitality of our hosts - as well as some of Dede’s fine cooking. Ivy even did a little freezer cleaning while we were out and sent A.J. home with a heaping bag of wild game – from moose to deer to goose to grouse to fish. His grandma prepared the goose as a fine Christmas dinner for the whole family.
With the season winding to a close, I took A.J. out once more. It was the day after Christmas and it couldn’t have been much colder. On the 45-minute drive to Holly, I learned that Santa had brought A.J. a nice climbing treestand. That guy really does know what kids want, doesn’t he!We sat for three hours in the stinging cold that evening. We dug out a makeshift blind in the deep snow, looking over a wooded ridge where we could see that the deer had been feeding on acorns. Ralph’s old hunting clothes kept A.J. comfortable for the first couple of hours, but as daylight slipped away, A.J. kept a close eye on his watch – counting down the minutes until the posted 5:35 p.m. end to shooting hours. Actually, we were both anxiously anticipating the escape from our chilling situation so we could thaw out in front of Ivy’s fireplace; but I kept assuring A.J. that the closer it got to dark, the better the chances of a deer slipping out of the bedding area.
He announced in a whispered voice “five-ten”. Later I heard “five-twenty.” …”five-twenty-five.” …“five-twenty-eight”.
At 5:31 his whispered voice sounded urgent.
“What’s that?!”, slowly motioning off to the right.
Deep into the woods in the direction of the bedding area something dark was moving. It was a deer! Better yet, a lone doe! It was the late doe season and at this point, a nice buck would have been nothing but a cruel joke. The cold had mysteriously disappeared for both of us.
The deer worked its way toward the acorn-feeding site at a steady pace, winding its way through the hardwoods. A.J. slowly raised his 12-gauge slug gun, trying hard to hold as still as possible. At 25 yards and turning broadside the doe was slipping through a slight opening between a couple trees. I gave a soft whistle, stopping the deer in its tracks and surprising the heck out of A.J. This was not a tactic we had discussed. I was desperately hoping he would take the queue and know what to do. The deer stopped and looked right at us. An eternity of about two seconds passed. BOOM! The shotgun roared. The deer bucked and made a wild, low flight through the foot of fresh powder and piled up about 60 yards down the ridge. He had made a perfect shot, claiming victory over the dreaded buck fever that had cost him earlier. It was now 5:32, we had only 3 minutes to spare!
With the task accomplished, it was now time to stop fighting it and just let the fever take over. A.J. was about as excited as a kid can be; heart thumping wildly out of his chest; entire body shaking out of control, and a grin from ear to ear.
The odd part was that the last sentence also described me! It’s been a long time since my first deer, but I can’t imagine that shook any worse than I was at that moment. That’s when I knew I was hooked on mentoring young hunters just as badly as A.J. was on hunting itself. We both found another element to add to our lives that would increase our appreciation of what the outdoors has to offer and what it can do for your soul.
After several handshakes and back slaps, A.J. eagerly dragged the deer over hill and dale, through the deep snow, refusing any help, with the energy one could only muster after harvesting their first deer. Once back at the house of our hosts we warmed up and made a few excited phone calls (both of us did).
When we returned to Royal Oak weary, yet still pumped up, we placed the deer on the porch at his grandma & grandpa’s house, where he and his mom were staying. He brought the whole family out, including his two awestruck little brothers. They were all so proud of him – fresh venison for the whole family. He said it was the best Christmas ever!
We later went to see chapter member Joe Judnick of Blue Ribbon Products who graciously butchered & wrapped the fine meat for his family.
There’s no doubt that we have a new lifelong hunter amongst us now. One I hope to share a blind with again sometime. And my hunting season just got one weekend longer too. A win-win situation.
Mentoring is indeed a great benefit to our sport. If nothing else, do it the first time simply out of a sense of duty. But be forewarned, the experience may consume you. You’ll be back to do it again and again with the same exuberance of the regular hunting season. It is one of the most rewarding, exciting, and fun things you can do. I urge all of you to make an extra effort this fall to find a youngster that would benefit from a hunting mentor. You may not realize it, but you’ve accumulated volumes of information in your years of hunting. Share that with a kid, and you’ll have changed their life forever, …it may change yours too.