When you get the chance to pass on the gifts and experiences had afield with a friend, consider yourself lucky. It’s a privilege to have someone value your knowledge and extremely rewarding to watch as they progress.
It’s not every day you get to share the mountain of outdoor knowledge you have compiled over many years. Many hunters will listen to what you have to say, but for some reason, never apply it. It’s especially rewarding to have a student who not only listens, but retains and utilizes the information that you have provided. I have to be honest and say more often than not you will get a know-it-all. I have learned that it is way more common to find such negative traits in adult hunters than compared with youths. Kids tend to take your word for things and just do, while adults tend to question and attempt to use their own logic to make sense of the situation. The problem is, most of their compiled experiences happened around people and simply don’t translate to the woods. When the time comes to rationalize a situation, it will typically be inspected through a human’s, not an animal’s, perspective. I believe this is the biggest mistake that hunters make that can be easily avoided.
Isn’t it amazing how all the negative in the world seems to melt away while out in the field? It seems in this day and age there is more negative than positive going around. All you have to do is turn on the news to see it. Is this reality, or is it a constructed trap to keep viewers glued to the screen? With people’s racial buttons being pushed every day, you would almost think we don’t associate anymore. I’m here to say that’s a hot load of coon crap.
I happen to enjoy people of other races as long as they respect me and my beliefs as I do theirs. Political society seems to be trying to drive a wedge between people, in what looks to be an attempt to keep them separated. This is another city way of thinking, because we all know all men and women are created equal, especially in the woods. I promise a deer doesn’t care what religion you follow, what gender you are, what color your skin is, or where you were raised. It’s survival to the deer and it assumes all humans are equally dangerous in their world. The deer doesn’t know to separate the hikers from a hunter, so it fears everyone. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
About six years ago, I took my buddy Dondon Currie fishing for the first time. He was born in the Philippines and jokingly said his ancestors survived on fish, so he ought to learn to catch them. His mother also knows 110 ways to prepare them, so off to get a license he went. He caught a six pound bass the first day out and was hooked. I neglect to see where his difference in race caused him to differ in training from anyone else. Once again, racial stereotypes don’t apply in the woods or on the water. To be honest, if I were to make a true assessment based on race, his would come out on top for me. He listened and remembered impeccably and is the best natural shooter I have ever seen. How many hunters have you seen take a crow, duck and goose out of the air on their first shot, like he did? I can’t say the same for myself. All I can do is take credit for explaining where to aim and how to lead a bird to make a good shot. All the rest was on him.
This past week I was able to see things come full circle and I couldn’t be any more proud. Dondon sent me a text asking if I would like to hunt with him that evening. I had only been out on one hunt, so happily agreed to go. When we parked, he pulled out his phone and showed me on the aerial where the stand was and where the wind was going. He devised a plan to get around the wind and into the stand without sending scent into the bedding area. It was so nice to see him apply the skills I’ve passed down, to send me to a stand exactly how I would have chosen to go. At that point, I realized how well he had been listening and was truly pleased to have helped him.
The woods and water have changed his life forever in many ways. He made mention that the first time we went hunting, he was 210 pounds. The first hike up the hill gave such a rude awakening, that he decided to run and bike the weight off. By the next season, he was under 150 and I was having a hard time keeping up with him. He now has a new life and brings home the healthiest protein known to man. In a way, by hunting and becoming healthier, he has passed it on to his whole family. His daughters have bows of their own and the oldest is showing interest in hunting already.
It’s the most rewarding feeling to help others, especially if they can run with it and continue to help themselves and their family. To date, Dondon has been more like family than a friend to me. I love him like a brother and value our friendship more than he probably knows. All I ask of my readers is to pass on what they know and to be accepting and helpful to everyone. Just remember, at the end of the day, we all bleed red and are totally equal in the woods and on the water. Let’s try to extend this kind of acceptance in our homes and on the street.
Good wishes and thanks for being the teacher this time, Dondon!