Mentor

[Doe Master]

We all have/had at least one in our lives who fostered the interest in the outdoors .
That person would have to be my father who took me and my brother out scouting,walking and even the occasional hunt . He took the time to point out things in the bush . There was times when we went out hunting and didn`t get anything BUT from this we learned you are not successful everytime . But when you are successful it is something to be valued and shared .

[vixenmaster]

yes twas my Pa took me bear hunting all the time when i was 7 years old & ducks, geese and pheasants.

[Pydpiper]

It was never a part of my life, my interest began very late in life.
I would proudly say my mentor is Awshucks, my basic knowledge inset with page after page of insight. Questions that seemingly had no answers were answered, problems that seemed trivial were addressed with care. I have yet to meet a man that shares, or at least understands my quest for definition, or AR as he would call it.
Mentor? Yup, I have one of those.

[crazyfarmer]

my late grandpa that would take me squirrel hunting. Well actaully he sat in the truck and napped while I was in the woods. I'd shoot a squirrel and bring it back to him, then he'd say go get one a little younger this time and bring back

my father and granddad got me started hunted... so they both were/are my mentors

[Boo]

So the question begs, who are we mentoring?

[bomtek44]

I personally had hunting deep in my soul. I don't know where it came from since my Dad never took me hunting and discouraged me from hunting. He did agree to buy my Remington 870 for me when I was 15. I gave him the $135.00 and he brought her home. She now belongs to my 17 year old son. I gave her to him on his 16th birthday on his first dove hunt.....he got his limit of 12 birds that day. That gun still looks brand new.

After I was grown, out of college, and working, I began hunting with a great friend's father, Jake. He was retired and grew up in the mountains of Western NC. He quit school to help raise his siblings when he was about 11 and cut timber to make money to help his family. He could walk through the woods, touch every tree in the dead of winter, and recite what it was. He died of bone cancer in March 1991. I was with him when he killed his last two deer with his Remington 721, chambered for .270. Before he died he gave me "pre-warning" Ruger 77R, chambered in .270, which I still hunt with every year. He also gave me a Kershaw #1050 folding hunter. Before he died I promised him I would carry each of them every year.....I do.

My 17 year old has killed 20 deer since turning 11 years of age. He has never missed a deer with his Remington 700BDL, .243. It is a pleasure to watch him transform into a young man, as we journey through our deer woods.

Thanks,

[Pydpiper]

My late mentor was a practical man to say the least. He had many short sayings that he'd launch at me whenever he felt it was appropriate. My all time favorite was "Don't put a bunch of crap on your bow!". In the early 1970's it was trendy to attach things like quivers and other accessories directly to your bow. Some of us looked like robo-archer or borderline ridiculous with decor.

It was something most folks didn't do before that so we thought of ourselves as being on the "cutting edge" so to speak. We were the new & improved archers who were going to show the long timers what they had been doing incorrect for so many years.

If only he knew you were shooting a state of the art crossbow that comes with one of those new fangled things to hold arrows and a crazy contraption to place your foot when you cock your bow..
Technology prevails, today's "crap" is what makes a bow a bow, not having to chew tips on our arrows with our teeth is what separates us from our ancestors, well, that and carbon arrows and rope cockers.
If it wasn't for our ability to adapt and evolve we we all be driving Edsel's and killing deer with chipped stone and bows that stack.
This isn't the 70"s, and were not shooting their bows. The "cutting edge" is a different edge than it was yesterday, and at this rate it will be a different edge than it is tomorrow.

[Doe Master]

Boo wrote

So the question begs, who are we mentoring?

Well Don I like the thought if we can bring at least one person into/or to cherish the outdoors then we have succeeded .
I personnally had a person introduce me to the addiction of turkey`s and I in turn have introduced four people to the addiction .
I also had the immense pleasure of letting my nephew use my gun with me beside him on opening day of duck season .

[xbowkidd]

i don't think i could name any one person, but i would have to say that 90% of my hunting and shooting knowledge has come from this forum. actually a big thanks to everyone... 2008 was my first offical year hunting and i filled my turkey tag the second day of the season and my doe tag the 9th day of the season which is way more than i ever expected. thanks for a great year fellas!

[Pydpiper]

Fair enough Bob, but today's crossbows are state of the art to anyone who wasn't born in the late 1800's.
Not taking away from what once was, but this is a new era of hunters and shooters, the technology and ability to process it is 100X what it once was. I have nothing but respect for the trails blazed to get us here, but lets face it, we're here now.
You and I are on opposite sides of this, it is no secret, you think camo is a ridiculous notion, I think it is a wonderful contribution. Who's wrong? I certainly don't know, but I do know this is a sport where you have to stay current, whatever your beliefs are. You have accomplished things I have yet to experience, but keeping current shouldn't be seen as a negative.

[Golden Eagle]

Same here. My Father got me started. First on small game and then on to Deer. This is the first Year he couldnt hunt since he came home from WWII.

He had Cataract Surgery and couldnt make it out at 88 years Young.

[VixChix]

My Dad was the one who instilled in me a love for the outdoors. As my brothers and I were growing up he introduced us to skiing (leather boots, cable bindings, wooden skis), he took us fishing in summer and winter, he took us camping, on long drives he made it a game to see who could spot the most wildlife, on hikes he helped us identify animal tracks, and he never missed a chance to point out the beauty in nature.

Although he hunted in his youth in Germany, he only joined me in hunts a very few times. Before he died just over a year ago he gave me his Ruger 30.06 but tried to discourage me from hunting. He didn't see the point in it anymore. I believe that even when he hunted he was more interested in just being out in the woods than in killing anything.

Although he got a kick out of me being a bit of a tomboy, he also thought that I should grow up and give up what he came to see as senseless pursuits. On one hand he told everyone he knew about his "flintenweib" daughter who enjoyed hunting, and on the other hand he felt it would be better for me to invest my time and energy more wisely (like cooking and cleaning... ). He sort of supported me, and yet he tried to discourage me. My parents have been like that about most things in my life though. Even now my mother keeps telling me that "guys don't really want a girl along shooting or hunting."

I took a Hunter Ed. & Survival course in grade 9 - loved it. Years later a boyfriend introduced me to hunting. After a few seasons I realized that I was learning more about how NOT to hunt from him and I broke it off.

Eventually I found myself in Ontario with no access to hunting and no one that would let a girl tag along. It wasn't until I met my husband in 2000 that I had opportunities to take it up again. I started bowhunting with a PSE after taking some a few courses at the BowShop. Eventually I took the plunge and bought a Vixen and here we are!

[tracer]

My Dad got me started in hunting first for small game and than for ducks and later deer. Dad is unable to take part in the deer hunt after last season so he gave me his Lee Enfield .

[fuel80guy]

My brother introduced me to hunting when i was 12.At the tender age of 14 i slipped on some ice a broke his stock of his brand new over/under baikail shotgun,,,he was pretty pissed.
I took up bowhunting(compund) on my own and really enjoyed the solitude i gave me.
In the 80"s all you had was solitude because there wasnt very many deer to be seen/had.After spending about 5 years with my compound and only arrowing 1 deer due low deer numbers and my inexperince as a bowhunter i switched over to a exocet.
Ive not looked back as my exocet has never let me down in fact with so many deer available i went back to shooting a compund(did i mention that i love my truth2) and i only bring my exocet out to play when it gets really cold.
Im not sure if anyone else realizes that these are truly great times that we live in for bowhunting deer.
Oh yeah i still hate coyotes.

[TPM]

Can't say I can name any one mentor. Never were any real outdoors people in my family. My Dad liked guns and had a .22 and he bought a pellet gun for us boys to learn to shoot with but he never had any use for hunting. Music was the big thing in my family. My father spent a number of years as a professional musician and music was, and still is to a point, a big part of my life. Other than that my family thinks my wife and I are "a couple of rednecks" and they really have no clue why we do what we do. There was a guy who lived right across the street from us when I was growing up who was an avid hunter, trapper and fisherman. I always thought he was cool and from a young age I knew I wanted to do the same someday. He still lives there though at age 88 he hasn't been able to follow any of his outdoors pursuits for a number of years now. I still stop in to see him and show him hunting pictures and keep him up to date on our hunting adventures. He really seems to enjoy that.

Not taking away from what once was, but this is a new era of hunters and shooters, the technology and ability to process it is 100X what it once was. I have nothing but respect for the trails blazed to get us here, but lets face it, we're here now.
You and I are on opposite sides of this, it is no secret, you think camo is a ridiculous notion, I think it is a wonderful contribution. Who's wrong? I certainly don't know, but I do know this is a sport where you have to stay current, whatever your beliefs are. You have accomplished things I have yet to experience, but keeping current shouldn't be seen as a negative.

I think that one has to differentiate between what new things are truly beneficial and what is just marketing. If I were to look at things we use for hunting now that we didn't readily have 25 years ago I would say there aren't too many things that I think makes us better hunters. We certainly enjoy things such as better quality clothing and better quality scopes etc. but I wouldn't say they are necessary to many you a successful hunter. Synthetic stocks are a nice thing, very durable and less maintenance than wood but they won't help you kill any more game. Though I like camo I truly believe it does more to catch the eye of the consumer than it does to deceive the eye of the quarry. We live in an age of gadgets and accessories and there is nothing wrong with that but I wouldn't say that anyone who is not into that is not "current". By far the most successful crossbow hunter I know has been hunting with the same Excalibur Wolverine with plain rifle scope on it for over 18 years now.
Just my 2 cents worth...