Why I Love Being A Mentor In The Outdoors
By Mentor, Dan Stark
I became an Outdoor Mentor for several reasons, but the main one is I want to give back so that others can share in the love of the out of doors that has been so important to me throughout my life. Unfortunately, it has become difficult for young people to have positive experiences to instill this love.
My experience with the outdoors began when I was 5 or 6 years old, when I was given my first .22 single shot rifle. I first received shooting lessons in the basement shop of my dad’s sporting good store by my father and his friends including the local game warden. I later graduated to be able to go squirrel hunting in the woods of Wisconsin. Throughout my youth hunting was always special and enjoying eating wild game of all sorts was a delicately in our house.
Unfortunately, at the age of 10 years old my life changed significantly with the death of my father. At this point my mother, my brother, and I were moved to several farms in Iowa and ultimately northcentral Missouri. Throughout this time, I continued squirrel hunting whenever I could, and we always enjoyed the delicious squirrel whenever I was successful. That was my only hunting experience until I started my career as an adult at which time a coworker took me upland bird and duck hunting. I am so grateful for these experiences. I grew my love for the outdoors at this time and wanted to learn more when I could. I continued by adding turkey and deer hunting to my list, but this I had to learn on my own. Over time, I became successful with these quarries and added more experiences including self-guided salmon fishing, and caribou and moose hunting trips to Alaska.
So back to why did I become involved as an Outdoor Mentor? It’s because I was blessed as a young person to have the love of the outdoors instilled in me to become one of the passions in my life. I hope that by having the opportunity to help plant that seed in a young person to grow into that same passion. Today, it is becoming much harder for a young person to have this experience in the outdoors with all the other distractions in their lives, and fewer people to help plant the seed.
Prior to becoming involved with Outdoor Mentors I have been blessed to take a few friends kids out deer hunting to share in the excitement of the hunt, the thrill of harvesting an animal, acquiring the skill of field dressing, butchering and ultimately enjoying the bounty on the family table. All these young men and women have grown up to continue to enjoy the outdoor doors- this being one of my greatest satisfactions in my life.
During the Kansas youth deer season I hosted 2 different youth on a deer hunt. Youth hunter, Caden and his father, Nephi came down the night before to shoot the rifle and get comfortable with looking through a scope. Caden shot a nice pattern, then made an excellent shot on his doe the next morning. She spun around when hit and dropped in her tracks.
Youth hunter, Reed and father, Ryan went target practicing on Saturday to prepare for Sunday mornings hunt. Reed's practice paid off with an excellent shot on his doe- she jumped straight into the air went 15 yards and dropped.
Each morning we dressed the does together and sent home some delicious venison quarters and cooling for the families to enjoy!
I have been blessed to be involved in Pass It On, and to have mentored several young men and women on hunts. The most rewarding parts of these experiences is to see the smiles on their faces and the pictures of them with their parent after the hunt. I simply want to ‘Pass-it-on' to others and this program is an awesome vehicle that I have been blessed to be involved in. I look forward to doing whatever I can to continue to do so.
I also invite you to consider becoming an Outdoor Mentor- the rewards are GREAT!
Become a mentor here: https://www.outdoormentors.org/mentor