Why I Mentor: Eric Dinger
This Is Why I Mentor Series
A series to share, educate, and inspire others with mentoring stories.
We have all had one in our lives…. Someone we look up to. Someone we call when we have questions, concerns, and frustrations. Someone who provides sound and nurturing wisdom. Someone we can expose our true selves to and still feel supported. Someone we can hunt with. Someone we can fish with. Someone we can spend time with. A mentor.
This series is meant to be a way to educate and motivate you to give back to others. It is designed to inspire you to become a mentor. It is a reminder to thank your mentor. Hopefully the advice and stories shared here will leave you nothing short of empowered!
Mentor: Eric Dinger
OCCUPATION:
Powderhook Co-Founder/CEO
HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN MENTORING?
I've been taking people hunting and fishing for as long as I can remember. It's part of how my family views our time outdoors - if you're in the truck when we leave, you're in. Dozens and dozens of people over the years have come along on trips long and short.
WHAT DOES MENTORING MEAN TO YOU?
Outdoor mentoring for me has always been an informal thing. To me, it starts with an invitation. From there you'll need a willingness to teach, to put newbies in a position to safely fail a few times, and to make it about their experience more than my own. Then, once the pilot is lit, being a mentor amounts to staying involved, continuing to invite, answer questions, and celebrate their success. One of the most rewarding parts for me is that I'm getting old enough now to start having grand-mentees - people who've learned to love the outdoors from people I've taught to love the outdoors. My hunting family tree is becoming more of a bush.
WHO WAS/IS YOUR MENTOR?
I've likely had as many mentors as I've had mentees over the years. No one has ever "mastered" the outdoors. There are no hunting experts. Sure, some people know a ton about whitetail deer hunting in the midwest, or elk hunting public land in Western Colorado, but we likely all still have a lot to learn on just about every front. That said, my biggest mentors have been my Dad, my best friend's Dad, and the friends I've met in the hunting industry who've greatly expanded my worldview on what I thought it meant to be a hunter.
WHY DO YOU MENTOR?
I mentor because I want the people I care about to be able to experience the emotions I feel when I'm hunting or fishing.
HOW CAN SOMEONE ELSE MENTOR?
It's shockingly easy to find people to mentor. If you know someone - your Mom, your sister, your neighbor, a coworker, someone at church - who doesn't hunt, it's most likely because no one ever invited them. Imagine that. Declining hunting participation is this giant problem, yet all of us forget to ask the people closest to us to come along. It doesn't need to be any harder than that - just invite someone and make it about them a few times a year until they're ready to go without you.
WHAT IS YOUR ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME A MENTOR?
My one piece of advice would be not to get caught up in the word mentor. Just make new hunting buddies a few times a year. If it's a kid you're teaching, make sure they have some friends along or a parent/guardian who can take them again. You don't have to give up your whole season, or even a whole day. Keep doing what you do, just add an extra person here or there.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MENTORING MOMENT?
It's always fun to see someone react to their first harvest. That emotion fills my bucket. But, my favorite mentoring success is that I've taught my Wife to hunt. And that means we get to do our thing as a family - it means we're gonna head to South Dakota together for pheasant opener. The anticipation of being in my favorite place on my favorite weekend of the year with my favorite people is almost overwhelming. Maybe my favorite moment is yet to come...
