Mentoring: More Than Just A Morning in the Woods

There is a feeling one gets when they see someone fulfill a lifelong dream, or even a goal that they have been working toward for relatively short amount of time. The feeling is hard to describe, but plainly put, it’s a mix of immense pride and sheer happiness. Parents feel this when their children accomplish something, spouses feel this when their partner receives that promotion at work, and if you’re like me, you may feel this when you witness a new hunter take their first animal. 

I have had the privilege of taking several folks to the field over the past few years for their first hunt, and have experienced the “feeling” I described above, a handful of times. It could be that I simply enjoy watching other people succeed, but there is also a feeling of satisfaction that is a little self-serving at the same time. But not how you may think, this isn’t about being able to run to social media and proclaim “look what I did for so-and-so”, this goes so much deeper than anyone knowing, or even caring, that I sat in the woods with someone. 

Cianni showing off her first turkey at age 10

If you have ever gone on a journey with someone who truly wants to accomplish the taking of their first animal, but they are overwhelmed with apprehension or self-doubt, you probably understand where I am going with this. If you have never participated in the journey of a new hunter, I highly recommend it and I am happy to explain how it could completely change your relationship with hunting. 

There has been an ongoing, sometimes tumultuous discussion in a portion of the hunting community related to getting new hunters in the field. This isn’t about that, this isn’t about statistics, it isn’t about trailheads being full of pick-ups trucks, or someone taking your “spot”. This is about changing a person’s life by simply taking the time to help them learn a new skill, to encourage them, and to give them the confidence they need to continue their journey as a hunter, long after you walk away from each other. 

I think we should all make the effort to take someone new to the woods, field, or duck blind, if we are able to do so. The reason I feel that way is because I have experienced first hand the full range of emotions while watching a new hunter take it all in. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that the time and effort you volunteered to someone, enabled them to be confident and potentially successful in a space that was so foreign to them in the beginning. You have passed on something to them that you cannot place a value on, nor is it anything that anyone can take away from them. 

But understand this; it is work, it is time consuming, and it needs to be done the right way.

If you know me, you have probably heard me say that I will take anyone hunting that genuinely has an interest in going. And that is the truth. Being a Hunter Education instructor, I am a little biased, but I want my new hunters to go through hunter education before I start mentoring them. It gives me the piece of mind that they are not only serious about this venture, but I feel safer knowing they have had their basic firearm safety course before they get in front of me with a rifle or shotgun. 

Noah with his first Whitetail.

When you agree to spend time with a potential new hunter, it goes beyond teaching them how to shoot at a target or spending a morning with them in a blind. There needs to be thorough discussions about why they want to be a hunter, about ethical decisions and what that even means. You should make sure they understand the laws and the consequences of violating those laws, and without a doubt, there needs to be a discussion about death and dying, prior to ever placing a firearm in their hands.

It is my experience that emotion is a big part of a new hunter committing to killing a living thing, and it should be. You cannot take back what you have done after you pull the trigger or let that arrow fly. You have fully and completely committed to ending a life, and you need to be in the right place mentally and emotionally, to be okay with that. 

By taking the time to have these discussions and really doing a deep dive into this person's motivation, you make a connection and develop a relationship that allows them to trust you and feel comfortable that you are going to steer them in the right direction. This isn’t a task that can be taken lightly and I have to wonder if that’s why more people shy away from it, than not.

Most of the people that I spend time teaching on a personal level are youth, although I have taken a few adults out for their first hunt. For my current job, I work specifically with adults, but for the purposes I am writing about, I’m going to stick with what I do on my own time. I have taken kids as young as eight to the woods and I have taken grown women to the woods who have their own children at home. Obviously, you approach people completely differently depending on their maturity and what they are capable of at that moment. 

Despite the uncertainty in her face, Ava loved going fishing this summer!

Nonetheless, they are all introduced to hunting the same way when we start out. We sit in my garage and have “the talk”. I remind them; boy, girl, man or woman, that death is final, and if they have any apprehensions about killing something, we need to take a step back and take a little more time until they are comfortable with that. If they assure me they fully understand the consequences of pulling the trigger, we move on. 

I always go over firearm safety at nauseum, almost to the point that they could go home and confidently teach it to their own family members, and I won’t ever apologize for my emphasis on that. We also talk in-depth, about shot placement, using diagrams and targets that are stuck to our garage freezer, but offer a great visual to the aspiring hunter. If you are a hunter, you will inevitably make a bad shot on an animal at some point, it happens, and you will never forget it. However, the more education you have to prevent it from happening, the more confident you will be when you pull your rifle or bow up on an animal in the heat of the moment. 

If the new hunter kills an animal, I walk through the field dressing or cleaning of that animal with them. For some people, the idea of this process can be imagined to be as traumatic as the initial killing of the animal. That being said, I have found that when it really comes down to it, folks get in a zone when it comes to dealing with the animal after the initial shock that they killed it. I think the realization kicks in that the animal is now their responsibility, and they take complete  ownership of that, out of respect for the animal itself.  

Cianni learning how to skin a squirrel.

Generally, the parents of the kids I am taking out are present during the pre-hunt discussions, and for good reason. Hunting used to be something that was passed down from generations past, but it’s just not happening anymore, for a variety of reasons. I want to make sure these parents know exactly what I am teaching their children and why. It offers a sense of comfort for the parents that I care about their kids and I will do everything within my power to keep them safe. Plus, when their kids come home after a hunt, they can have discussions with them about how they are feeling and what they are thinking, especially if that child killed an animal. 

Look, even as a forty-five-year-old woman, I have to take some time to reflect on my feelings after I have shot and killed an animal, regardless if it is a squirrel that weighs two pounds, or a mule deer that weighs two-hundred pounds. The act of killing brings about powerful emotions and I fully believe in talking about those emotions after the fact. This doesn’t make anyone any less of a hunter, or weak in any way, it just makes us human. 

Committing to being a mentor for a new hunter is something that you need to be sure about, you need to understand that you are possibly the only person who is giving them the opportunity to learn the right way to do this, and if you make it a bad experience for them, simply because it’s more work than you thought it would be, you are taking that opportunity right back away from them. That’s on you and whether it is a child or an adult, it's shameful. 

I just reached out this week to a few of my local young people who I have taken out hunting the last year or two, to see if they would like to go again this year. I have one local family that I have taken four of the six kids, ages ranging from five to eighteen, either hunting, fishing or both, and I will keep doing it as long as they have an interest in going. 

Sitting with Ty on his first deer hunt, in 2020.

Mentoring to me isn’t a “one and done” situation. It is my opinion that if someone wants to learn how to hunt, you should try to give them the opportunity to hunt as many different species that your space allows. They may think they want to deer hunt, but realize after chasing turkeys a few times, that deer hunting isn’t for them and they are all about spring birds, and that is okay. It’s about answering their questions outside of hunting season, or sharing articles with them so that they may learn a new skill, or learn more about conservation. 

The biggest thing I hope people take away from what I have learned from mentoring new hunters is that you are taking responsibility for not only the way this person will progress ethically as a hunter, but you are walking a path with them that includes some heavy topics like death, firearms, the law, utilization of game meat, and how they represent all of us as hunters, in the future. You are giving them the tools to become self-sufficient and to potentially pass those tools onto someone else down the road. Your time and effort are absolutely worth it.

Obviously, this is a passion for me and it isn’t that for everyone. Hunting has changed for me in the last few years, and I attribute that to mentoring. I used to be obsessed with getting out there, being alone with my thoughts, and filling my tags. I would set aside everything else in my life for as long as necessary to do that. These days, I am sitting beside new hunters more than I am sitting alone and hunting for myself, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. 

Colby and I waiting on some whitetail, in 2019.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my time alone in the woods, but seeing someone light up with excitement during their first hunt, or witnessing firsthand the moment they take their first animal, will always be better than my best day hunting alone.