The look on this fine youngster’s face speaks volumes to those parents who leave the kids at home when they go hunting or fishing. This was taken during the youth duck season this year. We all started to duck hunt or fish with a family member or a mentor, and still remember the first duck we folded or fish we landed. This is how it all begins, that first hunt gets into your blood and it never ever leaves you.
As responsible protectors of our heritage and the sport, we need to get more young boys and girls out before first light and show them what was created for all of us, young and old. We need to teach them how to take care of what The Father created for us. With the responsibility of having been given the dominion over them, we are in charge of teaching and instilling into our youth the need to maintain the habitat as pristine as it was originally. If you see garbage in the wetlands, don’t just go by the trash and leave it there, thinking ‘I didn’t do it’ so it’s okay to leave it. As users and keepers of the environment we have a duty to leave it in better condition that when we entered it.
“THERE IS NO SECURITY ON THIS EARTH; THERE IS ONLY OPPORTUNITY”
– GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
As waterfowlers, our numbers are dwindling each year and we need to get the next generation exited and involved. So get involved in one of the many organizations and volunteer groups that promote and protect our sport and the wetlands. We are the ones paying the excise tax dollars that are meant to restore and reclaim our habitat so get involved to ensure these funds are put to good use and bring your child along for this will only stoke their appreciation and love for the great outdoors.
The smile that you see in the picture is what this is all about. It’s not how many ducks were downed or shots taken, those are the extras that come along with just having your child out there with you and the love, respect and the “let’s do it again, daddy” that will melt your heart. Most importantly the experience will remain within your child’s heart forever. We may not have had the best hunting this year, but if it was your child’s first time it was the best season ever.
Now we go back to bass fishing, it’s all the same.
See ya on the ramp.
