Somehow, through the crazy passage of time, we are again looking at Father’s Day.
We have talked about a lot of this before, but I thought some of you may not have heard it in the past, and some of you may need to be reminded. Father’s Day may be the best time I know to remember who actually started you down the path.
What path is that? The path to tramping in the rabbit thickets, wading in a brook trout creek, shivering on a deer stand, and raising a beagle hound.
Was it your dad? It was for most of us. But if it was someone else — a granddad, an uncle or just the guy who took you hunting and fishing — it doesn’t matter; you can think of them as “Dad” for hunting and fishing purposes. Again, I know we have talked about some of this before, but it is all still true and valid. Heck, I may even borrow a few words from the past to illustrate what I am talking about.
(READ MORE: Introduce a kid to the outdoors, and you’ll travel back in time)
What are some of the things that Dad, your outdoors mentor, taught you back in the day about the hunting-fishing-shooting world?
I remember this: “Wade out in the middle of the pool and get the mud stirred up, then I’ll come through with the seine.”
We were on a small creek catching minnows for bait, and Dad was teaching me another lesson from the Hunting and Fishing 101 textbook. I was about 10 years old, which made him around 32, and as usual for such things, it was the best time of our life, but we didn’t know it.
Dad taught me how to seine for minnows (he called them “minners”), set a muskrat trap, squeeze a trigger on a rifle, and stand quietly on a rabbit chase, along with dozens of other things I’m sure I didn’t appreciate at the time. I don’t think either one of us saw it as any milestone or great undertaking; it’s just what we did.
Yep, in today’s high-tech world outdoors, the lowly act of wading a muddy creek to catch live bait doesn’t seem very exotic or glamorous. There are even those who would look down on you for using live bait in this enlightened age. All of that is likely a discussion for another time, but the fact is that if Dad had not taught us about catching and using minnows, crayfish, worms and hellgrammites back in the day, we probably would not have advanced to our current state where we think we know enough about fishing to believe we always have to be using the latest soft plastic lures and expensive crankbaits.
Same thing on the hunting and firearms side. Dad almost surely gave you that first .410 shotgun or .22 rifle. The first shooting lessons may have been pretty simplistic by today’s standards, but those trips to the back 40 with some pop or soda cans started you down the path, and you learned to love the bang of a shotgun and the smell of burnt powder.
(READ MORE: The old dump may be gone, but plinking carries on)
You didn’t know how smart Dad was, but while he was teaching you to aim with open sights, squeeze a trigger and deal with recoil, he was ingraining you with the basics of firearms safety. Where would you be without those early lessons from Dad? Not where you are now in your hunting and fishing journey through this life, that is for sure.
So by now, I hope some of you younger guys are catching on here. If you have young kids at home, your time is now. If you use it wisely, 30 or 40 years from now, your kids will be in line to write words like these I’m sharing today. And they will relive their memories from this time, the days when you taught them how to sit still for that turkey and how to play that big fish so he doesn’t break your line.
Just remember this: A long time ago, when the world was a whole lot simpler, there was a man who went out of his way and sacrificed to take you hunting and fishing.
In the beginning, it would have been a lot easier to leave you at home. He would not have had to deal with tangled lines and cold hands, telling you to sit still and don’t move, or answering repeated questions such as “How far are we going to walk?” He took you anyway; he endured it all for you.
He did this because, as my dad told me: “I couldn’t find a good huntin’ buddy, so I decided to raise one.”
If your dad is still around, call him this week. Remember what he taught you, and if there are young ones around, pass all that on to them. If you don’t have some kids around, go find some and teach them.
Happy Father’s Day.
“Guns & Cornbread” is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.