Childhood Memories That Last A Lifetime

© Othmar Vohringer

On Facebook I came across a “Meme” that contained the following verse: “Memories aren’t made playing video games on the computer.” I had to think about this for a minute and realized that there is a lot of truth in it. Virtually all of my most treasured and vivid childhood memories revolve around outdoor activities with family and friends. Conversely I have almost no recollection of when I started to play (the then) popular video games like Mario and Pong in coffee bars, let alone with whom I played them with and if I lost or won.

While surely not all of the widespread problems with youth today can be blamed on video games, recent social research shows us that some of the more serious social problems can be attributed to these games, especially when children spend many unsupervised hours on the computer. Research done at the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University showed a clear link between juvenile violent offenders with video games as a high risk factor. Other studies on the social aspect of video gaming and online networking seem to reveal that excessive use, up to 3 hours per day, results in a severe lack of attention leading to reduced school grades, lack of patience and loss of reality in real world life. The research also showed that this in turn leads to violent and angry behaviour patterns in over 80 percent of the research subjects. An equally disturbing trend in the research found that these children also suffer from a lack of empathy, compassion and poor social skills.

In other words, they lose touch with the real world and how to behave in a social group which can lead to emotional and behavioural conflicts within the family and society.

On the flip side, a study commissioned by the Eckhard Foundation showed that outdoor activities provide children with self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and a heightened ability to learn. These children also showed more patience and better social adjustment.

There are scientific reports that children exposed to outdoor activities vastly improve their academic skills and lessen considerably their disruptive behaviour. The benefits of outdoor activities is so great in the positive development of children that many schools and youth offender facilities have developed educational outdoor programs with great success in turning “behaviourally disordered” youth into “behaviourally normal” youth.

To me these findings are a no-brainer, because all outdoor activities can be enjoyed as a family and have fun while doing it. An often ignored factor is that family is the most important social structure in a child’s life. It is in the family where our children learn social skills and the associated problem solving skills without resorting to violence, like in video games.

On that note, engage your children in some of the great outdoor activities, not only will this provide provide youth and adults alike with much needed exercise but create memories shared as a family that will last a lifetime.

Merritt Teenagers Ranking High At Shooting Sports

(This column has previously been published in the Merritt Herald)

© Othmar Vohringer

With all the news in the media about youth drug addiction and crime it is refreshing to see that there are still young people working hard to achieve success in life.

I met Sunshine and Dakota O’Donovan for the first time five years ago when they took part in the youth archery that the Nicola Valley Fish & Game Club organized. The siblings enjoyed the bow shooting lessons and eagerly absorbed the knowledge provided. Outside of the program they practiced often and soon became proficient at shooting bows accurately. Two years later they enrolled in the club’s small caliber rifle shooting program under the knowledgeable tutelage of Bruce Merkely, and this has lead Dakota and Sunshine to the point in the shooting sport they are now. With dedication, endurance and many hours of practice at the shooting range Dakota just recently scored another gold medal for his air pistol shooting and is hopeful to reach the necessary points to join the BC shooting sports team that will represent our province in the Canadian Winter Games in February of 2015.

Dakota is training every week three times in Kamloops plus physical conditioning here in Merritt. Sunshine, Dakota’s sister, shows the same dedication with air rifle and is only a few points short of joining the air rifle team to represent British Columbia at the North American Indigenous Games. She too trains hard- in spite of a hectic schedule promoting the film “Shana– The Wolf’s Music” which was filmed last year here in the Nicola Valley and in which she played the lead.

When I spoke to the two teenagers in preparation of this column I could not help but to be amazed at the two. It is indeed rare to find young people in this age of entitlement that still believe in hard work and dedication to achieve their set goals. Throughout the conversation it became apparent that they both enjoy what they are doing and are fully prepared to work for it. Dakota, for example, proudly explained that he delivered newspapers for eight years without missing a single day. The money he earned from that was spent on a compound bow and his biggest pride, his own truck. Sunshine, with all the fame she garnered with her role as “Shana” is still the quiet, modest person that she always has been. With a movie role under her belt she now concentrates on her other goals in life, like joining the team for the North American Indigenous Games.

With that kind of commitment it is hard to believe that the two youngsters still find time to do other things, yet they do. Dakota is, among other things, an accomplished kayaker and a member of the Merritt Search and Rescue Team. Both believe that it is their civic duty to give back to the community by getting involved through sports and charitable activities. During our conversation there were a few times were I had to remind myself that these two are still teenagers 13 and 17 years of age and not adults, such was the wisdom and common sense approach to life the two exuded. As I said, in a time when most teenagers sit around and wait for others to give them things it is refreshing to meet two young people of Dakota’s and Sunshine’s calibre. I wish them both the best of luck in the shooting sport and in life, whatever their achievements will be; they have worked hard for it and that counts for much in today’s world.

In the Top 50

© By Othmar Vohringer

It has been very hectic the last several months around here, but over Christmas I had time to take it a bit easier and relax. I spent a wonderful time with my wife and family and I even found time to visit a few of my outdoor blogging friends on the Internet. Imagine my surprise when I discovered on Dayne Shuda’s reputable blog Hunting Business Marketing that my blog column The Pink Wave was chosen as one of The Top 50 Hunting Blog Posts of 2009 on his blog.

Thank you Dayne for that unusual Christmas gift and let me return the favor of this honor by saying that Hunting Business Marketing is one of my more frequently visited blog. Dayne Shuda provides excellent advice on how to market your business on the Internet and certainly has helped my in that regard. He’s written a book about marketing strategies for the Internet and also provides his valuable tips through his Hunting Business Marketing Newsletter.

Reading through the top 50 list made me realize just how much information there is on the Internet about all aspects of outdoor activity. When I started this blog in 2005 - is it already that many years? - there were no more than a handful of outdoor bloggers. My blogroll had exactly 10 blogs listed. Boy has time changed! Today there are over 40 hunting and fishing blogs on my website and many more on the Internet. back then I would spend an hour to visit all the blogs. Today it has become hard for me to keep track of them all, let alone visit each one every day. It would take a week or more just to read them all.

It's a good thing to see that many blogs because bloggers, more than anyone else, are able to reach a huge and diverse readership. This in turn will make sure that the message we have to spread is widely read. In my article Youth Outdoor Participation Declines published on the Outdoor Bloggers Summit blog I outlined why it is more important than ever to promote hunting and fishing to the young people.

As an active and tireless promoter of our outdoor heritage I say thank you to all the hunting and fishing bloggers for doing such a great job. Most of you are probably not even aware of what an important role you play on the Internet. Keep it up and to all of you, and my readers, I wish a Happy New Year connected with my best wishes for good health and prosperity in whatever it is you do. Here is to a new year to which I look forward, bringing you more information, updates, news and tips about our great hunting and fishing heritage.

This blog post has been brought to you by Othmar Vohringer Outdoors

The Mentor

© By Othmar Vohringer

Kristine from Gun Safety Innovations issued a challenge on the Outdoor Blogger Summit (OBS) to write about a person that was influential as a mentor or inspiration for us to hunt, fish or to write a blog. This challenge is part of an ongoing series called “Write About the Good Challenge” whose purpose is to write about the positive things that happen in our lives or motivates us to carry on with what we’re doing as outdoor enthusiasts and blog writers.

It is difficult for me to choose one single person that inspired me to hunt. There have been, and still are, so many to be thankful for mentoring or inspiring me. Without a doubt if it were not for the good folks at Cimmaron Archery in Richmond, Illinois I would have never become a bowhunter. Their dedication, good will and patience renewed my will to become a bowhunter at a time when I was about to give it up. There have been many people throughout my life, and no doubt will continue to enter my life, that inspire and mentor me. As my late mother used to say: “Life is an ongoing learning process from the day we’re born to the day we die.” And, “Inspiring people are everywhere; you only have to keep an open mind.”

But since I have to make a choice as to who was my greatest mentor I will have to say that it was both of my parents- and I say “both” because they were a strong and undivided team, even in raising their children. Things like “go ask Mama”, or “Wait until Papa comes home.” were foreign phrases in our house.

Since both of my parents were enthusiastic outdoors people who hunted, fished and loved to hike in the beautiful mountains of Switzerland I was naturally raised to do the same. The passion for the outdoor lifestyle was consciously nurtured and encouraged from early childhood on and no doubt influenced me when I decided to found Othmar Vohringer - Smart Hunting Strategies through which I became able to apply another lesson I learned from my parents: “Share your knowledge freely with the less knowledgeable and those willing to learn. Knowledge is only useful if it is made accessible to many.”

My writing, blogs, seminars and other hunting related activities such as hunting courses, hunting strategy consulting and becoming a hunter education instructor of British Columbia are a direct result of the mentorship and inspiration of my parents. The people I have encountered in my life that further inspired or mentored me can also be seen as a direct result of the values and beliefs my parents instilled in me.


Tags: Write About The Good, Outdoor Blogger Summit, Hunter Education, Hunting Courses, Smart Hunting Strategies, Parents, Outdoor Way of Life

WATG: Hunters Helping Kids

© By Othmar Vohringer

It’s been awhile since I posted a write about the good post. This is a series started by Kristine at the Hunt Smart, Think Safety blog. In this series outdoor bloggers are challenged to write posts about the good things hunters and hunting organizations do to promote our heritage and in the efforts of wildlife and habitat conservation.

I am in the middle of preparing for an interview I will be conducting with Richard Worden for my new series “The Outdoor Interview”. Mr. Worden is on the National Board of Director serving as Sponsorships Chairman of Hunters Helping Kids he also serves as HHK - NNY Chapter President.

All over North America there are large and smaller organizations that are dedicated to get more people into hunting and fishing, or to wildlife and nature conservation. While most are aware of the larger national organizations there are also many local organizations and chapters of large organization in your area. These organizations and chapters do a great job of addressing local concerns.

Organizations are always looking for members and volunteers assisting them in their many tasks. Getting involved is a very satisfactory experience on so many levels not least the knowledge that you did something good for our heritage, wildlife, environment and society.

Last week a few friends and I decided that we will head ou to the Pitt Marsh , our local duck hunting area, to do some habitat enhancement and ditch clean up, hang nesting boxes for mallards, redheads and widgeon ducks that are most commonly found in the marsh. This activity will not only enhance the habitat quality and attract wildlife put is a good promotion for hunters. The Pitt Marsh is a favorite walking and hiking location for many town and city people, and they all will see that hunters (we will be dressed in camouflage for exactly that purpose) are working hard to keep the Marsh clean and attractive for many different wildlife species.

Tags: Wildlife Conservation, Hunters Helping Kids, Hunting Organizations

Write About the Good Week: A Special Hunter

Many of the regular readers here may remember that Kristine from the Hunt Smart. Think Safety Blog issued some weeks ago a challenge to the founding members of the Outdoor Bloggers Summit. The challenge, called “Write About the Good Week”, stipulates that we should pick one of the many outstanding conservation organizations and highlight them and their mission in an article on our blogs.

I am the first Outdoor Bloggers Summit member that has broken the challenge rules and instead I highlighted the hunters as a community and the good they do for wildlife conservation. Today I am going to break the rules again by picking one particular person that has gained my respect over the last couple of months.

Matt Corrigan is a teenager from New Jersey. What makes him special is the fact that he does not come from a hunting background and yet he became a hunter all by his own drive. But it doesn’t stop there. Matt is active in the hunting community and wildlife conservation with a maturity and eagerness that would put many adults to shame. Just how serious Matt is about the continuation of our hunting heritage can be best described in the fact that I am so impressed by him that I made him the youth moderator on my SHS Hunting Chat Forum. I put him in charge of the “Passing the Heritage On” Forum, a place on my forum dedicated to young and novice hunters.

I have been thinking long and hard how I best could introduce Matt to you and then came an idea in my head. Why not let Matt tell his story of becoming a hunter and conservationist in his own words.

So here it is. Enjoy

Matt’s Story

I first got the notion to start hunting when I was about 12 years old. I was watching ESPN for about a month or two and was watching all the hunting shows that were on Sunday morning. I came up to my parents and asked “ Hey mom, dad, do you think that I could go hunting?” My parents immediately said no, at first. I collected information on the Internet on how to get started hunting and what it would take for me to get a license. Once again I went up to my parents, but this time I had prepared information for them to look over and think about. They told me “ Ok we will let you take your hunter education course, but who will take you hunting?” At the time I didn’t know a soul who hunted so I thought at that time I was out of luck.

It wasn’t even a week when I joined the track team. I knew almost everybody from school or other events I took place in. Then I met this one kid, John, who I had no clue who he was, it turns out that his dad was the shot put coach for the track team, and they were both very avid hunters. So I got to know John very well for that track season, and at the season him and me walked out as best friends. Now it was around the middle of June and I was hanging out with him one day, I asked him “How do you get started in hunting?” he responded “ well when I was 10, my dad took me to my shotgun, bow and muzzleloader hunter education courses and from there we went as often as possible.” I told him that I was thinking about hunting for a long period of time. He got all excited and immediately offered to hunt with him. Since I had nobody else to go with I gladly took up his offer. Before I actually went hunting I had to pass a mandatory hunter education course for each of the three disciplines (shotgun, bow and arrow, muzzleloader/rifle).

First I took my shotgun course, which in fact was so much easier than I anticipated, and passed it with a 99% on the written test and 100% on the field course. I went hunting for a year and within that time I had my first ever hunt, which was youth waterfowl day. During that day only people under 16 are allowed to hunt, but they have to be accompanied by a licensed adult. I woke up about 5:00 am to the sound of my alarm clock blaring. I quickly jumped out of bed, put on my hunting clothes and ate a quick bowl of cheerios. I got my gun and box of steel shot waiting for me by the front door. Now John’s dad drives an older model Chevy Suburban which makes quite a bit of noise while coming down a quiet road at 5:30am so you don’t have to see the truck before you know its time to get out the door. We got down to the river, got the gear in the boat and got down to our spot. Now before this, I was very used to shooting one shot at clay targets as I did it often. Now I am out in a boat and its dark and I have 3 shells in my gun, every time a duck went by I would shoot once, usually miss, and that’s it. John’s dad would tell me “ MATT! Shoot again, shoot e’m again!” and I would pump out another shell and by that time they were long gone. This went on for about 4 times. Then at 8:00am we can hear 2 geese were coming in about 10 yards just off the surface of the water, John’s dad is telling us to get ready to shoot. Then all of a sudden 2 geese come flying just into our line of sight, which turns out to be 20 yards. John shoots twice and misses I do the shoot once and let em go routine I did before and again John’s dad yells out “ MATT! Shoot again, shoot e’m again!” so I crank out a shell of my Remington 870 express 20 ga. and shoulder the gun, Now the 2 geese are 40 yards away and turning to go back down river, I pull up, lead the behind goose about 2 ft and shoot. The goose crumples and crashes into the water due to a precisely placed shot to the head/neck area. All three of us went back to the house with smiles on our faces. I only have one story that has to just about beat out that one, It was my first turkey hunt on youth turkey day, but that story is for another time.

Now I hunt and fish with John and his father every chance that I get. They are wonderful people and I couldn’t be happier than to call them my friends. Now this just goes to show you, if you really put your mind to something that you want very badly, you just might get what you have wished for.

Tags:Hunting Heritage, Young Hunters, Becoming a Hunter, Write about the good Week, Outdoor Bloggers Summit, New Jersey, Wildlife Conservation

Write About the Good Week:

Kristine from the Hunt Smart and Think Safety Blog and chairperson of the Outdoor Bloggers Summit has challenged the founding members of the OBS to write about a hunting related conservation organization. I am way behind with this contribution. For health (injury) and technical (computer death) reasons I just had no way to take this challenge up until today. The good thing about this delay is that it gave me almost a week to think about hunters and wildlife/ habitat conservation.

***

British Columbia Wildlife Federation

To the average non-hunting person hunting and wildlife conservation may not seem to fit together. I would not be surprised given that the mainstream media generally portrays hunters as trigger-happy Bambi killers. Since I know that this blog is also read by non-hunters I would first like to shine some light on the contributions hunters make to both wildlife and habitat conservation.

When looking at the facts, hunters really have nothing to be ashamed of - quite the opposite in fact. In British Columbia hunters annually generate about $100 million – yes, you read that right: One Hundred Million Buck-aroos. Through license sales and hunting related goods and services, immense sums of money are garnered by the provincial government’s “Fish And Wildlife Recreation and Allocation Branch” (The fancy name for our wildlife agency.)

Similar sums are generated in the other Canadian provinces and U.S. states as well. This is the money which is used by the wildlife agencies for the upkeep of provincial and state parks, wildlife research and habitat conservation.

But that is not all. These government agencies can count on the reliable support of hunter organized wildlife conservation organizations, most of which contribute many additional millions of dollars annually. There are literally hundreds of such organizations in Canada and the USA. Some of these organizations operate at the national level but many are also international, such as the Safari Club International and Ducks Unlimited.
Nationally orientated organizations such as the Wild Turkey Federation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, among many others to numerous to list here, mostly concentrate on one species of animal.
And finally, at the local and state/provincial level, wildlife organizations are mostly concerned with wildlife and habitat in their particularly defined areas. The membership of such organizations is made up of hunters who not only spend dollars, but also time and personal effort to improve animal populations and diverse habitats.

As a showcase of hunter dedicated wildlife conservation let me showcase three scenarios as example for many. The North American wild turkey has rebounded from near extinction to numbers never known before. Thanks to millions of dollars from hunters and their personal dedication and hard work we can admire turkeys even in places where they have not been seen in more than hundred years.

The elk had a similar fate as the turkey: about hundred years ago this majestic animal was near extinction. Today, thanks to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, working closely with federal and local wildlife agencies, the elk bugle can be heard all over North America again- even in states such as Tennessee where elk haven’t been seen in more than two generations.

Waterfowl numbers have dramatically increased in the last two decades; alone in the last two years the duck population has increased a staggering 42%. This would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of Ducks Unlimited and their waterfowl hunting members.

So the next time you camp or hike in a state park or provincial park and admire the variety of wildlife, remember that hunters – a minority group – have paid the lion’s share for it and that it is hunters who take out their personal time to actively participate in enhancement programs, wildlife counting, wildlife enhancement programs, tree planting among many other time consuming activities to help wildlife and habitat. And yet, the benefits of these efforts can be enjoyed by all- even the non-hunters and the animal rights activists.

Governments have known all along that if hunting would cease to exist tomorrow then so would wildlife and habitat conservation. There simply would not be enough money available for it without huge tax increases, which is why governments rely on hunter’s dollars to finance conservation. You see, hunters are not all just a bunch of gun toting rednecks heading out to the woods every year to kill a deer for the sheer thrill of it. Hunting is not a sport, like football or tennis; it is a lifestyle that can be acquired or one is born into it. Hunters spend all year in the woods, fields and on the water observing wildlife. Often it is hunters that alert the wildlife agencies of changes in wildlife populations, habitat degradation and other issues that negatively affect wildlife and habitats. In other words, hunters are the eyes and ears of the wildlife agencies.

The majority of hunters are members of not only one, but also several other wildlife conservation organizations. Choosing one of these organizations to highlight here put me in a bit of a bind since all are equally reputable albeit in different fields. The coin finally fell for the British Columbia Wildlife Federation or for short: BCWF. I am a proud member of this organization, and a few others, for many years.

The origins of the BCWF can be traced back as early as 1890, long before wildlife conservation and environment protection became the new rage. The simple mission statement of the BCWF is:

1.) To ensure the sound, long-term management of British Columbia's fish, wildlife, park and outdoor recreational resources in the best interests of all British Columbians, and to coordinate all the voluntary agencies, societies, clubs and individuals interested in that objective, and

2.) To develop and support a comprehensive educational program to make all British Columbians aware of the value of British Columbia's fish, wildlife, park and outdoor recreational resources, and to arouse in the public conscience a recognition of, and a respect for, the place of fish, wildlife and outdoor recreation in the wise integrated use of the nation's natural resources.

To this end the BCWF works closely together with government and the Wildlife Agency of British Columbia, its membership is largely made up (over 90%) of hunters. Today the BCWF is a major voice in British Columbia in all things wildlife and habitat concerned. Its membership is regularly engaged in various habitat and wildlife conservation programs. Such programs can be a Saturday afternoon riverbank cleanups to more labor involved tasks such as educational instructor plus anything in between.

Wildlife Conservation, Hunting Heritage, BCWF, Outdoor Bloggers Summit