How do we reach the next generation for the outdoors? It’s a great question and one that was the topic of conversation of a podcast I listened to while traveling last week.
The Yeti “Drifting” podcast is hosted by Texas fly-fishing guide J.T. Van Zandt. Van Zandt, the son of the late singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, was interviewing fly-fishing icon and traditional bowhunter Flip Pallot. At the heart of their discussion was the importance of attracting and mentoring new hunters and outdoors enthusiasts.
According to Pallot, “We are looking at a generation of people that have no touchstones to the natural world. It’s a disconnect that’s serious and made even more serious by the prospect that the things that we’ve held dear and tried to protect and preserve are going to be, very shortly, handed over to this generation of people who don’t know what it is, and if you don’t know something, you cannot love it, and you can’t be inspired by it, and you can’t be inspired to protect it and preserve it.”
I couldn’t get those words off of my mind last week. I’ve been very outspoken in this column about the importance of mentoring new hunters and using the various social media platforms to put our best foot forward as hunters and fishermen and fisherwomen in an accurate, realistic and respectful way.
As a result of what is often portrayed as hunting on social media, I often find myself taking a “vacation” from Facebook and Instagram. Last week, however, with Pallot’s words still fresh on my mind, I came across a post from my friend Tyler Thomas celebrating his son Warner’s “deer of a lifetime,” and I found myself hopeful that our hunting future is in good hands.
This father and son from Hickory share a love for the outdoors, and as the elder Thomas explained, Warner has been by his side in the woods since the lad was 3 or 4 years old.
“He’s eat up with it, 110% percent,” Thomas said. “Anything to do with hunting or fishing, he’s all about it. He enjoys it as much as I do.”
At 8 years of age, this second grader at Newton County Elementary, with aspirations to be a cowboy, seems to be an old soul in terms of his love for all things outdoors.
“He loves the preparation as much as he loves the actual hunt,” Thomas said. “He likes to ride the tractor, get food plots ready and put up tree stands.”
The younger Thomas is already a seasoned hunter, having taken several deer with both a crossbow and a rifle as well as his first gobbler this past spring. However, his most recent buck with a crossbow tops the list.
According to Thomas, early in the season the two were hunting a two-man ladder stand in Newton County and had seen several deer throughout the afternoon. Warner’s buck came in just before dark, and while he looked like a decent buck, they were unable to get a shot in the fading light.
They stopped by their game camera on the way out, and when they checked the photos, they could tell just how big the twilight buck had been. After that, they only hunted the stand when and if the prevailing winds were in their favor.
Since they had attended the Newton County playoff football game the night before, they decided to sleep in Saturday with plans to hunt the buck that afternoon. Thomas said that after lunch he and Warner headed to the stand in hopes that the big buck would appear.
“The deer had only been coming in sporadically. He was not easy to pattern,” Thomas explained.
That afternoon the buck came in from a different direction and joined two smaller bucks that the hunters had been watching. When one of the younger bucks spooked and ran out, the boss buck turned and presented Warner with a broadside shot.
“I’m on him,” Warner whispered to his dad as he touched the trigger of his Ravin crossbow and unleashed a perfect shot. Thomas said that when he told Warner what a great shot he had made, tears of joy began to flow down the young hunter’s face as he exclaimed, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it!”
The two hunters waited 30 minutes before climbing down to check Warner’s arrow. They then made the decision to back out and give the deer more time before attempting a recovery.
Back home, they enlisted the help of Heath Walters of Taylorsville and his chocolate lab Gage. Later that night, their efforts ended successfully, and Warner was finally able to wrap his hands around the antlers of his buck of a lifetime.
He told me that he understands just what a blessing it was to get a trophy buck at his age (or any age for that matter). That understanding helped me realize that with young hunters like Warner Thomas, the future of hunting is in good hands.
Congratulations Warner, and until next time, I look forward to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.
Email outdoors columnist Brad Dye at braddye@comcast.net.
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