UNJ Staff Writer & Team Fowlmouth Member

Growing up in Birch Run, Michigan, I was privileged to be surrounded with great hunting and fishing opportunities.  While most of the kids my age were out chasing “tail”, I was out chasing whitetail.  Some of my earliest memories are those of me and my dad in the woods, as he taught me the ins and outs of hunting.  At five years old he bought me my first gun, a Red Rider BB gun.  Almost every day we would go behind our house and plink pop cans, and the occasional tweetie bird off the feeder, when mom wasn’t home. 

As I got older I literally became obsessed with hunting and fishing.  Every chance I got I was either in the treestand or on a stream.  Most hunters generally only hunt maybe three months out of the year, and that mainly being deer and duck season, not me.  I get my fair share of deer hunting in as well, considering bowhunting is my true passion, but what about those 9 other months of the year?  During the winter you will find me on the ice or chasing yotes, come spring I will be after steelies on the Manistee River or after turkeys, and during the summer I will be sniping crows and woodchucks or shooting carp with my bow.  I have been told by my mom, I am a walking advertisement for Gander Mountain.

Waterfowling is my second true passion.  There is nothing I can compare to a flock of geese locked in on your spread, as the sun is peaking over the horizon.   Considering I have shot my fair share of ducks and geese, I now enjoy introducing new hunters into waterfowling.  I recently took a young hunter on his first goose hunt this year and he got his first goose.  Seeing the excitement in his eyes and the smile on his face, will make for a memory I will never forget.  I encourage everyone to do the same and introduce a new person into the outdoors, as they are the future of our outdoor sports.