Tabitha Studer wants to dispel the negative stereotype that all Outdoorsmen are uneducated, close-minded, reclusive Rednecks.
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A few weeks ago I couldn’t log into social media without being reminded that the mainstream picture of outdoorsmen is a harsh misinterpretation. As a hunter’s wife, it is difficult to see the stereotype that hunters & fishermen hold in the media’s eye as it is so grossly inaccurate of the whole picture. In many ways, the classification of Redneck and Outdoorsman are synonyms; unfortunately painting the picture of someone who is uneducated, close minded, and reclusive to the mass public. When in reality, nearly none of the hunters I know fit those adjectives and instead are quite the opposite and then some.
We live in western Pennsylvania and it is the norm to see pick-up trucks parked on the sides of bridges and whole families wearing camo and hunter’s orange in the grocery checkout line. Our local schools have the first day of buck off because so many teachers and students would be absent anyway that the school districts just stopped fighting it, I suppose. I grew up with an outdoorsmen Dad and other hunting family members and neighbors. It was a rite of passage for my sisters and I to successfully shoot a shotgun, be able to recognize poison ivy, and bait a hook.
Later, I went east for college, lived in Brooklyn for a few years, traveled and studied abroad, and yet—after all that exposure—I still ended up marrying an outdoorsman. He has his own hunting father and hunting best friend which has now surrounded our children with hunters and fishermen at every turn. Our family calendar is littered with opening days for trout fishing and archery season; our playroom is stocked with miniature bows, arrows, and targets. Maybe from the outside we look like rednecks, wearing our camouflage out to dinner while our kids ask the waitress for a deer meat sandwich—and maybe that’s all it takes for someone to write us off as uneducated, close-minded, and reclusive.
The truth is, we are far from that stereotype, as so many other hunting families are. I take pride in the fact that my kids are being raised by a hunter because there are things they learn from him, and the other hunters and fishermen in their life, that they might not get otherwise. These are my top five reasons that my kids are lucky to have an Outdoorsman for a father:
1.) Hours of quality time without outside distractions. When my husband takes our kids for the day, they are rarely found sitting in the house staring at a screen. Instead, they spend hours on end together in the woods or on a stream without cell phone service. He takes them for walks, pointing out animal tracks and different kinds of plantlife regardless of the weather. My kids suit up in snowsuits in the cold and tank tops in the heat to be outside with their Dad. They’ve problem-solved together to build bridges through muddy paths and they’ve learned accountability for carrying their own share of equipment. It is rare for my family to not also be accompanied by other hunting or fishing family members and friends. When my kids spend time in the woods or at the stream it is with a community of men and women that are teaching them, speaking to them directly, and passing on traditions.
2.) They learn about the balance of nature. We do a lot of talking at our house about animals, as surely many other families with toddlers do; but we also talk about which animals eat other animals and which animals we eat. Our kids know that worms come out when it rains which means the birds are going to eat well. They learn about hunting conservation and that their Dad only hunts for animals that fit legal criteria and that we will be able to eat as a family. Our kids have offered apologies to millworms for having to make the sacrifice and released fish with joyful farewells. They’ve helped bury dead animals and released spiders from our house instead of smashing them. They know we kill only what we’ll eat, just as it is in nature.
3.) Safety is taught as precautionary not reactionary. I’ve seen the look of judgement in the eyes of non-outdoors families that come over for playdates when they see my son shooting his toy bow or rifle. I get it—he’s a preschooler and he’s playing with weapons. But the difference with my child playing with a toy rifle and the kid down the street shooting a video game gun at his screen is that at two and four years old, our kids have had discussions on weapon safety. Our children routinely act out putting the safety on and off before shooting, they aim weapons toward the ground as someone walks into view, and our son has been found speaking to his little sister about how dangerous it is to play with the nerf gun by herself. We don’t hide toy weapons from our kids, we put them front and center and then talk about safety and proper use constantly.
4.) Awareness is held in the highest regard. A main attribute of outdoorsmen is an awareness of their surroundings. It’s about catching a flicker of movement in their periphery or noticing the way the weeds are pushed down. It is celebrated when my kids call out a flock of turkeys in a field 300 yards away from the backseat of our car while traveling 60mph down the highway. Awareness seems to unfortunately be a skill that is quickly being erased by technology in our lives today. Being cognitive of the things happening around them is a trait that will see my kids through new and unfamiliar moments for the rest of their lives—like when they are traveling or if they become lost—one that could potentially be the difference between being safe or in danger.
5.) They learn that you only get what you work for. If anyone thinks that hunting and fishing is someone walking in with a weapon and getting it done, they are extraordinarily misinformed. Hunting and fishing require hours of planning, preparation, and practice. We spend most of our time as a family talking about hunting and fishing, because we spend a great deal of time preparing for hunting and fishing. There are bows to be sighted, ties to be flied, scouting to be done, and tree stands to hang. Being an outdoorsmen takes time and diligent practice. It means preparing adequately for the usually one single instant you get to make a clean shot. Our kids are learning daily by watching their outdoorsman father that if you want to be successful; you must work for it every day.
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Photo: LukeDetwiler / flickr / creative commons license
You might also like Tabitha’s post 25 Rules for Moms Raising Sons.
Nice Piece , I appreciate it and can relate to it . The only thing that I would like to see is more coverage of children that have Mothers that are “Outdoorsmen/people/persons or Whatever the best term is ? ” I hunt – fish and ALL of it ~~ I raised my son by myself and he learned all of the same things from me along the way . It is a wonderful article , it doesn’t have to be limited to just Fathers though ~~ thanks and God Bless .
Great reminder of what I learned as a kid with my dad. When he could he took me fishing and occasionally hunting. I was never any good but it was time well invested in the relationship with my dad. Today, we live in the country in Scotland. We don’t watch tv so we have more time to focus on family. As our two get older I hope to do some outdoor skills courses with them so they learn to love the outdoors as much as I do.
These are good thoughts. It reminds me of another article that speaks to the benefits a family receives by being outdoors and on adventures together: http://www.fathervision.com/how-challenges-train-families/
Tabitha,
Great article.
It’s the same when you say “conservationist”. People (generalization I know!) think pipe smoking John Muir types or Thoreau etc. In reality, it’s hunters & outdoorsmen/women who make up a large portion of conservationists that care for the planet. I don’t hunt or fish but love how those pursuits bring people in contact with the earth and all it’s glory. Ditch the devices & let’s get outside!
My dad was an outdoors man and I learned so much from him and that which he provided me. We’re from the inner city of Chicago but what set us apart from many was our life in the great out doors. And when I speak of “out doors” I don’t mean pulling the 30′ rig into a campsite, hooking up the water and electricity. Although later in his years, due to health issues, he did give in to some luxuries. Great article and very motivating.
Thanks for that. I grew up and still live in Arkansas, which is full of outdoorspeople – both the stereotypical kind and our own unique kind. We’ve got younger, educated people who love hiking, camping, canoeing, rock climbing, etc., and we’ve got a passel of old hippies who moved here in the ’70s to get back to the land. And we’ve got a few old-timers who grew up here, in cabins and tents with no running water. Some of them are conservative, but most, that I’ve seen, are actually pretty “live-and-let-live” about everything. Bear in mind, the Ozarks were a… Read more »
I get this. I have two brothers who are hunters and outdoorsmen. They are bright, resourceful, and they appreciate the beauty and richness of nature. They’re not all gun-totin’ Gomers. But from a societal standpoint, I find this article a bit defensive and a little overly sensitive. In addition, I’m not sure by the first paragraph if the author is trying to distance her lifestyle from “rednecks,” or whether she is accepting the redneck/outdoorsman equivalence, and defending them both. If she is rejecting the redneck label, then maybe my point,–which I haven’t made yet–is moot. Maybe she’s going for a… Read more »
Hi Paul – thanks for the comment. I agree that there is a sense of us v. them in the world today and it can be awfully frightening to feel like one has to choose sides. This fact especially makes me worried about young people that feel that their upbringing may determine which side they are ‘supposed’ to join – as though ‘because I have hobbies similar to this person, I probably should go along with everything this person believes’…yikes – sort of my biggest worry about young people. Anyway – my intent for the article was to hopefully shed… Read more »
I hope you’re right (correct). I’d like to believe in the inherent moral intelligence of most people. I do believe that there are many facets of intelligence, and certainly knowledge of nature and a close-up view of the food chain via hunting (or farming, or whatever) is valuable, and I respect that. It’s good to know that there are reasonable and intelligent people like yourself in rural communities to counteract the media’s influence.
I really liked this. I myself don’t hunt, but grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania where it’s the cultural norm. A lot of my close friends’ lives revolve around the hunting seasons and most of those guys do not exemplify the “stereotypical hunter.” Most of them are educated, well-informed and it still even shocks me how many of them lean more liberally than conservatively.