Story by Tom Claycomb III

Suddenly mentoring seems to be the new buzz word. I see the topic popping up everywhere, in the workplace, Churches, business meetings etc. etc. I agree and I disagree. Let me explain. You look back 100 years ago and to learn a job you had to be an apprentice for a few years to learn a job skill.

Lately I’ve looked back over my life and realized how in every stage someone took me under their wing and tutored me. That sped up my learning curve. Rodeoing, Mel Autry took me under his wing and taught me how to ride bareback horses. During college Phil taught me how to be a carpenter, Paul taught me how to paint. In the beef packing world Maurice, Jim, Cecil, Monty, Billy all over the 45 years that I worked in that industry took me under their wings and chipped off the rough edges that fine-tuned me. In those days you never heard the word mentor. A good boss just took you under their wing and you learned by how problems were handled every day in real life.

Now everyone thinks that it is groovy to be a mentor. I understand the concept but disagree with getting as good of results as if you went more on the apprentice route. There’s no way you can meet for 30 minutes once every two weeks and learn deep truths like you can when you’re working around your teacher 10 hours per day, week after week.

How does that apply in our outdoor world? In the old days hunting/fishing/camping were family events. You learned the necessary skills from your dad, uncles, granddad and your dads’ friends. I’m not saying you can’t be a successful outdoorsman if you aren’t raised in a hunting family but you’ll for sure have a longer learning curve.

Of late I’ve met too many dads saying their kids want to go camping, fishing or hunting but the dad don’t like to go. I want to encourage you dads to do so. If not, you’re missing some of the best bonding opportunities in the world and relegating your responsibilities to who knows who.

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