The Upland Life: Passing It On

Most of us who grew up hunting can point to someone who showed us the way – a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, a neighbor, a family friend – someone who took the time to show us the outdoors. For most people reading this, that was lifechanging. Those experiences shaped who we became.

Today, creating those same opportunities for the next generation is an important part of Quail Forever’s mission. Across the country, more than 330 Learn to Hunt events connect over 3,000 participants with hunting each year. More broadly, QF hosted nearly 1,000 outreach events last year, reaching nearly 50,000 new hunters.

The goal goes beyond simply putting a shotgun in someone’s hands. It’s about creating informed and confident hunters who learn their connection to wildlife, habitat, and conservation.

That mission is especially personal to me.

In addition to my role as editor of Quail Forever Journal, I also serve as the president of our local Quail Forever chapter. Our chapter is less than a year old, but from the beginning we decided that giving kids outdoor opportunities would be one of our biggest priorities.

We want to give kids in our community the same experiences we had growing up.

In our first year, we’ve already reached more than 100 kids through our chapter banquet and our first youth fishing day. This fall, we’ll take another step by hosting our first Learn to Hunt event and helping a group of new hunters experience what it means to walk into the field for the first time.

But those first hunts start long before anyone follows a bird dog through the grass. They start with afternoons like this one.

We loaded a clay thrower, targets, shotguns, shells, and safety equipment into the Ranger and headed out to an open piece of ground on our farm. The goal was to learn – how to safely handle a shotgun, how to mount the gun, swing, follow, and lead a target.

Eventually, we started breaking clays – a small moment that builds big confidence and potentially leads to a lifetime in the outdoors.

Hunting traditions don’t perpetuate themselves. Neither does conservation. Both depend on people who pass it along – that could be someone who shows a kid how to shoot, someone who invites a kid to come along and hunt with them, or a landowner who opens their gate to young hunters.

Maybe years from now, one of the kids we introduce to hunting will be the person standing behind a young shooter as they walk up behind a bird dog locked in place.

That’s how we pass it on.

That’s “The Upland Life.”

Ryan Sparks is editor of Quail Forever Journal.