Missouri's Hunting Heritage Federation - Introducing youth to Hunting

John Sickmeier joins us to talk about a great program for youth who have not been introduced to our great hunting heritage!  they offer classes on hunting, shooting and most things related. 

Now on the edge of expanding the program they will be able to reach even more youth!  If you would like to help by volunteering or with donations please click their link below...

Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation:
https://www.mhhf.us/

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Transcript

 We had one child here, um, back on that teal hunt that, you know,  we, we've had the teals coming in and we gave him the shell and he loaded it real quick and he jumped up to fire. And I mean, he was ready and he, he was just jerking that gun. He forgot to take the safety off. 

I knew adults that broke his heart, but you know, he did get a few shots off. And, uh, but if you've ever hunted teal, they're like  camel boots on my feet, Bow in my hand,  walking in the early dawn to climb up  Redbone, what would you say if I could tell you that you could kill a buck on a certain day? I would say you're crazy.

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We are in the studio at K Country 95. And as always, we always tell you, we've got a show lined up for you. And this show this week is preparation for youth deer season. Youth deer season is this weekend in Missouri. And, uh, I believe in Arkansas as well. All right, Redbone. I believe that's right. Yeah. So we're going to talk about preparation and how to make the hunt enjoyable with that child that you're taking.

And we've talked previous shows about preparation, you know, shooting the rifles, shooting hornet ammunition, getting that rifle on the line, letting that child be competent, confident. with their weapon and competent and that was not a mistake on your working there.  And we got a special guest in here and we're proud to announce we've got a quarterly sponsor with Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation and spokesperson board member John Sigmar no boy I graduated with actually he was two years ahead of me. 

I'm a couple years.  Yeah, he was a quite the basketball player, man. Good guy, but we're going to talk about Missouri hunting heritage federation, and he's going to share some tips with you all to make that hunt more enjoyable. But right now, segment one of the show, we're going to talk about current events.

The chiefs again, go chiefs. They are 7 0. They keep winning ugly, but they keep winning. I say nobody, nobody remembers how a team went 16 0. You know, like Miami. When they went 16 0, nobody remembered how they did it, just the fact they did it. And, uh, yeah, the Chiefs winning, I mean, uh, they're winning it, they seem like they're able to close it in the fourth quarter again, like they have been doing for years.

It's like the defense. It's all about the defense. It is. It's like they play with everybody up to the half, you know what I mean? I'm just Nip and tuck. Stay with them a little. Try it on a little bit. Then when it comes third, fourth quarter, game over. Yeah. Game over. Game over. I mean, Miami, I don't know if you remember, but Miami used to just grind it out.

You know, Larry Zonka and Jim Kick. Yeah. Yeah. That defense was strong. Yeah. And then every once in a while, Mercury Morris would get out around the corner. Yeah. The, the, uh. Oh, they throw it to Paul Warfield. Similarity of, of, uh.  Kansas City and Miami. Yep. I tell you, it's, it's, it's a lot of luck. It really is.

I am with the running backs that they can't, and they've had to use three different ones, but yeah, they're just going to grind it when they can. Yeah. And the defense will shut them down. And I've said it ever since I read it when I was in high school, Woody Hayes, legendary coach of Ohio State used to say, there's three things can go wrong when you throw the ball and two of them are bad.

So if you don't have to throw it, don't throw it, right? Or if, if, if he was against them, don't run close to the sideline or he'd knock you out.  And they made it, they made a good move when they're running back, uh, you know, got hurt and he was out and they were able to bring somebody in that Kareem Hunt, uh, they were able to bring somebody in familiar with the organization, familiar with the offense.

And um, he was rusty in the beginning, you know, the first game or so you could see that he was still rusty. He hadn't played in a while and. Uh, boy, it seems like he's shaking the rust off. Pacheco is coming back in a couple of weeks. Yep. Yep. He's been a young bull ever since though, hasn't he? Yes, he has.

Oh, man. And my Steelers are in first place too. Yeah, Steelers are in first place in the Northeast Division. Six and two. Six and two. Yep. Russell Wilson, who's, uh, you know, he's now off his injury and, um, seems like it's a good thing. I mean, he can throw. Yeah, they were pretty good Monday. He throws a deep, beautiful long ball.

He does. He does. And, uh, there's, he, receivers are starting to really play it. But, again, defense. If you look at how they're closing these games and shutting these teams down, it's their defense. Let's talk local high school football across the country in southern Missouri. And, uh, John, you know, we're going to talk about Midwest Missouri too.

Uh, talk about your high school real quick. Well, the Camden and Lakers, you know, they, they're in a new conference this year. And, and, uh, you know, they used to play West Plains and, and, uh, the teams around Springfield, but, you know, busted it all up this year. And we went up north to, uh, Fight it out with, uh, Jeff city and, and Columbia.

And I'll tell you what, uh, the Lakers has, uh, held their own. And, uh, they, uh,  they went up against Elias with them halfway through the game and Elias. Oh my goodness. I was going to ask, are they playing the Jays or are they playing Elias Catholic in just city? Catholic. Catholic. Okay. And yeah, they're, they're tough.

Oh my goodness.  No, they got one defeat that happened at the very beginning of the year and ever since then they've just been manhandling. And Columbia, did you play in Hickman?  Hickman. Yeah. But we, we've lost three games, and I hate that for the Lakers, the Hickman and Elias and both those games we were in. 

And uh, then we lost to Branson, I believe it was, uh, Branson or Ozark. I can't remember which one it was. But anyway, and our quarterback got hurt on that one. Okay. But anyway. We're four and three going into the playoffs. Uh, we, uh, Rolla and Lebanon is, is a part of our district and we get to play Rolla at Rolla.

That's never fun. Ah, I, I think we'll handle them. Okay. I, I, you know, Rolla may be jumping up and down right now saying, nah, but, you know, we've played some tough, tough competition and our boys have really been seasoned. Well, one of the, one of the traditionally.  One of the legendary programs in the state of Missouri at Camden.

Yeah. Yeah. We got like five or six state championships and yeah, it's.  Yeah. Let's talk about other schools now. Sure. And then congratulations to your school. Uh, Thayer Bobcats, you know, Mountain Grove Panthers, Ava Bears, uh, Dexter, Missouri. They're seven and oh Redbone. Yep. Yeah. And of course everybody started district as this show airs on Saturday last night and uh,  see what happens from here.

It's winter go home. Winner go home. Uh, Liberty is 6 2. Uh, Liberty play Springfield Catholic this weekend. Best  of luck to 7 2. 7 2. I'm sorry. 7 2. And uh, best of luck to the Liberty Eagles. And, uh, Thayer Bobcats will be facing the Clever Blue Jays. Clever Blue Jays. First time in school history Thayer and Clever have played in any sport. 

And, where will they play at? Will they play at? Uh, game was played at Thayer. At Thayer. Okay. So, Liberty, again, plays Springfield Catholic. And I believe we play here, don't we? Or do we play? You play at home, yeah. At home. Yeah, the higher seeds always play at home. Yeah. Liberty being the two. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Catholic being, uh,  uh, eight or the seven, I play at, I just want to say I'm proud of all the Liberty boys, the coaches and everything, even though we, sometimes we struggle with situations. I want to play very good ball. What a thriller last week though, man, to score the final play of the game and  say what you said,  the quarterback,  what did I say?

You just said, he says so much, he thought Parker tune was a great quarterback. That's all you said.  Yeah. I said, yeah. Yeah. And he is. He's a great athlete. Yeah. So we had nine seconds on the clock, John. Yeah. Nine seconds. Forty five yards.  I told you. Yeah. So, so he runs it in. Breaks three tackles and runs it in.

Parker too.  And we got a great quarterback. Gavin Reese. He's very fast in the pocket. Very accurate. But when pressure comes on, he struggles a little bit. You know. I gotta ask you. Was that, that, uh, did he just come in at the end of the game? He came in at the end of the game. Oh. Played one game at quarterback.

One, one play at quarterback. He probably don't even remember scoring.  Exactly right. And man, he probably don't even remember crossing the line. Well, congratulations to all the teams that's making the district championship playoffs and we're going to break, but we also want to mention good luck to all the volleyball players out there.

Liberty won their districts and won on a Wildcats, man. What a, what a team. You know, they're doing good. They may win the class one state championship. They may win it. They are. Liberty's playing Miller tonight. I believe it's Miller. Yeah, I think they're playing tonight,  so to start the district or the. 

We're going to do a break. We come back. We're going to be talking with Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation spokesperson, board member, Mr. John Sickmeyer. We're going to talk about that and also share some tips and techniques to make that hunt more enjoyable for that child. Don't go away. We'll be back with more right after this.

Right here, right now. This is Chance Walters. Listening to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutledge, the O, our curved bull  wishing on some 

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Legacy farmland specialist presents. Welcome back to American roots outdoors. We are in the studio  at K country 95 fair, man, the springs. Home of the Thayer bobcats and we are, uh, and the man of spring bearing and the spring and the Alton comments. That's right. So we are in the studio and again, uh, you've seen coming up this weekend.

We're recording this on Wednesday And some of you listening to this will already be in the woods possibly with your child, but you can download the k country 95 app for free on your phone and wear your earbuds to listen to this if you'd like But we're going to talk about missouri hunting heritage federation first, then we're going to talk about You Uh, some tips to make the hunt more enjoyable.

Um, our spokesperson for Missouri hunting heritage federation is Mr. John Sigmire. John, welcome to the show. Thank you, Alex. Good to be here. Yeah. Tell us about Missouri hunting heritage federation. What is it? And when was it founded? Uh, why was it valid? Well, it, uh, started off probably 13, 15 years ago.

Gentlemen. Uh, a bunch of men got together and they were just talking about how, you know, they need to do something because kids just seem to not be connected anymore and the numbers are going down. And uh, so they decided to get group men together and women and, and uh,  well, it's all volunteer and just start putting on clinics. 

And, uh, some of us are certified hunter education, uh, teachers through the Missouri Department of Conservation. And we put on clinics. Uh, they're usually two day clinics.  They'll come in Saturday into a classroom. Uh, the classroom may be, uh, You know, uh, we've had them in a barn,  uh, and you know, a building, you know, and so anyway, uh, and we have a four hour class.

We teach them everything that they, we go over everything that they took the class on. Right. And then we teach them gun handling skills, how to load the gun properly, how to unload the gun. How to hand it to each other properly, you know, how to cross a fence properly, you know, safety is game one, you know, that that's the top of, of the list. 

And after everybody's passed the class. Some  don't, but we go back and go over it again and work with them. And they, everybody's usually pass the class and then we'll have a lunch farm. And, uh, then that afternoon we'll go out and we will shoot the guns and we've got an assortment of, of guns  and, uh, the kids go out and skeet shoot.

We have skeet shooting machines and they'll go out and target shoot.  And sometimes if we're at a range, they'll just shoot at the target range. And, uh, then that afternoon, if the season is right, we take them out on a managed hunt.  When now we take the child and the guardian parent guardian. And we take them out.

Mentors take them out. Yeah. And you kind of do that according to the season. I've been reading on the website quite a bit, coral hunting, rabbit, quail. I mean, whatever, whatever's in season, whatever's available. Yeah. We, we went on a teal hunt earlier, you know, first, I believe it was first opening first weekend, a teal season.

All those kids just as a blast, as a blast. I mean,  but, uh, you know, uh, then we've, I mean, this weekend, we've got a deer You know, you see an open up, we've got a deer hunt out east,  a gentleman offered us his land to hunt on, and the class is full, book solid, and uh, we're going to have a hunt. We're hopefully, hopefully they'll get lucky.

Now, the ages of the kids that you do, what age range are we looking at here? 11 up, we, we, our target range is 11 to 18. Okay. You know, somewhere in there. Yep. Bye. But we are expanding  to young adults, you know, and, and if parents has never, if we get a parent,  you know, you can be young at heart, right, right.

Oh, yeah. And yeah, go ahead. Well, I was gonna say you were talking and Alex brought up, you know, uh, and you had mentioned that there's  a reduction in the number of hunters. Yeah. Have you guys, you know, talk to these kids and talk to the parents to find out why? Yeah. You know, I mean, what, what have you through your research?

What, why, what is the reason you think that kids just aren't in it anymore? Well, it's, it's, it's the different, a lot of our, um,  a lot of our people comes from the city.  Uh, a lot of the people come from the city whenever Alex and I grew up. I mean, our dads, you know, whenever we got out of a diaper, our dad's drug us to the woods, you know?

And that's, that's. You know, that's the way it was. And when I joined this organization, you know, I kind of told him that, you know, and I said, it's, it's totally different from, from the Lake South, you know, the kids down South, you know, they, they usually know how to hunt by the time they're, you know, seven, eight years old, you know, but most of our kids, they, they do come from the city, you know, and that's never had the opportunity.

That usually families work, both parents work, they don't have the time, but we're encouraging them to make time, bring them to us and we'll,  yeah, I want to say, man, I think, uh, from what I've heard already, and I've already researched it quite a bit, uh, the organization, uh, I want to be a member,  whatever the membership is, I'm interested in becoming a member and helping any way I can.

I know these guys will probably, uh, Don't mind me speaking for you. It sounds great. And I think it's much needed. And if I may contribute back to what you were saying, you're asking what the dilemma is and why the decrease in youth learners. I think we could look back and some of the research I've read is that  divorced families Yeah.

Women raising their children on their own and the man not raising them. And that's, uh, some of the problem. That's it. But I think you reaching out to the kids in the cities with Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation is a great focus. And I think it's, uh, it's going to help increase the numbers. But, you know, it's God's creation and you're a Christian as well.

Oh yeah. And this organization is a Christian organization. Yeah. Well, they're, they, they do have Christian foundations. Yes. And, you know, I want to say that we're, uh, uh,  non profit. Okay. Uh,  totally tax deductible. If anybody wants to donate to our cause, totally tax deductible. Um, you know, the membership is minimal.

Bye bye.  And, but we're looking for volunteers.  And we're looking for mentors for hunts. So if you've got the passion for that, please go to our website and, and sign up. Okay, we're going to talk about the website. Redbone wants to say something here real quick. Yeah, I just want to ask before we take the break, uh, what about people with resources available, land to hunt?

I mean, are you looking for places to take these kids? We, we, we really are. We're, we're looking for land. We're, Uh, right now our main,  uh, you know, starting out with volunteers, you know, volunteer is hard to, you know, everybody's time's precious. And so it's, it's been slow going, getting started, but we're starting to really get headwinds and we've got a lot of hunts in central Missouri  and we're wanting to get south.

We're wanting to go on south and reach down in here where your roots are deep. Yeah. And we're wanting to get started down here. So we need volunteers and mentors down here and, uh, to get this all started. Well, again, I will commit to help you when I can, and we're going to go to a break again, uh, you're listening to American reach outdoors with John sick, Mar spokesperson with Missouri hunting heritage federation.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with more right after this.  Hey, this is Eddie Salter and you listen to American Roots and Outdoors with Alex Rutledge and friends. 

My old pair of hunting  passed on down  in the ground  around,  so you never got  what? Hey  guys, it's food plot planting time here in the Ozarks and all across the country. What are you planting this year, Wayne? I'm gonna put some smorgasbord in with a whole lot of clover. You're gonna put some extra clover in it?

What? Smorgasbord? What is smorgasbord? Man, it is a variety of annuals and perennials that'll get you through fall time, winter time, and all the way into spring. It's awesome. You want to plant healthier food plots to track all kinds of game, go to www. EagleSeed. com. It's a smorgasbord. You know, we all get tired of certain things.

A smorgasbord has everything. Your deer will love it. EagleSeed. com. 

Hornady Ammunition presents, welcome back to America Roots Outdoors segment three of our show. And man, what a show. We're learning some great stuff here. And this Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation, uh, is a great organization, Redbone. I think so. And you know, anybody out there listening, uh, that maybe your kids are grown, your grandkids are grown, and you miss Taking kids hunting or teaching kids about hunting.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to share your knowledge.  You're, you're, you're 100 percent spot on. And I know Wayne's wanting to say something. I'm watching and reading there. Well, I'm excited to hear that you guys are looking to expand. That you've, I mean, for the amount of time that you've been, since you've been created.

The fact that you're able to now say, hey, it's time to get out there. And to start reaching other people. Because like you said, Central Missouri is one thing. But boy, you can start getting to other city areas where kids just don't have opportunities. And I do a lot of foster kids, you know, everybody that hears me talk about on the radio all the time, but that's one of the things, like, we have, I have four foster girls right now, one just got her hunting license.

And, um, but the other three want to, but they've never been exposed or never had the opportunity, which I'm finding with all foster kids that we've had, even in Ohio, nobody's ever said, hey, try this. You know, this is something that they've never been exposed to, and they probably never would. Unless they got put into a home that where the person hunted right, right, you know, it's,  it's a great organization, you know, and getting back.

I don't know if I answered your question earlier about the land, you know, land, we do need land. We need, we need some land plots to do these hunts on. So, you know, if anybody's got some land that, uh, they want to. Offer us to do a hunt on, Oh, we'd appreciate it a lot. You know, we yeah, go ahead. If I may interject and I'm sure you're organized and you'll have releases for everybody, liability releases, and you're insured to protect these kids and all that.

So the people understand that. Yes, yes. We are insured and there are releases that they, they signed. And another thing on top of it,  we as mentors, when we take the hunter and his Or hers guardian out,  we are there right next to the hunter. We do not hunt. We do not carry a gun or a bow or anything. We sit right next to them and, and we, they don't even load the gun until there is something in sight. 

So there's no chance of the gun or the, uh, the bow going off. And so, so it's very safe. We, we just. We're within an arm reach. Do you take, so then are you guys just taking a supervisory role when you're out there with them next to the tree? Or are you actually, Hey, I'm going to, I'll do the grunting for you.

I'll do the rattling, the calling. You're doing that too. So you're not, okay. So you're, you're doing not just a super visit supervision, but you're actually doing the, getting them to guide you into it. Yes. Yes, exactly. Cause there are organizations I have, I've run into where they basically after your class is done, they just kind of sit there with you to.

You know, for insurance reasons and stuff like that, but they don't help. They're, they're, they're like, well, the kid needs to learn how to do that. And I'm like, uh, no, we, we not cool. No, we offer it's a whole service. I mean, I've called in, you know, I've, I've used duck call to call in. I've, You know, we, we do whatever, you know, not, not saying they've worked, but not, but we got to shoot some ducks. 

I want to say this, uh, uh, you know, get back to our focus here of sharing some tips and stuff when you take a kids, what, what, what's some of the things that Wayne, Redbone, John, that you do to prepare the kids  for the hunt. And what I like to do, if I may share mine first, is I like to minimally walk them through the hunt.

Again, safety, gun safety, everything. And if we're hunting from a ground blind, talk about how we're going to be set. I minimally prepare them before the hunt. Do you do that? Yeah, uh, of course, you know, when we take them out to hunt, they've already been through the school, the class,  And a shoot on how to handle the gun.

But then when you get into the situation, you just refresh them, you know? And, and like I said, we don't load the gun until there's something in sight. So there's no accidents, but, but we always go through it over and over again. And we had one child here, um, back on that teal hunt. That, you know,  we we've had the teals coming in and we gave him the shell and he loaded it real quick and he jumped up to fire and I mean, he was ready and he, he was just jerking that gun.

He forgot to take the safety off.  Oh,  I knew adults that broke his heart, but you know, he did get a few shots off. And, uh, but if you've ever hunted teals, they're lightning fast, they're fast. So, but it was a lot of fun. So you do mentally prepare them and walk them through. And, and, you know, again, hopefully all of our listeners have had their children out shooting.

And one thing I always say, you know, whether it's a BB gun, depending on their age or 22, uh, building their confidence and learning how to shoot helps them and shooting good ammunition. That's accurate ammunition like Hornady. I'm gonna give him a plug and, uh,  Just want to say, uh, that's important. Millie prepared them and explain to them what's going to happen.

And one of the things that I do also, John Redbone Wayne is when we're set up, you know, From my wise eye cameras, they don't lie, wise eye don't lie, and capturing the photos or videos of these deer, where they're coming in from, does the scouting for you. So, now this, if the deer comes in from the right, okay, what I want you to do is bring your gun up when I tell you to, and if you shoot with the shooting sticks, or a pod, or whatever, or land it in the window of the shooting house, whatever, I tell you, you're going to shoot when I tell you.

So. Hold your breath, squeeze the trigger, just stay calm, think of an ice cream, or something that you enjoy, and just stay calm, and put it behind the shoulder, and squeeze slowly, and breathe out when you shoot. So really preparing them is part of the reason that creates success. I can't tell how many stories I've heard of people taking kids turkey hunting or deer hunting and saying, well, the kid missed.

Where was the kid sitting? Oh, he was sitting about six foot from me. Have the kid sitting right close to you where you can whisper to that child and, and keep them calm and talk to them. That's some of the things I do. Anything you guys want to add?  Well, no, I mean that, that covers it all right there. Um,  you, you said it all, Alex.

Uh, you know, we've got,  offering what we offer, we've got different situations. You know, like I said, teal hunt, whorl hunt, deer hunt, turkey hunt,  different situation. So, you know, you get into a duck hunt, well, you're in a blind, there may be three shooters,  you know, two shooters minimum, you know, and so you've got to say, okay, your area is from the right to right here.

After that, if, if your gun goes beyond that, we're pulling her down, you know, you're not going to shoot it's his, his bird then. And, and, you know, so, so you got to make that clear to him. And so everybody knows.  They're shooting area and the safety.  There we go, folks. We're going to go to a break and we come back.

We'll be talking more, sharing tips with you on how to make that hunt more enjoyable and successful with this year's youth hunt. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more right after this. Hey guys, this is the Macklemore Boys here with Masterbuilt. You're listening to our buddy Alex Rutledge with the American Roots Outdoors right now.

Let's go! Give me five, baby! 

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Eagle Seed presents, welcome back to America Roots Outdoors segment four of our show. Again, our special guest is Mr. John Sickmeyer, spokesperson with Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation, along with Wayne and Redbone and I in the studio, man, we've covered some great stuff. Wayne. Oh, definitely. I mean, I love the organization.

And, and how he's running it. It reminds me a lot when I, again, when I lived in Ohio, uh, Jamie Lukens had sportsman of tomorrow organization, and I would go in there and I would give lectures and that to the kids. And then I always gave away a hunt for a child. And one of the things, as far as tips are concerned, you guys were talking about getting mentally prepared when I would.

What I like doing is riding with the child to the hunting area, not in a separate vehicle because I found the reason I do that is because I found if I wrote in a separate vehicle when they got out, they were so pumped.  There was no, I mean, their adrenaline was running like high to where if I was riding with them to where we were hunting, I was able to talk to them, get them calm, get them to understand, get their mindset.

already there as opposed to jumping out of a vehicle like, Oh my gosh, I'm in a new area. What's going to happen? Oh, you know, and then run over to me at the, at my truck, right? If you can ride with them and talk with them on that, on that ride to where you're going, get them mentally prepared. I think everybody and Redbone probably agrees to mental preparedness before you even get out.

Yeah. I want to say this, uh, I'm reading our live folks, but Facebook posts, cause we're on live Facebook, Terry Weaver shared with us. She said, uh, You know, he started his kid out at a very young age shooting a 22 and that's why I was taught, you know, and I just want to say that that's part of preparation, you know, and the thing is, I think the thing we got also just being segment four of the show and we got a bonus segment coming up if you're a podcast listener here in a few minutes is I just want to stress to them, don't make your child feel that they're not successful because they don't shoot something.

I think that's important. Let's talk about that. Wayne, Redbone, John. Yeah, I would agree 100%. I mean, uh, you know, the,  uh, take deer hunting for instance, uh, harvesting a deer, that's just the icing on the cake. The rest of it is the, the total experience from getting up in the morning. If you have breakfast, You know, having fixing the breakfast, having breakfast thing, you know, getting to the site, getting set free, like Wayne said, talking to him all the way to the, to where you're going to hunt, talking about what's going to happen, where we're going to go, which way the wind blowing, how are we going to get in, and, and then I like,  We've talked about this before.

I like to make the whole hunt a learning experience. We're going to go look at a scrape. I'm going to explain what a scrape is for.  You know, if we see horn marks or we see feces or whatever in a scrape or a wet spot, we're going to explain why that's there. And we're going to go look at rub lines. We're going to figure out what rub lines are about.

We're going to, we're going to learn from the whole experience because if you're not teaching them to hunt, It's kind of like, you know, give the man a fish, he can eat for a day, teach him to fish, he can eat for the rest of his life. It's the same way with hunting. You know, if you just go out there and put a kid in a stand and say, there's deer, shoot it, and then dress it and take it to the house, he didn't learn anything.

You gotta teach him the whole process. Exactly. And, and, and I know we're talking deer because it's deer season, but even in turkey season, when I take out youth hunters for turkey season. Or squirrel or rabbits or whatever. Show them what, show them what a strut zone is. Show them what strutting marks are, show them what scratchings are.

You know, it's amazing. Or roosting trees because of all the, uh, you know, excuse the language, but all the poop and the crap at the bottom of the tree. You found your roosting tree. Now, you know, because they're gone, obviously, and you're walking the area. Hey, here's a roosting tree. Now I know even more of where to set up when I come in the next morning if I have to.

Teach, teach, teach. That's, kids want to learn. If you, I tell you what. They want to learn.  And a lot of people say, well, they just want to shoot it. No, trust me. We may think that, and these generation of kids, you know, on their tablets and all that, but trust me, you get them out there. They want the knowledge.

And I'm sure you see that too, with the city kids.  Well, I do want to say this and you, you, you touched on something tablets. I think, uh, teaching kids, uh,  to use computers, that's awesome. But I think. We can let our kids spend way too much time on tablets. Yep. I've seen a lot of it. Too many kids are not being outdoors, getting their feet dirty, not wearing shoes.

Okay. I need to share some things with you real quick. Uh, as a kid being raised, I was taught by my dad being raised not very  financially wealthy in any sense.  And, uh, my dad was the type of guy, if we saw a nail on the road or a bolt or a screw, we picked it up. We saved it and put it in the coffee can.

That's the way I was taught.  And every old junk car we had sitting in the field, we didn't have to go to the auto parts to get that bolt or nut, because we had it. Kids need to be taught these things to, to  experience the outdoors and learn to become independent. But when they own these laptops constantly, they're never outside playing. 

They're going to be a different child.  They're not going to be as strong and independent as these kids that do. I know kids right now,  five to six years old, that squirrel hunt on their own here in the Ozarks because their parents are teaching them to be independent. You want to elaborate on that too, John?

Well, yeah. I mean, I, I didn't, I mean, I wasn't, uh,  And as bad as shape or poor as poor, you know, but I, I, I mean, we, we ate a lot of, uh, beans and cornbread, you know, growing up and, uh, but you know,  what we killed was, was, uh, everything when it came to mealtime. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I, I remember dad telling me stories about the depression, you know, when he grew up through the depression, I remember him saying that dad, give him one 22 bullet and say, bring back a squirrel, you know, and don't, you know, so, you know, it, it is different times now and, and that's what we want to bring it back around to.

We want to educate these kids how to number one, Handle the gun safely,  then go out and learn to hunt and do it properly.  Well said. Well said. And I want to add live to that too. One of the things also that I think has affected  the decrease in youth hunters and hunters  back in the day when I was a kid.

And you remember it too, John, you know where I'm going.  You could not, yeah, but you  could not wait to go to the Sinclair gas station and watch. The box pull in and get checked in. I seen on social media, Facebook, there's game warden somewhere took it upon himself to create a check station for all the people checking their deer youth season.

That was the worst thing they could have done was in every state when they removed check in station, I used to take my kids there and they loved it. Real quick website. How can I get ahold of you? Uh, www M H H F dot. U S not Oregon, but it's U S M H H F dot U S. There you go. Missouri hunting heritage federation.

Mr. John Sigmar, what a great show. We're going to have you back here again. And again, I want to, I want to become a member of whatever I got to do, pay a membership or whatever. And I'm sure Wayne and red bone wanted to do be members as well. And anybody out there, let's please support this organization. Uh, tell them you, you saw this live feed and you heard it on the show.

We're wrapping it up here. Remember. Bonus segment coming up.  Don't wait to listen to it. You gotta have a private podcast carrier. Teach your boys to become men.  Teach your girls to become ladies. And remember, when your roots run deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind. So you never gotta worry what the wind might do, American Roots.

Thank you for joining us for today's American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge. You can find us on Facebook. Look us up at on the World Wide Web at  AmericanRootsOutdoor. com. We'll be back again next week on This Great Radio Station. 

American roots.  Take you to a holler.  Take you to a feel. Across the creek. Of a big ol bay. Hornady  Ammunition presents Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. If you are listening to this, you are listening to it on your favorite podcast carrier, probably. And a subject matter is Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation with our, their spokesperson, Mr.

John Sickmeyer. We've been talking about tips to make the hunt more enjoyable, how to prepare the child. And right now, what we're going to talk about is a few more tips and that we share, but also how you can support. Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation. Redbone? Yeah, I just want to say I usually listen on my third favorite podcast carrier. 

Yeah, you don't want to get, you don't want the other two to grow too big. You gotta help the little guy out. Spread it around a little bit.  All right, but uh, yeah, we've talked about Missouri.  Hunter  hunting heritage, hunting heritage, uh, federation. And, uh, but, uh, John, how do people become involved? I know you mentioned during the radio show, looking for volunteers and you are looking for resources, land to hunt.

If somebody says,  I've heard the show set, I would like to be involved. What's the process. Well, the easiest way to go about it is just go to the website, uh, M H H F dot U S.  And just go through the website and you will, uh, find a link on how to sign up. And, uh, you know, that, that's the easiest way about it, you know, um,  or you can probably contact, uh,  one of our, uh, just call the number on there and, uh, Colton and, uh, he can do it over the phone, walk through the phone.

So, you know, the thing is, is, is, um, we really. We want to spread south  into this area, you know, and based out of where we're based out of, uh, out of just outside of Jefferson City and Lynn, Missouri. And that's why you want. Oh, and Lynn. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I've been there. Oh, have you? Yeah. Yeah. It was their first football game.

The first football game. Lynn football ever played.  They played, they played the Thayer Bobcats. I was there to broadcast the game. And they  are one like 68 to nothing,  but it was their first game. I know they're much better now,  but anyway, uh,  money  organizations need money and to do the things you do, we need money.

Do you take donations? We definitely do. Uh, we're a.  Five, one C three. Yeah. Five Oh one C three. So tax exempt, you know, and your, your donation is totally tax deductible. So that's great. You, you know, you can just, you can just donate cash. You don't even have to get involved. If your heart feels that you just want to help us with cash by all means, do it.

And that would go for, well, it basically goes for operation of the written materials. I mean, that's exactly that. And, uh, You know, if, if we need something other than what's donated, then we purchase it, you know, but a lot of it is, is basically for, um, just  office stuff and, and putting on clinics, of course, you know, food and all that kind of stuff like that.

And the applications for our, like you said, the right on the website, all you gotta do is click it. Boom. It just pulls up the application with one click. So it's not like it's a big process to try and join. What I find amazing is that it's only 35. Yeah, for your membership. We're not talking like 75 or 150 to be a member.

35, which at McDonald's is that's two people eating nowadays. So, you know, think about it. 35 and a membership that goes a long ways with helping you guys. And we do have a lifetime membership too. Uh, couldn't tell you what it was, but that, that's not expensive either, honestly. Yeah. I mean, in realm of what you're talking about for a lifetime.

Yeah. So it's $500 Yeah. To be a lifetime member. Yes. Wow. I, I, some organizations are a thousand, 2000 to be a member like that. Yeah. As soon as I, as soon as I joined, I became a lifetime member. I, I seen right away. What I, what it was doing for, for these young adults and that and young kids. And I want to be part of it and support it.

So, you know, the thing we've got, uh, we've got a big event coming up in the spring, it's called the spring fling. And it's going to be held at the second largest skeet shooting range in the, in the world and in Lynn Creek, uh, not Lynn Creek, um, just outside of, well, yeah, outside of Lynn Creek. There between Camden and No Sage Beach.

And, uh, so it's going to be a big fundraiser for us. And, uh, so we can need sponsors for that, you know, so if you want to, if you like shooting skeet, uh, it's going to be the first weekend of May. And we'd love to see y'all there. What about banquets? Do you guys put on banquets? Like where you give like the gun raffles and all that kind of stuff.

Like the NWTF does, do you do something similar to that? Cause there are people that say, Hey, that'd be a great opportunity to bring my family to that. So  well, at this spring fling, we're going to have all that. We're going to have silent auctions and all that awesome. Uh, this'll be the first one there.  Uh, now we've had them in Kansas city area.

We've had them for probably 10 years or more up there and they just keep getting bigger and bigger every year. And, uh, the last one is a huge success. And, but we're going to bring it South and we're going to, you know, we're encouraging everybody  to come up and see us. You know, get to know us,  try to win something and maybe shoot some skeet.

You know, you know, there's all, there's going to be all different classification sponsorship, as well as you, if you just want to come up there, just, you know, fill it, fill it, fill in the registration and participate. That's right. I, so we talked about cash donations. Can people also do  merchandise? I mean, you know, certainly to give away at your event, or I would assume you need  clay pigeons.

I mean, for skeet shoots, I mean, can people donate those kinds of things, you know, anything do with hunting? Okay. I mean, we, we can use it. I mean, it's, it's, uh, you know, we've, we've been blessed, uh,  with good stewards in the organization. We've got a great bunch of board members that, uh, is, has foresight and we've, we purchased guns and some has been donated to us and we've purchased all this stuff and, and, uh, we've got.

Um,  ample stuff, but we could use more, you know, especially if we brought up, you know, getting bigger right now. Yeah. Start reaching out. Yeah. What, what do you do about kids are like, they, they come to your thing, they take the class, they, they're ready to go on a hunt, but they just don't have the stuff. And I'm not talking like the guns, like you said, you could provide that.

What if they don't have the camo? What if they have no, because I mean, these are either city kids or maybe there's kids just whose family just doesn't have the money to buy this kind of stuff. You guys have camo that you can provide for them? We do have some camo. Okay. So people could donate like their old camo, your kids grow out of it, donate it to your organization for another child.

Yeah. And you know, if the kids and you touched on something there, if the kids doesn't, you know, they don't have a gun. We, we, we have, we have them and we have, uh, we, we was at a, uh, uh, shoot here while back, uh, uh, class and, uh, we had a little, uh, young girl there that, uh, bless her heart. She, she, we had 20 gauges to shoot skeet.

And I don't know, she shot, I'm going to say eight times or 10 times,  doing pretty good for a first time handling a gun. You know, she, she broke a few, but she like, Oh, my shoulder. Oh, and we went over and a truck and pulled out a four 10 and gave to her. And you know what?  She hit a skeet with that four 10.

No kidding. Yeah.  Awesome.  That was take that.  Exactly.  I broke one  here. She's breaking them with four 10. What about archery? I know we keep talking guns, guns, guns, but do you guys do anything with archery? Well,  we, we do cross both. Okay. And there is a reason for that. If anybody. Alex and, and you guys, you know, you pick up a bow, you just can't take it out there to the range and hit the center and go out and kill a deer the next, next couple of hours.

Right. You just can't do it. Well, the does have got to be, I mean, the bows have got to be somewhat specialized. Yeah. Everybody's got to fit. Exactly. Everybody has their own bow. There's no one size fits all. That's right. And we don't hold nothing. So we. We don't judge anybody by what they use to hunt. We just here at American roots.

We love the fact that you're just out there hunting. So like I, myself, I have a crossbow and I use it. I mean, I have no shame in that. There's no shame in it. You're out there. That's what it's about. They're legal,  but no, uh, It's just, it's just too time consuming for what we do. Okay. Because of 'cause the limited amount of hours you have.

Exactly. Exactly. And, and hey, we all love the bow hunt. Probably we all probably bow hunting in the organization, but right now we're focusing on this. Yeah. To get.  Kids out in nature, you know, out of the out of the living room off the couch and out in nature Okay, and to either chase a squirrel down or or what right, you know, and we just got to get them outside Well, I think I got two girls.

I think are gonna be taking your class if you get if you get down here Well, we're because we got working on both of them are in high school and they're talking about wanting to join the the trap You Uh, team that they have at, uh, uh, Liberty there. And, uh, so now, of course, knowing that it means I'm gonna have to put up a trap course in my backyard And I'm gonna be buying clay pigeons and that but to get them These are two foster girls that we're adopting to get them into your organization Um is as what I I think is worth it.

Definitely  What is the age of joining? Real quick on that. Is there an age? Do you have to be older than 18 or can kids join too? Do you have like a youth membership? Uh, you mean just to join us? Just to join us. There is no age, but you know, to take the course, you know, to, to, you know, you, yeah, there's an age limit on that.

Okay, but to be a member, it doesn't matter if you're 12 years old. Or, or, or 82 years old, if you're five years old and mom wants to write a check for you, you know, by all means, join us, you know, but you hear that mom's dad's write the check, but you know, uh, no, we, we encourage everybody, uh, we're, we're needing volunteers.

I can't stress that enough. We need volunteers. We need mentors. We need board members. Uh, we meet once a month. Most of it's virtually, but we do have in person meetings. I think it's crucial to do that. Uh, it seems like there's more kicked around the board whenever that round the table, when you're in face to face.

So, but anyway, you know, we, we just need people. So if you've got a heart, uh, for, for this, Oh, please, please go to the website and, and give it a look and join us, Missouri hunting heritage  Federation. Give us the website again,  M H H F dot U S.  And folks, it's a nice website. You can find, I mean, detailed information on what they do, where they do it and how you can get involved.

So, John, it's been great having you on the show. It's been great being here.  I challenge you, Wayne, to become a member today. I got the application pulled up right now.  Become a member today. I challenge everybody to listen to this show to become a member of this Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation. It's a great organization.

Help us save our hunting heritage.  Join MHHF.  Remember this folks, God's creation, he created it for us. To take dominion of the fowl, the air, the fish, the sea, and all living and walking creatures.  It's our role to be mentors of Christ, but also mentors in the outdoors. Take a kid, share the outdoors with that child, and always remember to teach your boys to become men,  and your girls to become  Women.

Ladies. Ladies. Okay. Ladies. And When your roots run deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind. 

Big 

passed on down deep in the ground around your heart, so you never gotta worry  what the wind might  do.