Please share your memory with your hunting memory with your hunting mentor that taught you the lessons that make hunting one of the best times anyone can share with a close friend or family member. With a lump in my throat and a held back tears in my eyes I will share this with everyone.

Without a doubt the times I spent in the woods and fields with may Dad as a boy are some of the most memorable, thought provoking, life lesson learning experiences of my life. Thank you Dad for making me the man I am today!

I will never forget, and my Dad never forgot the time we were sitting in the pickup truck on a old Iowa dirt road one cold winters day. I must have been about 10 years old. We were enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking coffee with plenty of sugar and creamer "as Dad and I liked it". The sun had come out after a morning of harvesting our favorite game. I turned around looked out the back window to see the cottontails and looked at my Dad and said, "Dad, I want you to know that you are not just my Dad but my best buddy". Dad reached over, rubbed my head, and said, "You are my best buddy to Son". The sun never felt so warm as it did on that cold Iowa day.

Thank you Dad for all that you taught me. The life lessons and wisdom I learned while out hunting with you are priceless. To this day I still thank my Dad every time I go to visit him in Oak Shade Cemetery in Marion, Iowa. I remind him of that priceless memory on that cold Iowa day sipping hot coffee and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I am now trying to teach my Son the same lessons I learned and share the same quality time I spent while out with my Dad. I am convinced that when we are taking our last breaths on this earth it will not be what we have been able to obtain in this world that we will be thinking of, but the relationships we have built and the memories we have shared.

In memory of my Dad,
Bernard Harold Pearson

Sincerely,
Trent Bernard Pearson
AKA, TrapperTrent

this is difficult, i lost my dad a month ago and i'm still trying to find my way without him. he was my closest friend and only hunting partner.
everything i know about being a sportsman came from him. i hate that we never killed a deer together, we always had to settle for pot luck hunting since neither of us could afford to join a nice club or lease land. he always seemed to know how to get the most out of every experience.
right now i'm just taking it day by day, but **** i miss him.

james pugh
june 18, 1943 - march 27, 2004

this is difficult, i lost my dad a month ago and i'm still trying to find my way without him. he was my closest friend and only hunting partner.
everything i know about being a sportsman came from him. i hate that we never killed a deer together, we always had to settle for pot luck hunting since neither of us could afford to join a nice club or lease land. he always seemed to know how to get the most out of every experience.
right now i'm just taking it day by day, but **** i miss him.

james pugh
june 18, 1943 - march 27, 2004


Hi James,

I know what you mean. My Dad has been gone now for 8 years and it was truly a wonderful experience to have had him in my life. I will always cherish the time we had together and all of the memories. My 15-year-old son and I now are sharing time together. Even before I would let him carry a gun my son Brandon and I would go out scouting or hunting. Brandon would often asks me to tell him about the time "you and Grandpa Bernie would.…." I really enjoy telling him the stories and it just brings us that much closer. If I could offer something Paul, it would be to find someone close to you to make your own memories with and share the times about you and your Father. I found that was the best help for me.

Take care and make the best of every day,
Sincerely,
Trent Pearson

Hi James,

I know what you mean. My Dad has been gone now for 8 years and it was truly a wonderful experience to have had him in my life. I will always cherish the time we had together and all of the memories. My 15-year-old son and I now are sharing time together. Even before I would let him carry a gun my son Brandon and I would go out scouting or hunting. Brandon would often asks me to tell him about the time "you and Grandpa Bernie would.…." I really enjoy telling him the stories and it just brings us that much closer. If I could offer something Paul, it would be to find someone close to you to make your own memories with and share the times about you and your Father. I found that was the best help for me.

Take care and make the best of every day,
Sincerely,
Trent Pearson

One thing you might try, really worked for me.
The time spent with my Dad was priceless, I missed that so much, that I knew young men that didn't have that opportunity had missed out on a lot. So, I joined the Big Brother program. There are chapters everywhere.

It does as much for me as the kids, but to see city kids out enjoying the woods is something they won't forget.
To me, it takes up that empty feeling.

Anyway, Good Luck

I second tpv above. My Dad did not hunt. In fact we never really got along much. Not that either of us were bad people---sometimes personalities do not mix. It is extrememly unfortunate when this occurs between a son and his Dad. That is the sad side of the story. The uplifting side is that my best friend's Dad stepped in to be, in many ways, my surogate Dad.
My best friend, Mike, did almost everything together except when it came time for him to go hunting with his Dad at age 12. Suddenly I was on the outside looking in. His Dad, Bob, decretly asded my parents if it was ok to take me hunting. They said yes. It had a profound impact on my life. He taught me gun safety and included me on all hunting trips and outings, even buying me things I needed at times. He is still with us but now it is more like Mike, his brothers and I take him.

We built a small cabin up in the wood of central PA in the 60's and still all gather there a few times a year to renew our bonds and hunt. The miles separate us now but the legacy that he left will never be far away. Truth be told, his funeral will be harder on me than was my own father's that occurred 3 years ago.

If you want to heal your soul there is no better way than to share your love and expertise of the outdoors and hunting with a child who does not have an interested father. I know because I am living proof. JOHN