Shared by a fan:
I am writing to tell you how your shows have
influenced my son. Ever since he was three years old, he has been glued to survival shows. When
he was five, he came into the kitchen while I was making dinner and asked if he could
have an onion. Didn't know why a five year-old would want an onion but I played
along. I went outside and found two sticks out of the ground holding up that onion
with string--it was his little trap. So every chance he had, he would be outside
setting up snares hoping to catch something. I didn't think at the time he
understood having to load them with pressure, so they mostly were there for
looks. But practice makes perfect; he always gets online and Googles the best
way to catch something.
A few weeks ago we went camping. We stopped at the store
to grab last-minute food items and I said we needed to decide on something to
eat. He said: Dad let's get some bread. We got
to the lake and he told me to save our water bottles. I am thinking that's
mighty green of you. So the next morning we got up to go fishing and he showed
up at the table with his knife, water bottle, fishing line, and bread. He cut up
the bottle, inverted the lid, added bread, and tied his line to it. Said
he was going to trap minnows. So all day he tried and not one minnow. The next
day he was more determined so he put out more and ended up catching two big
minnows. Today as I was working in the garage he asked for help tying a slip
knot, saying he learned about snares from Mykel and Ruth. I helped him and he
built his snare. He did everything just as he saw it. We headed into town to
see a movie, and when we got back, he had snared a bird. The snare worked perfectly.
I
think if he is with me, we will survive a survival situation. Thanks for being an
inspiration to my son, Eli. For a long time I wasn't able to light the grill
because it was not the way Mykel does it!
Shawn
