Surviving Together

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