Young men in Michigan are restless, searching for meaning and slipping through the cracks. Weed, fentanyl, and opioids are tearing their lives apart.
The casualties aren’t just statistics. These are real people. They’re young men, restless and searching. They’re caught in a world that offers them everything on a screen but nothing to hold onto.
But Michigan also has something else: woods thick with deer, rivers filled with steelhead, and wilderness that has been calling for young men to test themselves in it long before screens stole their attention.
Fathers, this is your chance. If you’re raising a son in a world that can’t define what it means to be a man, hunting might be the answer if you’re willing to try it.
Boys are wired for risk. They need challenge, adventure, and a certain amount of danger. Boys often respond best to things that test them, but modern life has smoothed over every rough edge.
Schools have kept them indoors for hours, their restless legs tucked under their desks. Medication helps keep their impulses in check and their teachers happy.
When the final bell rings, they go home to screens, chasing digital victories that mean nothing once the console shuts off. It’s a world that dulls the senses and suffocates ambition.
When life feels this flat, it’s no wonder many young men turn to drugs or pornography for an artificial high.
Hunting provides an alternative. It offers something real. It’s where a young man’s actions carry weight. And you, dads, can lead them there.
This past fall, I was hunting, leaning up against a tree, bow in my hand, watching a doe move to her bedding area. She wasn’t huge, just a respectable, medium-sized deer. When she finally stepped inside 20 yards, my heart was hammering in my chest. This was my moment.
The draw, the aim, the release—all of it mattered.
The arrow connected, and within 10 seconds, the doe was down. That surge of adrenaline and the responsibility was something no screen or substance could ever replace.
It’s the kind of moment that shapes a young man, that shows him his actions have consequences.
For way too many boys, that’s missing. Very few places nowadays are appropriately dangerous. Hunting can change that.
The wild doesn’t hand out participation trophies, that’s exactly why your son needs it.
Maybe you’ve never hunted before. Maybe the idea feels foreign to you, like a skill you were supposed to inherit but never did. Thankfully, you don’t have to tangle with grizzlies like Fred Bear to get started.
You just have to make the decision to do it, and start doing it. Some of the best memories I have as a young boy are learning to hunt with my father. This is a gift that you could pass along to your own children that would be worth far more than the cost of getting started.
There is a learning curve to hunting, so here’s how you begin:
Find a mentor, someone who’s been hunting their whole life, and ask for help. If there’s one thing that hunters love as much as hunting, it’s talking about hunting. Ask thoughtful questions, be respectful, take notes, and be curious.
They will give you more information than you can handle.
Also, your gear doesn’t need to be high-end or expensive when you’re getting started.
Find a borrowed rifle or bow and some basic, warm outdoors clothing. That is plenty. You can also start small with squirrels or rabbits if deer hunting feels daunting. Hunting requires a lot of failure and hard lessons learned, so learn them while the stakes are lower.
You don’t need a huge backyard to take your son hunting either. You can take advantage of Michigan’s state land and federal parks where it is allowed. Before you hit the woods, take a hunter safety course together. It’s simple, required by the state, and a fun thing to share with your kids.
Don’t expect immediate success. The first time out, you’ll most likely either miss your shot, spook the animal, or not see anything. But that’s the point. You’ll have to earn it, together.
Fathers, don’t let another season pass. Show your sons what it means to feel alive.
Tom Zandstra is a passionate outdoorsman and CEO of The Fair Chase. Follow him on X @TheFairChase1.
