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About GaryHometown: Prosperity, S.C. |
Q&A with Gary Peters
Gary Peters has dedicated his career to public service and conservation. Genuine appreciation from Wheelin’ Sportsmen participants is what keeps him involved year after year.
NWTF: Gary, tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in the outdoors.
Gary Peters: I grew up on the outskirts of a small community with farms all around me, so I was always outside. I had my first garden when I was 5. My mom taught me which mushrooms to pick when I was 8, and I was in charge of my family’s red raspberry patch.
When I was 14, my town had a program that assigned sixth graders to a high schooler who would be the group leader for the week to take the sixth graders outdoors. That year, as a high school group leader, I worked with kids who had never seen a snail or a box turtle and I thought, Wow, this is fun. I really like doing this. So at the ripe old age of 14, I had an idea about what I wanted to do when I grew up.
I got involved in the outdoors through squirrel hunting, dove hunting and fishing more than anything. The action, activity and social environment of dove hunting exposed me to more sights and experiences than simply sitting in a blind and seeing nothing for five hours.
NWTF: How long have you been a turkey hunter, and do you have any tips you can give new turkey hunters?
GP: I started turkey hunting during the early 1980s. My advice to new turkey hunters is to practice — do a lot of scouting and practice. Spend four times as much time scouting as you do hunting.
NWTF: How did you get started with the NWTF?
GP: I’ve been involved with the NWTF for nearly 23 years. Back in the late 1970s, I was a biologist in Indiana and started working with the Bedford Chapter doing habitat work with volunteers.
NWTF: What type of work do you do with the NWTF, and why do you continue to support the NWTF?
GP: My primary job is coordinating habitat improvement work on the Francis Marion and Sumter national forests in South Carolina. I spend a lot of time volunteering with the Wheelin’ Sportsmen program, too. I’m usually the man behind the scenes at the events, making sure everything goes smoothly.
I support the NWTF because I believe in doing quality habitat work and volunteering for the outreach programs. The habitat work never stops. You can’t do habitat work once and have it last 100 years. You do it once, and it’s good for two or three years before you have to do it again.
NWTF: You’re a big supporter of the NWTF’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen program. What made you get involved with Wheelin’ Sportsmen specifically?
GP: When the NWTF’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen program came on the scene, the USDA Forest Service took a look at what we could do to help. Our first Wheelin’ Sportsmen event was a deer hunt on the Long Cane Ranger District in South Carolina. Our district staff handled all the coordination and logistics, and I went to observe. What made me get involved was the same thing that captures anyone else who attends a Wheelin’ Sportsmen event — I was simply compelled to participate just by what I saw.
I found myself in a position, professionally, to bring wildlife, the outdoors and the untold number of experiences that come with hunting and fishing back into lives of an underserved segment of the American population — even if only for a day or a weekend at a time. That’s powerful motivation for a man who has dedicated his career to public service and conservation of this nation’s wildlife resources.
NWTF: Tell us about your most memorable experience from a Wheelin’ Sportsmen event.
GP: There isn’t just one.
There’s the 82-year-old woman who found herself catching fish just a few miles from where she grew up. When asked about the day she said, “I haven’t had this much fun since the day I got married.”
Once, a 10-year-old blind boy came back to the registration table after fishing and said, “Every year my family has a reunion and a fish fry. For the first time I get to feed my family with fish I caught.”
Or Mike, a 25 year old whose dad had been taking him hunting for eight years — all unsuccessful hunts and many miserable experiences. Several of us joined forces and worked with Mike’s limited mobility to set up a blind and call in his first turkey, which he shot at 19 yards. After all the whoopin’ and hollerin,’ his dad cried and so did we. That’s powerful stuff.
Then there’s the wounded soldier who finished a hunt with a statement that riveted us all. He said, “I just want y’all to know that you have given me a reason to live.”
There is a genuine appreciation from the participants. There are people changing before our eyes because of their Wheelin’ Sportsmen experience. We’re sharing what most of us enjoy at our leisure and take for granted with those who can only dream about being in the wild. — Melanie Swearingen