By Richard Scott

The anticipation of dove season's opening day was simply too much for 14-year-old Tony Blaha.
"I woke up every 30 minutes last time wondering if it was time to get up and go," says Blaha, who hunted with his stepfather Dexter Watts and his 4-year-old stepbrother Parker Watts. "Last night felt like it took a week."
That excitement is one of best reasons why Watts takes his boys hunting. For him, the best aspect of his recent hunt with Tony and Parker had nothing to do with taking a limit of doves.
"The most important thing is for them to understand and appreciate nature," Watts says. "A lot of kids these days are spending all their time in front of computers and TVs and they don't understand and appreciate nature and what it means to be outside.
"For us, this is just time together. We have fun trying to shoot the birds, but the best thing about this is the fun we have being together."
Tony might be a teenager, but he's also learning the value of the lessons Watts is trying to teach.
"It's just fun to be out here in the woods, shooting the guns, taking pictures, having something to brag about later on," Tony says. "Sometimes you have people who spend all their time in the city and they don't know how good this is, but I love the outdoors."
How many other boys and girls would say the same thing if they only had the opportunity to experience Alabama's great outdoors the way this state's rabid outdoorsmen do each year?
Jerry de Bin, the Information and Education Chief for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, isn't a betting man, but he would be willing to bet a week's paycheck that just about anyone with a love for outdoor sports had a family member or close friend take an interest and share their own passion for outdoor activities.
"The vast majority of all hunters, anglers, campers, boaters, hikers were introduced to that activity by family members or a very close friend," says de Bin. "These are very social activities that we learn in the context of spend
ing time with one person or small groups very close to us."
So what happens to young people who don't know anyone who hunts, fishes, hikes, camps or just appreciates the wonder of God's creation all around us? What happens to all those kids raised in cities and suburbs who don't grow up around outdoor sports, with parents and relatives who never experienced the joys of nature?
That's where the Step Outside programs steps into the void. The national program was introduced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in 1998 and brings interested kids and adults together with experienced, qualified teachers and mentors willing to share their passion and knowledge of the outdoors.
In Alabama, Step Outside is a partnership between the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Alabama Treasure Forest Association, and the Alabama Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. The state of Alabama joined the program in 2000, and it's already paying off for Alabama's next generation of outdoorsmen.
"It's a great message because it brings people together, especially families, and it passes on our Alabama values about the enjoyment of the outdoors" says Alabama Gov. Don Seigelman, who recently attended a Step Outside event at Great Southern Outdoors in Union Springs. "We want our young people to grow up with a passion for their outdoors and hunting and fishing and it starts with a program like Step Outside."
And the program works because experienced outdoorsmen care enough to get involved with the state, sharing time, expertise, land and resources.
"The real value of this program is that it recreates the way we got involved in outdoors activities - and that's one on one," de Bin says. "Step Outside brings people together in the outdoors. We put people together in the outdoors, doing something that is interesting to them. We've found that if we create the opportunity, yes, they will come."
After dipping its toes into the Step Outside program last year, Alabama is sponsoring more than 50 Step Outside events this year, and de Bin expects that number to double next year. The events have gone beyond hunting and fishing trips to include the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program, as well mountain biking, scenic biking, hiking, camping and other similar activities. In fact, a Step Outside survey found that 67 million men and 47 million women would accept an invitation to go target shooting if someone invited them.
Step Outside emerged as a response to the increasing urbanization of American culture. As de Bin points out, 80 years ago, the United States was a predominantly rural nation, with 80 percent of its population living in rural areas. Now, 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas.
"The family farm has long been sold, subdivided and developed, and kids lack the opportunities to even spend the summer on the farm being exposed to outdoor activities," de Bin says. "Our leisure patterns are also changing. We work more and play less. Now factor in the increase in two-income households, higher divorce rates, more absentee fathers and mix all that together, it creates a scene where even though interest in the outdoors remains high for kids today, but the opportunities and the resources are missing.
"And sometimes we even had adults who themselves were deprived of these opportunities, and they'll take advantage of it if we just create the opportunities. Kids, women and men will all take part in this if we just help."
That's where experienced outdoorsmen steps into the Step Outside program.
"The basis for Step Outside is for each one of us to take one new person a year and introduce them to our sport," de Bin says. "If you're a backpacker, a hiker, a hunter, a fishermen, take some under your wing and teach them what you know and make opportunities for them."
The most recent Step Outside opportunity came on Sept. 15, opening day of dove season in Alabama. Kids from around the state joined Step Outside events at three different locations, including the recent hunt at Great Southern Outdoors, a hunting and fishing lodge that hosted more than 50 children and adults.
Like other private lodges and landowners around the state, including White Oak Plantation and Sedgefield Plantation, Great Southern Outdoors opened its doors to provide a hunting opportunity to eager young hunters such as 13-year-old Jacob Jackson, who hunted with his father Mike Jackson.
"It's a good time to just be out in the woods and have fun. It's quality time," says Jacob, who admits he probably would have just spent his Saturday being bored if he hadn't been dove hunting with his dad.
"This is absolutely fantastic for the state to sponsor this so you can bring your son or daughter and introduce them to this kind of activity," says Mike Jackson, who plans to bring his 11-year-old daughter Sharon on future trips when she gets a little older.
Courtney Burke, a 12-year-old from Montgomery who came to the event with her father, John Burke, shares the same love for the outdoors. If she hadn't come to the dove hunt, she admits she probably would have spent the afternoon grocery shopping with her mom, and she'd rather be in a field waiting for doves to fly over.
"I love the beauty, the trees and all the stuff God made," says Courtney, who likes to hunt, fish and go out on the water in the family boat.
What could possibly be better than that for a reason to support Step Outside, both as an Alabama taxpayer and a private citizen?
"The only way to effectively manage the natural resources in the state of Alabama is to manage the human dimension," de Bin says. "We can't regulate it all, we can't possibly hire enough conservation enforcement officers or pass enough laws to adequately protect our resources. We need an ecologically literate and environmentally responsible citizens engaged in the process, and you do that by getting them outdoors."
If the opening day of dove season is any indication, Step Outside must be doing something right. More than 1,000 youths participated in 22 youth dove hunts across Alabama on the opening day of the season. Because of landowners, sponsors and volunteers, the hunts took place in 22 of Alabama's 67 counties. For more information on the Step Outside program and a schedule of future events, contact Jerry de Bin at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources at 1-334-242-3623 or visit the Step Outside web site at www.stepoutside.org.