Moving fulltime to AAHA January 2012

I retire from my job in 23 weeks, but I’m not counting, right? As I moved closer to that date I am finalizing the projects for 2012 and beyond. Donnell and I are working to obtain our certification as hunting instructors. Then we will hold hunter education classes in the inner city where none are available now. Shotgun clinics, youth upland hunts hunts on a preserve, waterfowl and fishing trips are in the works. Mid-range and long term plans include British Columbia, Alaska and African Safaris and our own Back and inner city hunters expo for manufacturers, retailers and outfitters. Interested people can contact me at donnyadair@yahoo.com .

Old Friends Get Together Again – Donny Adair & Larry Anderson

Is Racism a Factor in the Decline in the number of Hunters?

A recent article in a national magazine about plummeting participation in duck hunters chronicled a decrease from 2.44 million duck stamps sold to just 1.5 million from 1972 to 2006. Small game hunters have also decrease by 10% in the 10 year period 1996-1006. The studies which were reviewed explored a lot of possible reasons for the decline. Rapid urbanization, difficulties in finding places to hunt, time and distance, aging hunters to name a few. The article points out that there are more ducks and geese than ever before.

This is typical of many writings published in hunting and outdoor industry media. They fail to even consider one of the most significant changes in the population. That is the change in the racial/ethnic demographics. According to the US Census statistics for 2007 thirty four percent (34%) of the population the United States (301 million) are people of color. There are over 82 million African Americans and Latinos. In that same year only 7% of the 12.5 million hunters were African American, Latino or Asian.

It’s obvious to some that the issue of diversity and inclusion needs to come to light. Recently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Parks Service sponsored a conference in Atlanta entitled Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great Outdoors. I have not read about this or other opportunities to begin reach out to all of our diverse citizens in any of the outdoors sports industry media or discuss barriers which may exist.

Advertisers may be the first to woo ethnically diverse hunters. Leupold and Stevens, makers of riflescopes and other optics, has a new television commercial depicting an African American Hunter. It is possibly this is the first such ad. If you search all of the major outdoor magazines you would be hard pressed to find a picture of any person who appears to be African American, Latino, Asian or Native American. What a shame. What needs to change for the outdoor industry to reverse the trend of shrinking numbers of participants is to begin to at least recognize where the real potential for growth is. The industry is notoriously myopic and cannot see the forest for the trees.

Donny R. Adair, President

African American Hunting Association, LLC

Visit our website at aahunt.com

donnyadair@yahoo.com

 

Why don’t African Americans Hunt?

By Donny Adair, President

African American Hunting Association, LLC

 

Dre and I walked for 4 hours soaking in many of the exhibits at the annual sportsman’s exhibition this past February. One constant was that we didn’t see any other Black people among the thousands who were talking to outfitters from all over the world, attending workshops and seminars and visiting with vendors. Dre, a wonderful thirteen year old boy whom I was fortunate to get matched up with by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program, asked me the question I have been asking for years. “Why don’t African Americans participate very much in outdoor sports, especially hunting?

According to the most recent U.S Census estimates on the distribution of the U.S. population by race/ethnicity (2007) there are 37 million African Americans or about 12 percent of the total population. According to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife data for the same year, only 1 percent of those who hunt are African Americans.

In the spring of 2008, in response to what I perceived as an opportunity and a need, I created the African American Hunting Association (AAHA) Website aahunt.com. The response from people all over the world has been exciting. The mission the African American Hunting Association LLC (AAHA) is to increase the number of African Americans and urban residents living in the United States involved in hunting, game management, shooting sports, and conservation. The values AAHA is founded on include the rights of all Americans to hunt for food and for sport, the rights of individuals to own and use firearms and other weapons in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and all applicable federal, state and local laws.

Also, last summer Greg Gordon owner of, NLE Media, who built the website, introduced the idea that we should co-produce an outdoor television show aimed at African Americans, who represent a vast untapped consumer market. Well, one thing led to another, and now we have completed the first season of 13 shows, which can be viewed on the website and DVD’s of the show can be purchased. The shows feature host Donny Adair, my 23-year old son Donnell, and other young African American hunters and fisherman. Donnell has been shooting since he was 6 years old and began hunting at age twelve .The hunts and fishing adventures were videotaped in Oregon (our home state), Idaho and Mississippi, which I call my adopted home state. The game harvested includes Chukar, Pheasants, Ducks, Geese, Blacktailed Deer, Whitetail Deer, Salmon, Sturgeon and other warm water fish. AAHA and NLE Media are now seeking sponsors to take their 30-minute show to the television airwaves.

The AAHA invites everyone who supports the mission, goals and objectives of our organization to participate with us regardless of their individual race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. It is a multi-cultural organization. All are welcome to join AAHA. The goals and objectives are work to promote better understanding and acceptance of the sport of hunting at the local, regional and national level; and to increase involvement of African American individuals and families in hunting and associated outdoor sports such as camping, hiking, fishing biking, photography, etc. The AAHA will increase the opportunity for African American hunters to obtain state of the art or the best hunting equipment each hunter can afford. The AAHA will provide increased opportunities for African Americans to enjoy the great outdoors, regionally, nationally and internationally.

For more information contact Donny Adair at donnyadair@yahoo.com.

Reconnecting African-Americans with the Outdoors

Hello Mr. Adair,

I heard that you made a connection with Ms Peterman — I am so excited you connected with her mission and the conference born from it. I just helped her to place your video link on the conference Facebook site: Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great Outdoors. We really hope you can chime in with the group there because what you do is fascinating!

I was personally excited to learn about your work — my own father was an avid hunter and fisherman and I learned many things from him. But since he has passed on, there are rare opportunities I have to shoot or fish.

So I am reaching out to you on behalf of the conference, as a peer champion for the outdoors, AND as a personal supporter based on my own interests.

I would love to write a blog about what you are doing very soon OR you can submit a blog on my site. I was coincidentally working with an old friend on a blog about big game hunting, but since you are African American, I think your story would bring even greater value and fresh perspective to my readers.

Rue Mapp  rue@outdoorafro.com

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Wanted: Positive adult role models

When men met on a recent Saturday at Champions Barbershop on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, it wasn’t just about getting a haircut; they ran into a campaign that’s recruiting volunteer mentors to be Big Brothers.

The effort is an attempt to reverse dismal participation rates by black adult role models in the local Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest mentoring program. The philanthropic group served over 317 African American children in 2008, but only 16 percent of these children were matched with an African American Big Brother or Big Sister. Of the volunteers in the agency’s programs, fewer than 2 percent are African American men.

In order to reverse this trend, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the African American fraternities Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi are partnering to take a fresh approach at recruiting black men to be positive adult role models for African American boys.

Since the early 1990’s, these fraternity brothers have reached out to young men by sharing activities and experiences that have a lasting impact.

“We are excited about this partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and Champions Barbershop,” said Pamela Weatherspoon, African American Mentoring Programs Director with Big Brothers Big Sisters. “With our collective efforts, we can really have a lasting difference on the youth in our community.”

Nationally, Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi began using barbershops as venues for recruiting men to become Big Brothers four years ago with positive results. This is the first year that fraternity brothers have participated in barbershop recruitment in Portland.

“Big Brothers Big Sisters has continuously worked hard to improve the lives of children,” said Phillip Rogers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. “It doesn’t take a lot to be a Big Brother, and it really does a lot to improve the futures of young African American men.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters helps children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact.

Founded in 2002, Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest has become the largest one-to-one mentoring program in Oregon, the largest Big Brothers Big Sisters agency on the West Coast and the eighth largest in the United States.

For more information about volunteering or supporting the group, visit bbbsnorthwest.org.

AAHA “Outdoor Show” program DVD’s – Purchase Your Favorites

We are live! You can order dvd’s of Season 1 HERE

Season 1 of the AAHA “Outdoor Show” is Completed!

NLE Media Productions
&
The African American Hunting Association

Proudly announce the completion of Season 1 of “The Outdoor Show“.

Currently you can view full episodes on AAHA’s web site: aahunt.com
Go to the “Outdoor Show” tab on the left of the page. You can also view segments of the show on YouTube,
keyword “gjglucose”.    

Or

Click on any of these links to view individual episodes.

——————————————————————————–

View Episode 1                                
View Episode 2
View Episode 3
View Episode 4
View Episode 5
View Episode 6
View Episode 7
View Episode 8
View Episode 9
View Episode 10
View Episode 11
View Episode 12
View Episode 13

 

N.W. HAWGHUNTERS – Fishing Adventures with Pro Guide, Bill Gaither

Check out our friends at www.nwhawghunters.com
We recently went on a sturgeon fishing trip down the Willamette River with the guys at N.W. Hawghunters, and man, did we have a good time. These guys treated us so well and it was just a lot of fun. Cannot wait to go back out with them. Plus our cameraman, Greg Gordon, didn’t fall in the river!

Video Tips, Tricks & Travesties

NLE Media Cameraman, Greg Gordon – Canon XL2 with wireless receiver and camera-mounted harddrive. 

Ok, so I’m the guy that falls into the lake duck hunting with Donny Adair and his son, Donnell. I think that’s on Episode 9 of the AAHA Outdoor Show which is still in editing till the end of March, 2009. Main issue isn’t whether I fell in, but did I save the camera? You betcha! With Donny & Donnell nearby to pump my lungs dry, I wasn’t worried about drowning. But the camera is a different story. Good thing I can lift my arms above my head.

 

This post will be about video shooting in the field. We’ll share tips & tricks with you and we want you to share with us. So grab your gear, charge your batteries, clean your lens, roll tape and call out, “Action! Baby!”

In the field I like to use either a Canon XL1S or the XL2. We add a wireless unit to the camera & run the video DTE (direct to edit) to a FireStore on-camera drive connected via firewire. The drive is powered by an external 12 volt battery setup from Bescor. We don’t use tape because of the battery demands of the camera taping mechanism & the lossiness and time spent converting tape to DV. With the 12 volt & camera batteries we use, we can shoot pretty much all day. Download the video to our laptop, run and gun some more.

Donny and his sons are now using a Sony HD1000U for capture and are bringing in a small specialty camera for special shots. Donnell & Kenny are a lot of fun in the field (so’s Donny) and having 2 or 3 cameras can be a real benefit. Our motto is to have fun, and believe me, that’s what we do.

We’ll use tripods on interviews, but most of the time we’re shoulder mounted.

Tell us about your gear. Share your insights and tricks with others.

Lighting is everything in good video.  When in the field be sure you utilize filters and settings to capture the best picture.  It is not always possible in a run & gun situation, but try to keep the sun behind you.  Use a polarized filter to remove glare.  We shot the following video in the late afternoon with the sun behind the camera & my left shoulder.

We did a rack focus to let the background green of the trees be soft focused & Donny in sharp focus.  If your camera will let you do it, give it a try.

Welcome to the AAHA Outdoor Show Blog, Baby!

Donnell's first Salmon

Another sink full of fish to clean!

Last week we started scouting. Bear nd Cougar season reopened so I had the 44 mag plus

Welcome to our blog. I have wanted a medium to chat with hunters, fisherpeople, and anyone who enjoys the great outdoors. This is an opportunity for us to continue to have ordinary people like you and me to be a part of this movement to get people in the field, on the bank and on the water. When you blog with us you are not just talking with me, but your are talking with the entire world.

So hit me back and let’s talk about what interest’s you! Here is the summer update.

What do hunters do in the summer?

During this summer period of wonderful sunny warm weather my sons Donnell and Kenny and I have been fishing and shooting. I have also included Drey, our Little Brother from the Big Brothers Big Sister Program, in the fun. He got a chance to shoot pistols and rifles for the first time. He was so excited and had a great time plinking.

As always my cousin Billy Anfield, who I have fished with for more than 50 years, held down the back of the boat. We have taken 3 Trips. First we fished the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon for Smallmouth Bass and we hammered some nice ones. Then we went to Willow Creek Reservoir at Heppner, Oregon. We took some Crappies and Billy got in to a school of those sweet little Bullhead Catfish. Kenny went to video for us, but he could hardly stay focused because he kept putting the camera down to catch some of those Crappies and Catfish himself. He is a very good fisherman.

The most recent trip was to Oxbow Reservoir on the Snake River (Oregon/Idaho border). It was a quick trip but I found a school of Crappie, got a couple of nice cats, and as always the Bass never stopped biting the entire 2 days we were there. We did a lot of catch and release. Drey learned from us how to survive the 107 temperature on the first day and he caught some nice fish, more than he did on his first 2 outings with us. He enjoyed seeing the diverse landscapes of Oregon up close and personal for the first time. He was amazed when a flock of about 45 turkeys crossed the road in front of us for the first time. We actually got out and walked to within 30 yards of them to take pictures and video. We also saw mule deer.

Upcoming events include a talk to the Democratic Gun Owners Caucus about AAHA on Wednesday August 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM, at the Democratic Party Office, at 232 NE 9^th Avenue in Portland. I would also like to invite those who have never fired a shotgun and would like to try, to come to “Take me out to the Skeet Range”. This will be held at the Portland Gun Club on Saturday August.15^th at 11:00 am. You will receive a brief training including safety procedures and shooting lessons from some of the clubs best instructors.

I hope that you are enjoying your summer and preparing for fall outdoor activities too.

We’ll see you in the field!