Page 34 - Mar/Apr 2022 Outdoor Okahoma Magazine

I was 19 in 1988 when I got my first deer. I was with Dr. Taggart had his own family, and even had grand-
a buddy from high school, and we had no clue how to sons my same age that I went to school with. But he
field dress it. We actually used sticks like chop sticks to always found a way to include me. My dad was a bird
scoop and drag stuff out of the carcass; I don’t recom- hunter before starting a family. But as so often is the
mend that technique! case, he gave it up for more pressing family priorities. So,
My folks were at Sunday evening church when we got I didn’t grow up watching him go off on weekend hunts
back to town, so I left a note saying, “I got a doe! Going to with buddies, or tag along before being responsible
the check station and be back soon!” Before leaving the enough to carry a shotgun.
house, I called Dr. Bill Taggart to tell him. Yet, as a boy, when the things of the wild caught fire
When I got back, there was my mom, my dad, and in my soul, my dad kept that fire burning by taking me
Dr. Taggart standing in the driveway. It’s hard to say hunting and teaching me safe gun handling. But it was
which of the four of us was the most proud and excit- Dr. Taggart who taught me what a deer eats, how to look
ed. I backed my dad’s pickup into the garage, and the for sign, when and where to set up for a hunt, and other
two men strung up the deer to more thoroughly clean woodsman skills that honed me into the hunter I am today.
it out. My dad said, “Todd, I thought you said you shot I’m sure I never even heard the term “mentor” in the
a doe?” context of hunting until I started working at the Wildlife
It was actually a button buck, but in all my excitement, Department in 1995. And I don’t really care for boiling
I never even noticed. We laughed about that while play- someone down to just a simple label, but Dr. Taggart
ing dominoes for many years. embodied the very image of the quintessential mentor.
Even though he’s gone now, his influence, his impact and
tODD CrAIGHEAD/ODWC consider something with me: adversity.
his integrity for things of the wild still burn within me.
With my story of Dr. Taggart in mind, I’d like for you to

I know a couple of things about adversity. When I was
born, I wasn’t even expected to live overnight. And if I did,
doctors told my parents I’d never walk and they’d have to
eventually institutionalize me. Fourteen corrective sur-
geries later, including a long time spent in a wheelchair,
I’m finally a pudgy, bald, middle-age man!
My adversities have given me a unique perspective of
the world. And much of my world is consumed with hunt-
ing. I’d like to share how dealing with adversity affects my
perspective about hunting.
First, we all understand that it’s hunters and anglers
that pay for wildlife conservation in America. And with-
out licensed sportsmen paying the bills, true conserva-
tion as we know it would cease to exist.
From my perspective, the future of hunting in America
is at a pivotal point. President Ronald
Reagan said, “Freedom is never more
than one generation away from extinc-
tODD CrAIGHEAD/ODWC tion.” And I believe that holds true for
hunting, as well.
Outside pressure on our sport
increases every year. Just ask famous
hunting celebrities like Eva Shockey and
Melissa Bachman if the anti-hunting
movement is alive and well. Legislation
often tries to systematically chip away
and undermine hunting every year.
Other issues like land access, the
ever-increasing cost of hunting, and the
urbanization of our society all certainly
contribute to us reaching this pivotal
point. But I firmly believe there is one
adversity we face that will either make
or break the future of hunting.

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