So, I gotta 59 year old dishwasher.

So, I gotta 59 year old dishwasher.

My Boss has worked closely with our county FSU (field supervision unit) offering work to typically hard to employ fresh out of jail folk for a very long time. So this one guy, Mike. Went to jail when he was 17 for being drunk and fighting. Decides it would be fun to light his mattress on fire. Ends up in a locked cell with years and years of paint layers on the walls and the mattress he set on fire. Can you say toaster oven? He is burned a lot. He is put in a medically induced coma for 8 months. Endured multiple surgeries and then…..

was obviously charged for his crimes by the state. Arson, destruction of state buildings, endangering corrections officials and attempted escape. Underage drinking, possession of alcohol by a minor and public drunkenness. He got a lot of years. He was farmed out (as the kids say) to Kentucky to the big for hire prisons Vermont contracts with. He re-offended a few times while there, still the 17 year old fighting, it seems.

So Mike stayed with us much longer than the normal FSU dishwasher. He became my trainer of new dishwashers. He listened to all of our hunting stories. He had never gotten a chance to hunt. So I signed him up and took him to hunters safety. The instructor is a friend and duck hunting partner of mine and I love verbally abusing him in front of 9 year olds. He got himself a used black powder rifle and I took him to the range to practice. I kinda turned into some sort of mentor for this old feller.

He went White Tail Deer Hunting for the first time today. He did not get a deer. He did not shoot at a deer. He did see a deer. We jumped a nice buck. 65 degrees and sunny. I had him walking in front of me with his rifle. I saw the Buck, that was bedded on a ledge above us watching us walk across a long slow incline, when it twitched an ear. I gave a “Ssshhhh” and Mike froze but as I was in back I could not point out the Buck to him. He couldn’t see it and after an hour long second the Buck exploded up like a Ruffed Grouse and actually angled to us as it ran away!

Mike was dumfounded, he never even was able to lift his rifle and the deer was gone. He was so happy! You would have thunk he just got the state record! He said after so many years of being in jail. Never even seeing forest. That now he could walk through and get a chance to see a Buck was just amazing for him. He was so thankful.
I did walk his A$$ off and brought him quite a few miles into the Green Mountain National Forrest He had a great day.

This is Mike on the ride home
Take a kid hunting, even if they are 59






http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...11212_1614.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ken Bora

So, I gotta 59 year old dishwasher.

My Boss has worked closely with our county FSU (field supervision unit) offering work to typically hard to employ fresh out of jail folk for a very long time. So this one guy, Mike. Went to jail when he was 17 for being drunk and fighting. Decides it would be fun to light his mattress on fire. Ends up in a locked cell with years and years of paint layers on the walls and the mattress he set on fire. Can you say toaster oven? He is burned a lot. He is put in a medically induced coma for 8 months. Endured multiple surgeries and then…..

was obviously charged for his crimes by the state. Arson, destruction of state buildings, endangering corrections officials and attempted escape. Underage drinking, possession of alcohol by a minor and public drunkenness. He got a lot of years. He was farmed out (as the kids say) to Kentucky to the big for hire prisons Vermont contracts with. He re-offended a few times while there, still the 17 year old fighting, it seems.

So Mike stayed with us much longer than the normal FSU dishwasher. He became my trainer of new dishwashers. He listened to all of our hunting stories. He had never gotten a chance to hunt. So I signed him up and took him to hunters safety. The instructor is a friend and duck hunting partner of mine and I love verbally abusing him in front of 9 year olds. He got himself a used black powder rifle and I took him to the range to practice. I kinda turned into some sort of mentor for this old feller.

He went White Tail Deer Hunting for the first time today. He did not get a deer. He did not shoot at a deer. He did see a deer. We jumped a nice buck. 65 degrees and sunny. I had him walking in front of me with his rifle. I saw the Buck, that was bedded on a ledge above us watching us walk across a long slow incline, when it twitched an ear. I gave a “Ssshhhh” and Mike froze but as I was in back I could not point out the Buck to him. He couldn’t see it and after an hour long second the Buck exploded up like a Ruffed Grouse and actually angled to us as it ran away!

Mike was dumfounded, he never even was able to lift his rifle and the deer was gone. He was so happy! You would have thunk he just got the state record! He said after so many years of being in jail. Never even seeing forest. That now he could walk through and get a chance to see a Buck was just amazing for him. He was so thankful.
I did walk his A$$ off and brought him quite a few miles into the Green Mountain National Forrest He had a great day.

This is Mike on the ride home
Take a kid hunting, even if they are 59






http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q...11212_1614.jpg

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Thanks for the great story Ken! Let us know if/when you take Mike and you happen to get that buck.

Nice job Ken.......have a (Police Officer) friend who's son was arrested at the age of 17 for indecent exposure. He had been drinking and was peeing between two cars coming out of a Professional Bull Riders show. That was on his record when a couple of years later he was again arrested for striking his wife and this time he went to prison......that was 23 years ago and he's still not out......same story as your dishwasher. Some very sad shiat.

A few years back I drew a snow goose hunt on a WMA run by the NMDG&F. I got teamed with a guy half my age, and dropped at a blind with him, me, and my dog. On arrival, pre-dawn my partner started gathering corn stalks and hauling them to the blind. "Great, I thought", he's going to help conceal us. However, he did not pile the stalks around the blind. Instead he piled them in the bottom of the blind where he made himself a bed and went to sleep. As the morning progessed I'll always remember as birds came over and some were shot and retrieved he never woke. My dog, 'Dev' would occasionally shoot me a look between our companion, and the sky and back again.
I suspect he was not a hunter, but someone who just seeked a respite. I guess we can all experience to our own satisfaction. JD

I have a lot of respect for both you and your boss. My brother in law will do the same thing. He has a large successful plumbing business. He will employ recovering alcoholics, former addicts, and anyone who needs a start and would like to learn. He also makes counseling available to them. Again, much respect for you.

Good on you Ken...It is wonderful when someone can see/feel just what we see/feel when we are afield. It is never too late to learn to enjoy the sport.

Earlene