Morton promotes outdoors to peers

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

PECKHAM — Trenton Morton has a passion in life, one that takes him outside the house and into the wilderness. It is a multi-generational love, experiencing a new environment in nature, and he loves that passion so much that he is taking it to the streets to educate fellow peers to get them out of the house and into a new landscape.

Morton is an eighth grader at Peckham Public School and a member of the Newkirk Go-Getters 4-H Club.

Morton’s passion for everything outdoors comes naturally, a love of everything outside the home.

“My whole family hunts, fishes. You get to see a lot of new things, you get to experience a lot of things others don’t get to,” he said of his passion and hobby.

For Morton, the best part is when it is spent with family.

“My grandpa and I go hunting a lot during deer season, and my father takes me fishing to some our farm ponds,” he said.

As for the catch, he has a long list of harvests, not just deer or fishing, but also waterfowl, including mallards and geese.

“My biggest deer is a nine-point buck,” he said.

He has also performed community service-type projects, which involves natural resources and environment restoration, ideas he is taking back home to little schools like Peckham and Kildare. He is educating fellow students into a variety of practices.

“We teach how to cast a fishing pole, about what different skulls look like, and about safety,” he said.

The events are tailored to the season.

“If it’s summer, I’ll do some sort of warm weather activity, like fishing, because it’s a summer activity,” he said. “If it’s winter, I’ll do hunting seasons.”

Wild birds are also an educational concept.

“It’s cool to make pinecone bird feeders, to see what birds you have in your backyard, and to see all the different types of birds that come and eat,” he said.

Outdoor education goes far beyond his workshops, however, as he writes a regular column, “Hook and Chase, Jr.,” which is regularly featured in “Oklahoma Youth Expo.”

“It’s all the things I do year-round,” he said. “If it is a certain type of season, I’ll talk about it, like deer season or fishing.”

No matter the age or the background, the outdoors is there for everyone. All one has to do is walk outside the front door and look for a new hobby.

“It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, you can go outside, enjoy the outdoors and find something to love about it,” he said. “Go outside, find a hobby, become good at it and have fun.”