Published: April 27, 2016
A mother and son use wilderness to build relationship
Michelle Rennicke playing two roles in her child’s life
Daily News
SLINGER — Michelle Rennicke needed her son and her son, Taylor, needed his mom.
Together, they got through the tough times with a common interest: the outdoors.
When Taylor, 17, was born, his father wasn’t around. The dad was mixed
up with drugs and alcohol, and was later incarcerated, leaving
Michelle, 43, to raise her son by herself.
Then, four years ago, Taylor’s father died. Taylor never knew his father, never met him.
“I always tried to find things to do with my son,” Michelle said. “Him
being a boy, me being a girl, it was kind of hard to find things we
could both do together.”
As a Christian, she believed it was necessary to enjoy and cherish “what God gave us.”
Michelle came up with hunting as a way to honor that and spend time with Taylor. She was familiar with that way of life.
“I always grew up around the hunting,” Michelle said.
She bought Taylor his first bow when he was 10 years old. At the same time, Michelle bought a bow for herself.
Together, they joined an archery league.
“Then I was like, ‘Well, maybe we should try hunting,’” she said. “‘Maybe we’d like it.’” The best part about it?
“It’s something me and my son could do together,” Michelle said.
And that was the most important part.
Taylor played little league baseball when he was 6 years old and
Michelle was his coach. It was fun while it lasted, but she also knew
Taylor would eventually outgrow things like baseball.
He did, leaving baseball, something he did for about half a year with
spring and summer leagues, before he got to high school.
“I had to find something, raising a son by myself, that I could do with my son,” Michelle said.
Being in the outdoors was one option.
Michelle’s brother gun hunts with
their dad in Wyoming every year and has for more than 20 years. She also
had several male friends growing up who liked to hunt.
“The first night I sat in a tree stand I was hooked,” she said. “I
think it’s a great way to take you away from our everyday busy life.”
Michelle is busy when not in the woods or with her teenaged son. She
works for Aurora Health Care with its IT radiology division.
“I carry two cellphones, a pager and my laptop,” Michelle said. “When
I’m in the tree stand, it’s like meditation. Hunting for me, it’s just
relaxing. I love it.”
Upon learning this, she knew what she had to do next: get Taylor involved in the outdoors.
Taylor thought his mom was crazy, wondering why she would sit in a tree stand for eight hours.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want to sit in a stand,’” Taylor said. “‘It’s too long.’” But he was willing to give it a try.
To make sure he didn’t get bored, they hunted together in increments, a
few hours at a time each outing and went longer the more they did it.
Each time out, they learned something new — how to hang a tree stand,
where to hang it, what do deer tracks look like, what doe tracks look
like.
“It teaches him
about the outdoors, gives him another avenue, especially with our
society going to full electronics, video games,” Michelle said. “I
wanted him to have another outlet, something else he could like and take
on when I’m not here anymore or when he has kids.”
It didn’t take him long to find the same comfort his mom had in a tree stand.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is really calming,’” Taylor said. “Seeing deer and stuff, it’s pretty sweet.”
An old saying says the outdoors is a time for a father and his son to
bond, time for a boy to become a man. Don’t tell Michelle and Taylor
that.
“She is really both my mom and my dad,” Taylor said.
“I felt closer to my mom,” he added about the first time out in the
woods together. “She’s always been there for me. I look up to her.”
In 2013, about a year after they started hunting together, Taylor,
who is on Slinger’s trapshooting team, got his first kill during a Youth
Hunt. It was a thrill for both of them. Taylor admitted he was shaking
when it happened because of the shot of adrenaline.
Last year, Taylor shot an estimated 8-point buck with a crossbow, but unfortunately it got away. “But that’s all part of hunting,” Michelle said.
“For me, it was awesome,” Michelle said about the first time she hunted with
Taylor. “For me, I fell in love with the passion for bow hunting and
then to have my son get geared up with me ... it was cool.”
The hunting, Michelle said, also helped Taylor build self-confidence.
“It is hard, for a boy, to grow up without their father,” Michelle
said. “They struggle with certain things because their dad wasn’t there.
“I had to be both. It’s not easy sometimes.”
As Taylor continues to grow up, Michelle is OK with her only child
beginning to explore new things, such as driving and dating. But no
matter what, they both know they have hunting as the one thing they can
always circle back to when they need it, when they need each other.
“We’re in this together and it’d always keep us connected,” Michelle said.
“When he moves out, we could still go on hunting trips together,” he added. “That’ll be our tradition.”
And that’s the plan.
This summer, when Taylor turns 18 on Oct. 25, Michelle has the perfect present.
Guess what they’re going to do — hunting in Wyoming. It’ll be Taylor’s first out-of-state hunt.
“I think hunting has bonded us even more,” Michelle said.
There is a greater appreciation, respect and admiration for each other than they ever thought possible.
It’s still cool to hang out with mom and he’s turning the table on her because he likes to fish and she’s learning how to.
“I think it’s brought a lot of enjoyment to both of us,” Michelle
said. “It has brought us closer. To me, that means gold to me.” Reach sports editor Nicholas Dettmann at ndettmann@conleynet.com.
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