North Mississippi native Jay Stokes remembers the thrill of killing his first deer when he was 10 years old.
Now, Stokes is spending a large part of his adult life making sure hundreds of young people all over the Golden Triangle and beyond can feel that same thrill.
“I was 10 and I still have the shotgun shell at my mom and dad’s house,” Stokes said. “Hunting was a passion. I was always going with my father or with a buddy and his dad. Hunting teaches you so many things. The main thing it does is it gives you an incredible amount of self-confidence.”
With this love for hunting continuing through his teen years, Stokes found himself friends with several fellow hunters at both East Central Community College and later Mississippi State University.
While earning a forestry degree at MSU, Stokes and roommate Justin Wilkes organized a hunt for some foster children from the Palmer Home in Columbus.
“At the time, I was working for Dr. (William) Eastman, an orthodontist in Starkville,” Stokes, who graduated from MSU in 2007, said. “He had some private property in Brooksville and it was fast becoming overrun by deer. Through the Deer Management Assistance Program, I was allowed to help him maintain his deer population.
“That was the perfect part-time job, because it meant I could hunt when I wanted to,” he added. “Through helping maintain his deer population came the idea to have some kids come out and help us hunt.”
The initial hunt took place in 2003 and involved five children.
Now, Break-Away Outdoors, a non-profit organization started by Stokes, takes youth from all over the state on fishing and hunting trips on a regular basis. On Saturday, a group of 75 youngsters from the Jackson area took part in a catfish rodeo at Turcott Educational Center in Canton.
“We wanted to create something for kids who didn’t qualify for similar programs,” said Wilkes, the organization’s secretary. “We saw a gap between organizations like Make-a-Wish or Catch-a-Dream, which provide wonderful experiences for children that are terminally ill.”
With the growth of Break-Away Outdoors, more recognition is being earned. In the March 2012 issue of Field and Stream magazine, Stokes and his companions were named as a conservationist of the year. The magazine honors three persons or groups each month and 27 each calendar year.
Steve Scott, director of the Columbus campus for Palmer Home, feels that honor is well-deserved and is extremely pleased that the home has forged such a strong working relationship with Stokes and his organization.
“My first hunting experience took place when I was 28,” Scott said. “To be able to give these kids, these opportunities at nine- or 10-years-old is amazing. Jay is a wonderful guy and he has a true passion for young people. The hunting and fishing trips are something the kids look forward to every year.”
Anything but ordinary
Hunting trips are not an ordinary day in the woods either. The participants go through hunter safety courses, with the purpose of the activity being both educational and fun. By exposing young people who might otherwise never hunt or fish to the outdoors, Stokes hopes that a motivation will be built to help conserve the state’s natural resources.
“Gun safety is a big issue for us,” said Stokes, who lives in Winston County, outside of Louisville. “We pair adults with the young hunters. If a girl is hunting with us, a woman is alongside, helping them learn.
“We want this to be a learning experience. From start to finish, it is a big day and we know we have done our best job at impacting their lives.”
Stokes, who is a relocation director with Mississippi Department of Transportation, said his organization sets itself apart by catering to as many youth as possible.
“Many groups set up an activity for one person per weekend,” Stokes said. “If you do that, you touch four people per month. In one weekend, if we help five (people) hunt, we have had a bigger impact. Everyone who works for Break-Away Outdoors is volunteering their time and services. Like everyone else, we try to spend as much time as we can with our families on the weekend.
“Thus, we like to think bigger and better,” he continued. “You may do fewer events, but involve more people. Groups will contact us and ask us to set up a hunt or a fishing trip. The Palmer Home in both Columbus and Hernando is our base. However, we are involved with church youth groups, as well. We are not going to turn any kid away.”
As the annual deer hunt grew more popular, it came a time to take the project to another level. Eastman eventually sold the private property in Brooksville. The new owner allowed Stokes to continue to hunt the property and later helped secure the financial backing to launch the non-profit organization.
“We first started talking about creating an organization in 2009,” Stokes said. “It took about a year to pull everything together, from a legal standpoint. We started January 1, 2011. Now, we are looking for a clientele. I know how it is going to work. Once you get a clientele, then you have a waiting list. However, I am looking forward to this challenge.”
Break-away growth
Each year, Break-Away Outdoors organizes five or six youth activities. The main deer hunt takes place the first weekend of November during Mississippi Department of Wildlife’s annual Youth Weekend. The group also participates in the annual National Wild Turkey Federation’s Wheeling Sportsmen. In June, a youth fishing trip took place, in conjunction with Mississippi Catfish of Columbus.
“We have done squirrel hunts, duck hunts, deer hunts, dove hunts and fishing trips,” Stokes said. “Right now, we are in the process of putting together a long-range plan. You really can’t plan too far in advance because of the weather. However, you can get a good idea of some of the things that you want to accomplish.”
With each adventure, an enormous amount of preparation is required.
“Before a hunting trip, Jay calls and we provide a complete list of who is going, along with sizes,” Scott said. “You should see the kids’ eyes when they get camo shirts, pants, winter coats, hats and rubber boots. They think they are something else.”
As the numbers and trips grow, the expenses do, as well. Stokes hopes that by establishing an actual non-profit organization, more people will be able to step in and provide assistance.
“We had ample donations when we started and fewer kids,” Stokes said. “When the economy hit its slide in 2006 or 2007, we had a struggle. It was like I had to stick my hand out more and more. Fortunately, so many step forward. For the fishing trip in Jackson, we have 35 volunteers lined up. These are people who want to be involved, but are not as close to the Golden Triangle.
“A friend of mine operates a Jumpers,” he continued. “They are going to provide the food for the fishing trip. It takes so many people. When we went non-profit, I was encouraged to bring a board on. My board members are all college friends of mine. We are all involved in organizing functions and make sure everything is in place. If we do something, we are going to do it right.”
Doing things right is why Break-Away Outdoors has a permanent place in the hearts of the Palmer Home.
“This one story tells you what kind of person Jay Stokes is,” Scott said. “During a recent hunt, they killed something like 14 deer. He took the deer to Sun Belt Processing. They grounded it into about 450 pounds of hamburger meat. Jay brought that meat back to us for our use in the cafeteria.”
Stokes, president of the organization, simply wants to share his love for the outdoors. That love was fostered early in life by father Edward Stokes, who took his son hunting at a hunting club owned by Georgia Pacific. Through his teen years, the passion grew, thanks to Ellison Ridge Baptist Church deacons Charles Johnson and Larry Hemphill, as well as uncle Tony Carr and family friend William McKinley.
The love was then shared with those college classmates. Other board members include Wilkes, vice president Kate Neely, treasurer Dana Hamilton, board of trustee Michael Chappell and public relations director Patrick Bane.
“We have come a long way since Justin and I sat around planning a hunting trip,” Stokes said. “He went to Noxapater High School and I went to Nanih Waiya. We played some youth ball together, but we were hated rivals all through high school.
“Then at East Central, we were neighbors and just hit it off from the beginning. His parents are like my parents and vice versa. When we were living together at State, I came in one day and said ‘I have this idea, but you have to help me.’ He was there for me and we have been hard at it ever since.”
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Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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