Beau Turner in dad Ted's footsteps

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Beau Turner, Ted Turner’s youngest son and part-owner of the Hawks, hosts a new show on the Sportsman Channel. Viewers of “Beau Knows Outdoors” see him hunting and fishing on Turner’s 2 million acres out West and elsewhere and promoting conservation, much like his dad.

Growing up near the Atlanta Country Club, I would get up super early to fish before dawn in the golf-course ponds. I’d get the balls out of the pond to sell to golfers, and hike and look for salamanders.

Sometimes my siblings and I would take trash bags down to the Chattahoochee River and pick up aluminum cans. In that way, I’m similar to my dad. He picks up trash on the roads to do his part to keep our planet clean and healthy. There’s a bumper sticker that says it best: Think globally, act locally.

When I was in middle school, we moved to South Carolina, where I became passionate about hunting and fishing. It was the start of everything I now know about the outdoors.

The Godley family, who manages our land there, helped us raise pet otters, bison, bears, fawns and raccoons. Later, I went to The Citadel, then to Montana State to study wildlife management.

At the Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center outside of Tallahassee, we have a lot of arrows in our quiver to keep kids interested in the outdoors. We offer birding, hiking, archery, sport shooting, hunting, boating and more. Anything to keep them filled with a sense of wonder about their natural surroundings.

What I’ve learned about nature is that you can’t figure it. Unlike a video game, it doesn’t have a beginning, middle or end. The more kids we immerse in the environment, the more likely we are to preserve it.

My son is 9 now, and he’s outside playing in the snow near our family ranch in Montana. A boy’s going to compete with his father — that’s innate. Beau Jr. wants the biggest snowball, and he’s out there measuring it.

Luckily I get to spend more time with my son than my dad was able to with me. I have that luxury thanks to my dad. It’s been my goal to take what was given to me and make something out of it.

I believe that you should always stay challenged. I took on this TV show thinking, “What the heck, might as well try it.” There were times when it competed with time with my son, but he understood what his dad was trying to accomplish. And best of all, he’s proud of me. What more could a father ask for?

Reported by Michelle Hiskey