If you've ever been to a hunting or fishing camp, then you know there is perhaps no better place to get to know someone.

I mean, I've golfed and gone to baseball games with people I didn't know too well, but those experiences didn't foster connections with others like sharing a meal in camp, talking about the day's adventures in the woods or on the water.

Dr. Rich Wilson, 54, of Lititz, has been hunting since he was 12.

He's spent many days in hunting camps and knows all too well how they can pull people together.

Since one of his duties as executive vice president of Lancaster Bible College in Manheim Township is to build partnerships with people who can help provide scholarships to financially needy students, Wilson in 2005 figured the perfect way to get to know these people would be to share a hunting camp with them.

And so he created Lancaster Bible College's Sportsman's Odyssey.

"We created the Sportsman's Odyssey to try to connect people's passions — outdoorsmen, their passion for hunting and fishing and the outdoors and passion for their faith — in connection with Lancaster Bible College," Wilson said. "We try to create partnerships that are long-term friendships."

Twice a year, Wilson puts together hunting excursions through Sportsman's Odyssey and invites current and potential donors.

In the past, the odysseys have taken groups to Texas for whitetails and exotics, and to Maine and Alberta for bears.

Attendees invited by Wilson pay for their hunts and make a donation to the college.

Last year, Wilson led a two-week excursion to South Africa for a combination safari/mission trip.

The group hunted plains game, such as kudu and eland, and they also painted a school, planted grass and fed orphaned children.

"Half of all the game we shot went to the school to feed the kids through the year," Wilson said.

In May, Sportsman's Odyssey took a group of eight men, including Wilson, to Alberta for a spring bear hunt.

Hunting with Clearwater River Lodge, the crew took 12 bears — each hunter was licensed to shoot two — including a cinnamon bear, a chocolate bear and a blond bear, in addition to black bears.

Wilson, a self-proclaimed bear-hunting nut, shot a blonde bear and a black bear.

"Once I started bear hunting, I got it in my blood and I just love it," he said.

All of the outfitters Sportsman's Odyssey works with are Christian outfitters that Wilson has discovered through his travels and connections, or who were recommended by the Texas-based Christian Outdoor Alliance.

According to the alliance's website, "Our mission is to guide youth and outdoorsmen to a relationship with Jesus Christ through experiences in God's great outdoors. ... COA is a ministry for evangelism, discipleship, outdoors education, and fellowship built on having fun in the outdoors."

Wilson said that for the hunters who have been on Sportsman's Odyssey adventures, the religious aspect of the experience is as important as the hunting.

"We always have a devotional time every day," he said. "We have prayers together as a group of guys. There's nothing like a couple of guys hunting and being in camp, where you can sit and open up to one another."

Lancaster Bible College educates about 1,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students each year at its campus off Eden Road, according to Wilson.

On average, each student receives about $3,000 in financial assistance from the college.

Last year, the school raised $1.7 million for its scholarship fund.

"And the people who participated in Sportsman's Odyssey helped make that happen," Wilson said.

Wilson figures his organization has raised at least $100,000 for the college since the first Sportsman's Odyssey excursion in January 2006.

"It's headed in the direction that I want to see it go," he said. "Each time Sportsman's Odyssey goes on a trip, there's more enthusiasm and it's connecting with more numbers of people, which is what I had hoped it would do.

"For the college, it has helped me build relationships that have developed into partnerships for the future of LBC."

In the future, Wilson hopes to expand Sportsman's Odyssey to offer three or more trips a year and to branch out into small-game hunting and fishing.

"Not everyone likes to hunt big game, so we want to be able to offer something for a wider audience," he said.

He also wants to explore new territory, such as Wyoming, Mexico, Namibia and British Columbia.

Wherever Sportsman's Odyssey goes, Wilson has no doubt the mission of the organization will be fulfilled.

According to the group's website, sportsmansodyssey.org, that mission is:

"To use hunting & fishing trips as a means to develop godly relationships and strengthen men in their Christian faith and walk, as well as to develop lasting partnerships with Lancaster Bible College."

Those who have participated in past Sportsman's Odyssey adventures have told Wilson they've enjoyed "the fellowship they have with the hunters, the opportunity they have to exercise their faith in the environment that we're all in," he said.

"Of course, they love the hunting and the success of the hunting. They've built new partnerships, not only in business, but friendships within the groups that go — people they've never met before."

For information on Sportsman's Odyssey, check out the organization's website, or call Wilson at 560-8206.