youth hunt a success

Whew! I put on a Youth Waterfowl Hunt Clinic this weekend at Boundary Creek WMA and I pulled everything off. All week I was looking forward to 1 pm on Sat after everything was over and hoping I could say it all went great and everyone had a great time ...including me. And I can say that.

Every year, the weekend before the waterfowl opener is the youth waterfowl hunt weekend across the state. Kids 15 and younger can hunt with a guardian , but adults cannot shoot. This gives kids the best chance of success because the birds have not been hunted yet for the year and so are not yet gun wary.

During this weekend we put on a couple of Youth Waterfowl Hunt Clinics across the state too where kids are matched up with mentors to teach them waterfowl hunting skills. This is a great idea because not all kids come from hunting families where they have people to learn from. I'm even thinking I might plan a clinic in the future for adult "new hunters". I know there are many adults out there who would like to hunt but don't have the connections to learn on their own.

So the plan for the clinic plan was; the mentors and my additional support folks (cooks, drivers, etc.) show up Friday night. I get all the mentors lined up with their gear and show them their hunting spots out on the WMA. We put on a yummy dinner for all, a few tall tale hunting stories around the fire and everyone gets to bed early.... where ever they can find a spot to lay their heads.

Wake-up call at 4 am! Everyone fed and ready to go before the kids show up at 5 am. Get the families signed up and introduced to their mentors, everyone geared up with guns, amo, waders, decoys, callers, seats, dogs, and whatever else. At 5:30 everyone is on their designated trailer and we drive them out to their hunting spots. Shooting time starts at 6:10 am (half hour before sunrise), hopefully lots of shots and ducks taken and fun for all until 10 am when the trailers head back around and pick everyone up from their sites and head back to Headquarters.

Once back, first thing is for all the kids to put their guns away! Then we check birds in and hear everyones' stories and kids run around showing off :) We have a retriever dog demo (that was very cool and very impressive) and a duck banding demo. Feed everyone (65 people) lunch off the grill (including a few moose burgers), more fun, prizes to the kids, and thank yous to all.

And that's how everything went! Yeah!

With a few adjustments along the way. I started with 13 mentors and 26 kids signed up, each kid to arrive with a guardian. However, on Friday night, I get some F&G folks show up with their kids or two and get word that so and so is planning on coming but aren't on the list, and so and so isn't planning on coming. So I end up with 29 kids, and am scrambling for enough mentors. I work out a plan to get everyone paired with a mentor and hunting site taking into consideration that some sites need older kids, or everyone with waders, or only enough room for a small group, etc. - and knowing that plans never usually work.

Because come 5 am everything changes. Six kids didn't show up, somebody needs waders, we need another gun over here, etc. I ended up with one mentor without his group showing up and made some quick changes before the trailers headed out....on time :)

I took a walk during the hunting and heard a lot of rounds going off and alot of geese and ducks flying around. Perfect, sounds like success. When folks got back all the kids were excited, they learned lots and had lots of good stories, with birds for proof. We had six young girls out their too.

It was a great event and I know we helped a lot of kids and their parents learn the skills that will give them the confidence to go hunting in the future on their own.

This morning I woke up to guns shots on McArthur Lake at 6:13 am.... good sounds. Means there are kids out hunting Sunday morning with their parents and obviously having good success since shooting time began at 6:10 am. And the sound of hunting, in the fall air of the northern woods.... its all so lovely.

P.S. I hope you guys at the Finals are having a great time and I can't wait to see photos.
P.S.S. After the hunting dog demo, I want to train Roy to hunt (ok always have). Roy can hunt and Reena can herd :)