Mentor hunt attracts 13 area youth

HARTINGTON — The Lewis and Clark Chapter of Pheasants Forever recently held their yearly youth mentor hunt on Oct. 20 at Jim Anderson’s Pointer Valley Acres near Hartington.

Thirteen area youth participated in the hunt and educational activities that were made available.

The requirements to participate in the mentor hunt were completion of the hunter’s safety course and be in the age group of 12-15 years old. The mentor hunt is available to both boys and girls.

The day started off with lunch and followed with talks from both the conservation officers and a wildlife biologist on gun safety, hunting regulations, habitat development for wildlife and other subjects relating to hunting and the outdoors. Each of the youth then had an opportunity to shoot clay targets to hone in their shooting skills before heading out to actually hunt live pheasants with a mentor per youth and hunting dogs. The youth went out in pairs to facilitate better odds in shooting planted birds and to provide better safety especially since most of the youths who participated had never hunted before. For those youth who were successful in downing and finding their bird, they had the opportunity to clean the bird following a demonstration by one of the mentors on the proper way to clean a pheasant.

Two terrific prizes were available for the kids to win through a raffle drawing. A Lifetime Hunting Permit sponsored by Pheasants Forever and Nebraska Game and Parks was won by Savannah Pick and a two-person hunt donated by Tom Nelson was won by Jared Rutar

Upon completion of the afternoon hunt, each of the youth received a hunting vest and hat compliments of Pheasants Forever and The Nebraska Game and Parks.

“The whole purpose in the mentor hunt is to get our youth exposed to pheasant hunting in a fun way with other youth and with the guidance of a mentor. Hopefully the experience will lead toward a lifetime of hunting interest and the outdoors”, said Pheasants Forever Member Jim Anderson.

The day would not be complete without thanking the parents for allowing and encouraging their son or daughter to participate, the mentors for volunteering their time and expertise, the Pheasants Forever Chapter members who helped out especially Todd Knutson who was Chairman of the event and to Jim Anderson for hosting the hunt.

“We could not put this mentor hunt on each year without the support and help of a lot of people, a place to host the event and the money raised to fund the event from the annual Pheasants Forever Banquet that is held each year in January,” says Chairperson Todd Knutson.