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THIS
WEEKEND IS FOR THE KIDS
By: Ron Wilson
Last weekend the Central Valley Chapter of Safari Club International, of
which I am a member, held their annual
youth hunt at Mapes Ranch.
The event actually is a DFG Heritage Game Bird Hunt, but since the local
SCI club foots the bill for the 200 pheasants, I like to call it our
event. I know it’s a little selfish on my part but as a board member I am
very proud of what the club does.
While we spend the time taking the kids out, it’s really the SCI members
and guests at the Annual Hunters Banquet and Fundraiser that makes this
event possible.
The people who support the yearly fundraiser with their hard earned
dollars help the local chapter give back to the community each year! Over
$3,000 will be spent for the youth and women's hunts. The money is used to
purchase pheasants that will be planted.
Mark your calendar for April 3, 2004 for the 8th Annual Hunters
Banquet & Fundraiser at the FES Hall in Oakdale.
My weekend started off with my grandson Derick and his friends Brandon and
Tyler Dorsett of Waterford.
We watched as some coyotes chased the birds out of the freshly planted
field. By the time we started hunting, there weren’t many birds left!
There were 25 kids in the morning hunt group. They managed to down 10
pheasants out of the 50 planted. My boys managed to down 2 of them so I
was proud for them.
The birds cooperated much better during the afternoon hunt. I had
11-year-old James Vella of Oakdale, Waterford 13 year olds Shane Kendrick,
Matthew Sedlmeyer and Austin Gabrielson.
The boys did pretty well as the first bird that got up was quickly downed.
It was a high flyer that was folded up nicely when one of the boys
connected!
The dads, who walk with their sons, had a little trouble keeping the boys
steered in a straight line. They would do real well for about 75 yards as
they started in a line nicely separated, but soon they would wonder over
to within 5 to 10 feet of their buddies.
 My
dogs, Max and Sierra, did a pretty good job of finding the birds and the
boys did fair at shooting them. They all should have had limits as they
had multiply chances.
I
found that either the boy’s attention spans were to short or I wasn’t
yelling loud enough! I would say “watch the dogs, Sierras on point, watch
out, Max is going to jump a bird.” I Guess I will have to learn to yell
louder to help direct the youngsters out in the field!
I
know the dogs and its easy for me to see what’s going on as I am a few
steps behind the youngsters and can see the area ahead of them better than
they can. The further back you are the better you can view the whole area.
The highlight of the day was when I took the boys to one of my little
honey holes on the ranch where the pheasants like to hide, its almost
always good for one bird! I had stopped and watered the dogs and then told
the boys to get ready. The only one that paid attention was James, he
watched as Sierra went on point and Max flushed the bird. The other 3
seemed shocked that the dogs would flush a bird within 5 feet of me!
The reason James Vella didn't shoot the bird was simple, the pheasant
jumped and he would of had to shoot through me in order to hit the bird.
James never raised his gun and by the time the other boys figured out what
had happened the bird was well on its way to making a clean getaway! It
sure is nice to hunt with boys who have been trained to hunt safely! Score
for the afternoon was 26 birds killed out of 50!
Sunday was terrible, as it must have rained an inch that morning while the
young hunters were in the field.
Tom Brennan, George Patton and I had a hard time building a fire to cook
our breakfast and hamburgers for the youngsters. By the time we finally
got our breakfast cooked the kids were heading out of the field.
I
Had a couple guys come over and try to get my hashbrowns, eggs and links
from the grill but I discouraged them with “you will have to fight me for
my breakfast.”
I
couldn't believe some of the fathers, they would woof down a hamburger or
two, a couple donuts and let the youngsters fend for themselves! I got the
general feeling from some of the fathers that it was “all for me and the
hell with everyone else!” Something that us old fogies see way too much
any more!
The dads better figure on getting in their wallets next year to chow down
if I have anything to say about this event! The food and other goodies
are provided by SCI for the youngsters to make sure they are taken care of
while they are enjoying the hunt.
The morning take was a bad one considering the weather. We had a lot of
kids with no birds.
That afternoon the sun came out and it was nice. I would be taking out
some of the Lyons clan to hunt. I watched as one of Charlie Lyons friends
came up to greet him. They extended hands in a handshake, which is
something you don't see that much anymore.
We had a nice afternoon walk but the pheasants weren’t cooperating for us.
I guess I was taking them to areas where the planted birds had left.
The boys all had a shot or two but nothing fell. I took them to one area
that I knew was loaded with birds but as I was pushing the birds to an
area where we could blast them I had another hunter mess it up!
I
wasn’t happy as I wanted to see the boys get some good shooting. Max and I
were working our tails off to get the drive set up just right!
Glad I got a weeks vacation to get my shorts out of a bunch, as you can
see I am starting to let a lot of silly little things bother me!
The highlight of the weekend was that every kid that I took out hunting
came up to me after the hunt and thanked me personally for the use of my
dogs and my time. We do have a lot of well-mannered kids coming up! |
