King George Outdoor Club Recruits New Hunters at Rose Hill Game Preserve
Mark Fike
March 4th dawned crispy cold as I headed my truck in the direction of what turned out to be a successful youth hunt. After picking up a few youth and a parent, we headed out towards Rose Hill Game Preserve to expose eight youth to our tradition of hunting. Most had never hunted before and the few that had, did so in the past few months. All went through a few prerequisites to include taking the VDGIF Hunters Education Course. Each of the youth were selected based on their maturity and desire to learn to hunt. As readers can imagine, taking 8 youth on a hunting trip where there are a lot of moving parts like dogs pointing birds, other humans moving around nearby and a flying bird, is a big undertaking. This was not a trip to take just any newbie on.
After completing the hunter ed course and being selected to “try out” for the hunt, the youth then had to prove they could safely handle a shotgun and hit moving targets. We threw clays for the youth over the course of several practices for those that needed it. Several of our youth were true naturals and hit clays right away. One even was breaking clays with a Remington semiautomatic .410! Another is on the 4-H Shotgun team but had never hunted. Then we had a few young ladies that had never shot moving targets before. One of our young women was found to be right handed and left eye dominant. I would think we had a few challenges to overcome but the youth turned that idea upside down. The young lady with the eye dominance challenge was instructed how to hold the shotgun left handed, her stance was set up and three clays later orange pieces were littering the ground! One of the other young ladies carefully listened to what I had to say about shooting clays and in less fingers than I have on one hand, her clays were flying apart. You have to love young people that listen carefully and execute the directions like that! I had two “dueling shooters”, as I started referring to them that asked for two clays to be thrown at once at one of our practices. Both lined up next to each other and much to my amazement, they waited until the clays crossed paths close enough to be taken with one shot. Both girls waited for that moment and then tried to be the first one to break the clays. I have to say, pride surged in my chest. The youth were amazing!
We worked with the others until they were hitting clays and then offered additional practices for those that needed it. The youth invested a lot of time in preparing for their hunting opportunity.
During the whole process, I kept in touch with Julie Abel who is the Women in the Outdoors leader for the entire state of Virginia NWTF. She is also the Rappahannock Spurs chapter president. They were sponsoring the hunt for the youth. Without the Rappahannock Spurs chapter and all the assistance its members and Julie offered, there is no way these kids would have had their first bird hunt. MANY thanks goes to Julie, her husband Steve and those in the chapter that donated and made this happen.
Once we arrived at Rose Hill Game Preserve, a flood of excitement hit the youth and a few great memories ran through me. Last year the Rappahannock Spurs chapter had sent a group of my outdoor club youth out and we had an amazing event that ended up netting the Rappahannock Spurs chapter a national R3 (Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation) award in Nashville, Tennessee.
Once we got the paperwork squared away, we went down the sloping green of the Civil War plantation property to the 5 stand location to “warm up”. The guides observed the kids while one of their guides, a former Marine named Anthony, took time with each youth to tutor them on their shooting. His experience doing this kind of thing took my basic instruction given weeks previously to a new level. Still the youth had some excited jitters and the warm up was a welcome experience to get them in the groove with what they needed to remember, such as putting the safety on after each shot and watching their muzzle. Thanks to Big Dog Outfitters in King George, we had plenty of shells not only for the practice sessions but for the hunt as well. They were very generous to the kids.
After a practice session, Matt, the preserve manager held a safety brief and we paired up the youth. The guides got their dogs and off the young hunters went to the field. With each pair of young hunters went a parent, grandparent or guardian for the day. I tagged along with twin brothers Connor and Duncan and their dad to help out as needed.
Throughout the morning I could hear shots in other fields, a celebratory “Yeah! I got one” and I even saw a bird flush upwards and then heard the shot and watched it fall some 500 yards away. Seeing and hearing those things got my blood pumping. We were making new hunters and they were successful in the field! I was able to see the smile in Duncan’s face when he held his first ever harvested animal—a chukar. There is no price you can put on a kid’s smile and we all know exactly what I mean.
Upon completion of the hunt we met at the plantation house and put out the birds. My quick count tallied 20 pheasant and chukar taken by 8 youth. That is not a bad count at all considering with very few exceptions, these kids had never hunted before. But, it was not about the numbers for us. It was totally the experience. I heard a few kids say that they liked hunting and wanted to do it again. A few others wore a grin that could not be scrubbed off their faces. Some retold their stories how they got their birds. A few of the kids had grandfathers tutoring them for the morning and I know for a fact that the memories made with the grandfathers were something to never be traded. The fathers and mother that went also were proud of their youth and for good reason. They were safe, made good choices in the field and learned a lot. The seed was planted.
The experience did not end in the field though. The youth all went in and learned, under the watchful eye of the guides, how to clean their birds. The guides were amazing and extremely patient with the youth. While they could have cleaned the birds in less than a minute, they took many minutes watching as the youth worked through each bird. The guides took the time to explain the biology of the birds and anatomy as well. They joked with the kids too and made them feel comfortable. Each bird was bagged and tagged and sent home for great table fare.
As a culmination of the hunt, Julie and Steve Abel cooked up some scrumptious venison chili for the youth and guides and they also donated a precious piece of their venison backstrap that was smoked for lunch. It was amazing! I made a bit of venison soup to go with things. The youth got a hearty bite to eat after an exciting morning afield. Thank you cards were written out for the guides and handed to them with a small tip inside from the youth. The guides also got an NWTF hat. The guides worked so hard to ensure the kids got a great experience. I am not sure who worked harder, the guides or the dogs!
Kristen Sotelo, the office manager for Rose Hill Hunting Preserve, offered the kids a cool Rose Hill Game Preserve t-shirt. Julie and Steve Abel had a rugged bag/pack with a lanyard, a new pocketknife, NWTF magazines and other goodies in it for the youth. Julie brought back the bags all the way from Nashville for the youth.
This youth hunt would never have even been a thought for the youth without the following supporters:
NWTF for donating the cost of the birds and the guide tips as well as the supervision and food.
Steve and Julie Abel for their time, enthusiasm, love of the kids and for the scrumptious food not to mention to giveaways to the kids.
Rose Hill Game Preserve for providing guides, the place to hunt, the birds at cost and an awesome setting for such a great event. Also the t-shirts given to the participants.
The guides at Rose Hill for providing their patient instruction, the dogs and the clays which they bought for the kids. Matt Hawkins, Michael Kilgore, Anthony Beavers, and Dean Sheetz were so patient and great teachers!
Kristen Sotelo for the time she spent arranging and setting things up for us!
Big Dog Outfitters in King George County which provided more than enough ammo for the kids to get plenty of practice for the hunt. They have supported our kids for a number of years without batting an eye.
Bass Pro Shops in Ashland donated blaze orange caps, some ammo and a box of clays. This is the second year they helped out with our hunt.
Dicks Sporting Goods at Spotsylvania Towne Center for donating the much needed blaze orange vests for the youth to use.
Vista Outdoors/ Kathi Ewing for donating plenty of eye protection and ear protection for the youth.
Last but certainly not least, the parents for supporting this event for their youth!
Mark Fike
March 4th dawned crispy cold as I headed my truck in the direction of what turned out to be a successful youth hunt. After picking up a few youth and a parent, we headed out towards Rose Hill Game Preserve to expose eight youth to our tradition of hunting. Most had never hunted before and the few that had, did so in the past few months. All went through a few prerequisites to include taking the VDGIF Hunters Education Course. Each of the youth were selected based on their maturity and desire to learn to hunt. As readers can imagine, taking 8 youth on a hunting trip where there are a lot of moving parts like dogs pointing birds, other humans moving around nearby and a flying bird, is a big undertaking. This was not a trip to take just any newbie on.
After completing the hunter ed course and being selected to “try out” for the hunt, the youth then had to prove they could safely handle a shotgun and hit moving targets. We threw clays for the youth over the course of several practices for those that needed it. Several of our youth were true naturals and hit clays right away. One even was breaking clays with a Remington semiautomatic .410! Another is on the 4-H Shotgun team but had never hunted. Then we had a few young ladies that had never shot moving targets before. One of our young women was found to be right handed and left eye dominant. I would think we had a few challenges to overcome but the youth turned that idea upside down. The young lady with the eye dominance challenge was instructed how to hold the shotgun left handed, her stance was set up and three clays later orange pieces were littering the ground! One of the other young ladies carefully listened to what I had to say about shooting clays and in less fingers than I have on one hand, her clays were flying apart. You have to love young people that listen carefully and execute the directions like that! I had two “dueling shooters”, as I started referring to them that asked for two clays to be thrown at once at one of our practices. Both lined up next to each other and much to my amazement, they waited until the clays crossed paths close enough to be taken with one shot. Both girls waited for that moment and then tried to be the first one to break the clays. I have to say, pride surged in my chest. The youth were amazing!
We worked with the others until they were hitting clays and then offered additional practices for those that needed it. The youth invested a lot of time in preparing for their hunting opportunity.
During the whole process, I kept in touch with Julie Abel who is the Women in the Outdoors leader for the entire state of Virginia NWTF. She is also the Rappahannock Spurs chapter president. They were sponsoring the hunt for the youth. Without the Rappahannock Spurs chapter and all the assistance its members and Julie offered, there is no way these kids would have had their first bird hunt. MANY thanks goes to Julie, her husband Steve and those in the chapter that donated and made this happen.
Once we arrived at Rose Hill Game Preserve, a flood of excitement hit the youth and a few great memories ran through me. Last year the Rappahannock Spurs chapter had sent a group of my outdoor club youth out and we had an amazing event that ended up netting the Rappahannock Spurs chapter a national R3 (Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation) award in Nashville, Tennessee.
Once we got the paperwork squared away, we went down the sloping green of the Civil War plantation property to the 5 stand location to “warm up”. The guides observed the kids while one of their guides, a former Marine named Anthony, took time with each youth to tutor them on their shooting. His experience doing this kind of thing took my basic instruction given weeks previously to a new level. Still the youth had some excited jitters and the warm up was a welcome experience to get them in the groove with what they needed to remember, such as putting the safety on after each shot and watching their muzzle. Thanks to Big Dog Outfitters in King George, we had plenty of shells not only for the practice sessions but for the hunt as well. They were very generous to the kids.
After a practice session, Matt, the preserve manager held a safety brief and we paired up the youth. The guides got their dogs and off the young hunters went to the field. With each pair of young hunters went a parent, grandparent or guardian for the day. I tagged along with twin brothers Connor and Duncan and their dad to help out as needed.
Throughout the morning I could hear shots in other fields, a celebratory “Yeah! I got one” and I even saw a bird flush upwards and then heard the shot and watched it fall some 500 yards away. Seeing and hearing those things got my blood pumping. We were making new hunters and they were successful in the field! I was able to see the smile in Duncan’s face when he held his first ever harvested animal—a chukar. There is no price you can put on a kid’s smile and we all know exactly what I mean.
Upon completion of the hunt we met at the plantation house and put out the birds. My quick count tallied 20 pheasant and chukar taken by 8 youth. That is not a bad count at all considering with very few exceptions, these kids had never hunted before. But, it was not about the numbers for us. It was totally the experience. I heard a few kids say that they liked hunting and wanted to do it again. A few others wore a grin that could not be scrubbed off their faces. Some retold their stories how they got their birds. A few of the kids had grandfathers tutoring them for the morning and I know for a fact that the memories made with the grandfathers were something to never be traded. The fathers and mother that went also were proud of their youth and for good reason. They were safe, made good choices in the field and learned a lot. The seed was planted.
The experience did not end in the field though. The youth all went in and learned, under the watchful eye of the guides, how to clean their birds. The guides were amazing and extremely patient with the youth. While they could have cleaned the birds in less than a minute, they took many minutes watching as the youth worked through each bird. The guides took the time to explain the biology of the birds and anatomy as well. They joked with the kids too and made them feel comfortable. Each bird was bagged and tagged and sent home for great table fare.
As a culmination of the hunt, Julie and Steve Abel cooked up some scrumptious venison chili for the youth and guides and they also donated a precious piece of their venison backstrap that was smoked for lunch. It was amazing! I made a bit of venison soup to go with things. The youth got a hearty bite to eat after an exciting morning afield. Thank you cards were written out for the guides and handed to them with a small tip inside from the youth. The guides also got an NWTF hat. The guides worked so hard to ensure the kids got a great experience. I am not sure who worked harder, the guides or the dogs!
Kristen Sotelo, the office manager for Rose Hill Hunting Preserve, offered the kids a cool Rose Hill Game Preserve t-shirt. Julie and Steve Abel had a rugged bag/pack with a lanyard, a new pocketknife, NWTF magazines and other goodies in it for the youth. Julie brought back the bags all the way from Nashville for the youth.
This youth hunt would never have even been a thought for the youth without the following supporters:
NWTF for donating the cost of the birds and the guide tips as well as the supervision and food.
Steve and Julie Abel for their time, enthusiasm, love of the kids and for the scrumptious food not to mention to giveaways to the kids.
Rose Hill Game Preserve for providing guides, the place to hunt, the birds at cost and an awesome setting for such a great event. Also the t-shirts given to the participants.
The guides at Rose Hill for providing their patient instruction, the dogs and the clays which they bought for the kids. Matt Hawkins, Michael Kilgore, Anthony Beavers, and Dean Sheetz were so patient and great teachers!
Kristen Sotelo for the time she spent arranging and setting things up for us!
Big Dog Outfitters in King George County which provided more than enough ammo for the kids to get plenty of practice for the hunt. They have supported our kids for a number of years without batting an eye.
Bass Pro Shops in Ashland donated blaze orange caps, some ammo and a box of clays. This is the second year they helped out with our hunt.
Dicks Sporting Goods at Spotsylvania Towne Center for donating the much needed blaze orange vests for the youth to use.
Vista Outdoors/ Kathi Ewing for donating plenty of eye protection and ear protection for the youth.
Last but certainly not least, the parents for supporting this event for their youth!
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