It is not easy to take kids hunting.
They do not like getting up at 4 a.m., make lots of noise in the blind and have little to no patience.
However, we all should make it a priority to take youngsters hunting if we care about passing the tradition down to the next generation. And this weekend youth hunters get a special opportunity as the youth-only waterfowl season takes place Saturday and Sunday.
Those are the dates for the youth-only waterfowl season, a time for kids to get in on early hunting action.
The Murphree WMA along with the Lower Neches WMA and the Anahuac and McFaddin National Wildlife Refuges will host special youth-only hunts.
“The really unbelievable deal here is the light turn-out we always experience at our WMAs for these youth only events. We will likely see only 30 or so youth for the entire weekend at the Murphree and the whole WMA is open for hunting and we have plenty of ducks,” said Jim Sutherlin manager of the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
“I suspect that adults don't take kids hunting when only kids are allowed to shoot, but this is some of the very best training opportunity for youngsters because mentors can really pay attention to young shooters and help them ID birds, make shots, etc.”
All persons age 15 and under are welcome to hunt, but must be accompanied by a licensed adult supervisor (18 years of age or older). A $7.00 Special Resident Hunting license is required for all youth hunters.
Hunter check-in and permitting at the WMA headquarters hunter check station on Hwy 73 (just west of the intersection of Jade Avenue in Port Arthur) is required for anyone entering the WMA on these hunt dates (all fees are waived).
Sutherlin said the hunter check station would open at 4:30 am for hunter registration.
Hunting is allowed from 30 minutes before sunrise and all hunters must be checked-out by noon. Portions of all Units of the WMA will be available for youth waterfowl hunting activities. Ducks Unlimited is sponsoring the event, which will include a Greenwing Legacy Plaque Dedication.
Door prizes and refreshments will be available to youth participating in the day’s activities. The public is invited to participate in an enjoyable event aimed at introducing youth to the outdoors and wildlife conservation through hunting.
Hunters are reminded that the harvest of mottled ducks will be allowed in the youth-only season. It is restricted during the first five days of the regular duck season but they are fair game for youth this weekend.
And while taking a kids hunting this weekend is a great idea, it should not be an isolated event.
A few years ago, I saw a standup comedian say that if you want to punish modern child, tell them they have to play outside. While I nearly laughed myself off the seat, I felt a twinge of sadness inside because it is the truth.
To combat this kind of voluntary apathy and turn it into a desire to seek excitement in the great outdoors, we are going to need a new game plan. You would not hunt a grizzly with a paintball gun nor should we target the youth of America with a quick trip to the outdoors and expect them to trade in their X-Box for a tackle box.
Outdoors radio host TJ Greaney may have stumbled upon one of the answers to this problem. This summer he is hosting hunting and fishing camps, (which I am honored to take part in) that involve a new and exciting concept: mentorship.
“There are lots of great camps out there that are doing some amazing work with kids and the outdoors. But something that is lacking is a way to keep promoting the kids interest in the outdoors. For a lot of these kids that come from the inner city or single parent homes living with a mother for example, they may not get another chance to go hunting or fishing,” Greaney said.
That’s where mentoring comes in.
“We’re going to provide ongoing mentoring for these kids to keep giving them access to the outdoors and to keep that excitement they get at hunting or fishing camp alive over the years,” Greaney said.
I am not saying programs that involve taking a kid hunting or fishing once have no value because they do help some children. However, if we want to make them truly effective we need to pair the children with a mentor.
A mentoring situation could be as simple as e-mail communications about outdoors trips and outfitting them with tackle. Then again, it could go as far as regular trips to the field and taking a genuine role in their lives to steer them toward the right course.
The forces aligned against children nowadays are staggering. Whether they hail from the barrio or white picket fence suburbs, they all deserve a chance to enjoy the bounty of the great outdoors and we should fight for this opportunity for them. I certainly do not have all of the answers to this dilemma but I do know that mentorship can make a big difference.
We will never reach every kid out there but for each one we turn onto duck hunting or bass fishing instead of other activities they could be involved in we will be doing a great service.
Chester Moore, Jr. is The News Outdoors Editor. To contact Chester Moore, e-mail him at cmoore@fishgame.com. You can hear him on the radio Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com.
