Late last fall, we talked about the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) and its Youth Outdoors Initiative – a part of DFW’s R3 (recruitment, retention and reactivation) Initiative. This is all a response to slumping numbers of hunters nationwide and here in Paradise. Over the last decade, some 17,748 hunters have stopped buying hunting licenses in our state – the $40 million or so that they did not spend as hunters carries a big impact, especially to our wildlife and outdoor heritage. The Youth Outdoors Initiative is one way of getting youngsters off their digital addictions and into various outdoor activities – some of which may address those hunter numbers.
Recruitment of hunters has fallen largely into the hands of DFW’s regional Hunter Education & Volunteer coordinators, such as our Region 3 guy, Aaron Garcia. You are aware that Aaron has ramrodded several events with a variety of partners already – turkey hunting clinics, mentored turkey hunts for first-time hunters, pheasant hunts and more. Next Saturday, 10 – 2, a Free Youth Outreach Event happens at co-sponsor Cascade Field and Stream’s shooting range on Hayward Hill. It will include shotgun, small and large rifle training and shooting, upland bird and wild turkey hunting clinics, survival information, and firearm safety instruction. Among the other partners at this event are Pheasants Forever and National Wild Turkey Federation. A major new partner with DFW is the First Hunt Foundation.
First hunts are never-forgotten milestones. I still feel the excitement of the first time The Old Man decided I could carry his slug-loaded shotgun on a deer hunt at Uncle Ed’s place up the Little Chumstick, out of Leavenworth, Washington, at the east base of the Cascades. Daughter Michelle and her first Wyoming antelope are fresh in my mind; after a long crawling stalk, a deep focus and a perfect shot, I patted her shoulder and said “Good shot!” She looked at me, quizzically. “Did the rifle go off?” Son Tim made a perfect shot on a big southern Colorado muley doe, and couldn’t believe that his practice and training really worked. Edward, on the last day of our Wyoming hunt following the terrible events of 9/11, prayed an antelope into perfect range. These are the first hunts on which family traditions of hunting and gathering are built.
Those of us regularly having “hunting” discussions are finding more and more youngsters – and adults – wanting to learn shooting and hunting and the care of game which they might contribute to family larders. One or two at a time, we train and help out where we can, but in 2015 Rick Brazell, of Kamiah, Idaho, had a better idea. Retired from a long US Forest Service career as a biologist, Rick opted to make a bigger difference: his brainchild is The 501 (c)(3) non-profit First Hunt Foundation (FHF).
FHF has a simple mission: “The First Hunt Foundation is dedicated to insure hunting remains a vital part of the American culture. We believe that by providing a mentor based hunting experience to youth and other interested individuals, the hunting heritage will be passed on to future generations. Wildlife conservation and habitat management will be better served and supported by having citizens who are educated on the value of hunting as a management tool.” FHF leaders intend to create thousands of first hunts, thus creating future hunters, community leaders, voters and elected officials who will support hunting as a valid part of the American culture now and into the future.
FHF relies entirely on volunteers, donating their own time and resources. Donate they have. As of this week, The foundation has at least 135 background-checked mentors in 14 states, including Washington, (with Texas next in line). In 2017, those mentors managed more than 1900 mentored days with new shooters and first-time hunters. The goal is to have a mentor program in every state that offers hunting opportunities, with thousands of mentors taking youth out each year on all hunts allowed by state laws.
There are three programs within The Foundation. The Mentoring Program involves members of First Hunt Foundation Chapters across the U.S. which are linked through insurance and associated with Outdoor Mentors – Pass it On. The second program is The New Hunter Shooting and Education Progam, teaching wildlife conservation, pre-hunt preparation and post-hunt meat processing. Here, mentors work alongside youth and others on proper shooting techniques and gun safety. Number three is the Hunter Appreciation Program which awards certificates of appreciation to successful first time hunters, as a way of congratulating them for choosing to be a hunter and successfully completing a milestone in their hopefully long hunting career. Certificates are species-specific, so no matter the harvest, the hunter is celebrated.
FHF is rapidly growing partnerships and activities. Check it out at www.firsthuntfoundation.org/, or contact Rick Brazell at [email protected] or 208-935-9133.
Come to the Youth Outreach Event next Saturday at the range on Hayward Hill off US 97 from 10 til 2. See for yourself how our traditions and future are being secured. This is important. To paraphrase Jodi Larsen, Upper County Rotary: Children are the emissaries we send into a time we will never see – what do we want them to take along?
