Younger hunters get shot at game

YAKIMA -- I think most of us are happy to have grown up when we did. But the youth hunting weekend sponsored by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sure makes a person want to be a kid again.

At least for this weekend it does. I know personally, I would have loved to have something similar available during the 1960s, when I was first learning to hunt. And it would have been even better to have had it available in the early 1990s, when my sons were starting to hunt.

To the WDFW's credit, the program is available now, and hopefully many young hunters and their parents are going to participate this year.

Basically, the youth hunting weekend, which is this Saturday and Sunday, was created to introduce hunting to kids under the age of 16, giving them a chance to enjoy a day or two in the field when the focus is only on them. They can hunt pheasants, quail and partridge, or waterfowl, including ducks, geese and coots during the special two day season.

The young hunters have to have passed hunters safety requirements and possess state small-game licenses to participate. And they have to be accompanied by a licensed adult hunter (18 or older) who is not hunting.

Other regulations must be followed as well. The young hunters need to have at least 400 square inches of hunter orange visible above the waist if they are hunting for pheasants, and they must be shooting steel or some other non-lead shot if they are waterfowl hunting.

The normal bag limits are in place for the special youth weekend. Pheasant hunters can shoot three rooster pheasants per day. Duck hunters can shoot seven ducks per day, of which only two may be hen mallards or scaup and only one may be a pintail. The limit on geese is four per day.

The Yakama Nation is participating, so the special youth season is open for hunting for pheasants and quail as well as ducks, geese and coots on Yakama Nation lands. Other tribal regulations must be followed, including having a Yakama Nation hunting license.

One local conservation group has gotten involved in the special youth hunt and will be mentoring some young hunters on Saturday.

Members of the local chapter of Pheasants Forever have made arrangements with 20 young hunters and their parents to participate in the youth hunt. The PF members will work with the young hunters on safety issues and then will accompany them in the field for pheasants. After the hunt, the PF mentors will show the young hunters how to field-dress their birds and prepare them for cooking.

Pheasants Forever president Larry Morgan of Yakima said this is the first time the local chapter has been involved in a youth-hunt mentoring program.

"We wanted to help some kids who are interested in hunting," said Morgan. "This gives parents who don't hunt, or single moms, an opportunity to get their kids out with experienced hunters."

Morgan said several of the PF members will have their hunting dogs with them, and the kids will get a chance to hunt with the dogs and see how they work.

Whether they are participating with a group, such as Pheasants Forever, or if it is just a parent and kid out for a day of hunting, the youth hunting weekend is a great opportunity. It gets youngsters out into the field, ahead of the all the crowds that normally come with the opening day in October. It gives parents or mentors a chance to work with the kids in a one-on-one situation, and the young hunters should have a pretty decent opportunity to at least get some shooting at some birds.

What more could any hunter ask?

Oh, to be a kid again. At least for this weekend.

* Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

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