January 16th dawned chilly but sunny with promise in the air of good rabbit hunting. Five youth were invited to Lt. Spuchesi's annual youth rabbit hunt and they were on time at the parking lot of Sheetz near KGMS. 
After a quick brief of the order of the day, the convoy of pick up trucks rolled down to the lease that Lt. Spuchesi holds just for the kids to hunt each year. Upon arriving at the lease, the trucks detoured around a bull that was in the way and parked in a lower field where a safety brief and introductions were made. Chad and Roger, who are friends of Lt. Spuchesi, were on hand to assist in directing the rabbit hunt. 
Youth were reminded of safety while in the field, using their safeties and muzzle control. Mentors were reminded to help the youth out. A few tips on seeing rabbits and how the dogs work together to chase the rabbits were shared before the tailgate dropped and the talking stopped!
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The cover at the location made it tough to see rabbits, but the youth hung in there and scattered reports of a 20 gauge or .410 shotgun were heard amongst the baying of the beagles winding along in their own little convoy of wagging tails and pattering paws. 
By lunch time Noah, Faith, Hunter and Zach all had their first rabbits while Hunter and Zach had multiple rabbits. Zachary actually took down 3 rabbits with his grandfather's  Mossberg bolt action .410. At the beginning of the hunt he was trying to decide if he wanted to try a 20 gauge or stick with granddaddy's gun. I think his smile told us the results! 
After the hunt, Lt. Spuchesi did a breakdown of the hunt, commended the youth on their safety practices and then Chad, Roger and Mark showed the youth how to dress out their rabbits. The rabbits were then bagged and the remains were properly bagged and disposed of. 
As of Tuesday AM we already heard of Noah having grilled rabbit wrapped in bacon!

 1st Sgt. Spuchesi holds an annual youth deer hunt each year at his lease. This year he saved the lease for the kids. He does this selflessly each year for the rabbit hunts and the kids are lucky he did it this year. I have gotten half the number of deer this year as I have in years past and the story in our area is that deer hunting is tougher this year. 
So this season there were four youth that had not taken a deer yet that were invited. Gus, Joe, Landan, and Lucas came to hunt. All four youth saw deer and three took deer. Joe saw 14 deer but decided the shot was not within range and unfortunately he was tortured with watching deer just out of range the whole evening. Hunting is like that but he at least saw more deer than I did all season! Gus dropped his deer on the spot. Lucas got a huge doe and Landan took a nice 4 point buck. 
The young men were then instructed by Chad, a neighboring landowner, who pushed some deer to the property and generously jumped in to help the youth field dress their deer. The fathers and brother (Matt is Gus's brother who was home from the Air Force to mentor Gus who shot a deer cleanly) were able to experience a deer harvest with their young sons and brother. This is a memory they will not forget! Thanks to 1st Sgt. Spuchesi for saving his lease for the kids! Thanks to Chad for helping out! 
Check out the pictures!
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​17th Annual Youth Deer Hunt at Kinloch Farm
On November 19th, 12 youth from King George Outdoor Club attended the 17th annual youth deer hunt at Kinloch Farm hosted by Bruce Lee. The youth socialized a bit, watched Brent break down a deer, then a brief was held, then we did a shooting competition which was won by James Baumbach who chose a hunting blind for his prize and second place was Rebecca Abel who chose the gift card. Huntmaster Mac Mclennan secured some awesome goodie bags for the kids from HoundsF4RHeroes, James River Equipment and some donors. A nice multitool, a Greentop Gift Card and other items were included in the bag.
After the shooting competition, Mac and his bride, Miss Wanda, served up pork BBQ, homemade mac and cheese, cowboy beans, chips, and cookies. Officer Dobyns from VDWR gave a safety and hunting regulations brief to the group and answered questions from the attendees.
Owner, Bruce Lee, spoke to the group about conservation, the future of hunting and his farm. He was a very generous host and his hunt club went out of their way to make each young hunter feel welcome. They offered up their personal stands for the hunters to use on opening day of firearms season!
After lunch stands were assigned and hunters departed with their mentors to the woods. As I sat with James the texts started rolling in about deer seen, a bobcat seen, a coyote seen and then a few youth got deer. Ben Pickle, Rebecca Abel, Bradley Molgaard, Lincoln Purcell and a few others got deer. Congrats to them! What a great memory to star their hunting career. I want to thank Bruce Lee and his club, Mac and Miss Wanda, James River Equipment, Hounds F4R Heroes and the other donors for their act of passing on our tradition. These young people will forever remember this event thanks to you!

oWe had over 20 people show up for our shooting event. We taught kids to safely hit targets with .22 rifles. We had a Challenge spinning target for the .22 range and then we had clays donated by Big Dog Outfitters that were shot at by kids with shotguns. Some youth brought their own firearms and some used the KGOC firearms. 
Some youth also shot a .22 handgun. We also had a few youth sighting in their deer guns for the youth deer hunt in Essex for November 19th.
Sorry I did not get many pictures. I was busy supervising the range!
Thanks for the parents that came and assisted. Mr. Karle was a big help. Retiree d Detective Monty Clift drove over to help run the range. He was an enthusiastic range master motivating the kids to shoot well!
Also, thanks to 1st Sgt. Spuchesi for allowing us to use his lease for this event! 
KD Fike was a big help on the range. I can always count on her to take care of us at outdoor club events. Last, I cannot forget Joe Karle for working the clay thrower. We appreciate you tirelessly pulling that arm back all afternoon!
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This story appears in the August issue of the Northern Neck Sentinel
 
Captain David Rowe who operates the Bay Quest, welcomed a group of students, chaperons and parents on a recent trip from Lewisetta Marina. The purpose of the trip was for the students to get some hands on learning about our local environment and the seafood industry. Learning about where our seafood comes from and how important it is for us to manage the populations of fish and environment is best learned by such hands on experiences.
Captain Rowe did not disappoint. His 43 foot Chesapeake Deadrise is the style of boat that is our official state boat. After getting coolers and gear onboard, the captain assisted everyone onto his clean and well-kept boat, which had been turned into a floating classroom for the day. He then did a safety brief and an overview of what the tour would consist of before professionally casting off and slipping the boat out into the Coan River. Ospreys flew overhead as did gulls and terns.
Within a few minutes the captain was tweaking his positioning of the boat considering the slight breeze and tide that was flowing before he dropped anchor. He pointed out that he had a special one day permit to do his tour and then jumped right in to explaining how the boat was over a public oyster bed. He pointed out the private oyster leases nearby and explained how people can fish near or over them, but could not take any oysters from those private leases.
Captain Rowe asked questions to determine prior knowledge from the crowd of parents and students and then began filling in the gaps with his years of knowledge as a waterman. He discussed how the oysters are so important in filtering our water, how they create habitat for other creatures such as the mud crab, shrimp and fish and so on. He then discussed how watermen make a living harvesting oysters while demonstrating it with oyster tongs. Students were encouraged to try tonging for oysters and several stepped up and did so. Once there were oysters aboard the boat, students were able to examine them up close and see what they looked like and actually found a pea crab in several. Shrimp larvae or baby shrimp were found too. The captain then showed students the inside of the oyster, pointed out how to shuck oysters and then demonstrated it before allowing a student to try. Of course such a trip cannot take place without eating one raw right out of the shell which the captain did before he offered the students an opportunity. He used this time to explain how oysters taste different depending on the salinity of the water.
After moving from the oyster grounds, the knowledgeable waterman took the crew to a crab pot and pulled it showing students how it was built, the cull rings and their purpose and the crabs inside. A hands on biology lesson was then begun with the anatomy of the crabs discussed before he spoke about the crabbing industry all the while taking some really good questions from the students and parents. Students were able to hold the crabs before releasing them back into the river.
Some water quality work was in order, so the captain could record the data before a lunch break was taken. Some of the water quality included water temperature, clarity, salinity and dissolved oxygen levels.
After a break at the marina, students reboarded Bay Quest and went out to trawl the river to get a species sampling. A large net was dragged with planers or “doors” across a known bottom the captain has consistently used (great point for the science students about controlling variables!) and then the net was retrieved and counting and examining of the species began. Spot, croaker, hogchokers, which look like a flounder relative, crabs, bay anchovies and silversides were in the net. The students were able to handle them and measure them.
On the way back in from the educational tour, the captain took the students over to an oyster house to discuss how that operated. A boat with a rack of oyster cages pulled up about the time the boat arrived and began offloading the cages full of oysters. Mountains of oyster shells which are used in growing the oysters were observed.
Captain Rowe does fishing charters but he has also increasingly met a demand for trips such as this educational cruise in the Coan River which empties into the Potomac River. His knowledge about the water, the species living in it and the history of the surrounding area is astounding and leaves attendees with a much greater appreciation from where their fish, oysters and crabs come from and how much work goes into getting them from the water to the plate. Because of his deep roots in the area he is able to speak about a variety of things and answer pretty much any question that one might ask.
If you and your friends are interested in seeing the bay or saltwater from a completely different angle, his tour is highly recommended. School groups, church groups or just a group of friends up to 24 people can be accommodated. Lewisetta is a very relaxing drive from anywhere in our region and worthy of your time. Go to his website to get more info. https://www.bayquestfishing.com/
 
Note: This trip was possible due to the generosity of the Snow family from King George and all of the late Richard Snow’s friends who donated in his honor to the Friends of the Rappahannock so that students in the King George Outdoor Club could attend. Richard loved the outdoors and loved learning about all that he observed. We thank the Snow family and their friends for donating to Friends of the Rappahannock!

Six young women from King George County were fortunate enough to be selected to go an upland bird hunt at Rose Hill Game Preserve in Stevensburg, Virginia just outside of Culpeper. This was a Women in the Outdoors event for the Rapphannock Spurs Chapter of NWTF in Fredericksburg and funded by memorial contributions from two years ago by people that loved Richard Snow.
Richard was a down to earth realtor in King George who served his clients with class, professionalism, and honesty. Richard loved to hunt and fish and spent time in the duck blind with his daughter Clara. We often traded hunting stories and photos over the years. The Snow family thought it would be fitting to have the funds go towards some young ladies learning to hunt and enjoying the outdoors like Clara did with her father. I miss Richard and the emails and photos and I think he would be proud to know that those that loved him contributed to others making memories outdoors! Lynne, Morgan, Hannah, Rebecca, Ava, and Addyson were selected to go to the hunt and they all were paired with a guide and a pointer to go hunt pheasants and chukar. Matt, Kathy, Brian, and Travis did not disappoint. Together with their four legged partners, they led the girls on a memorable hunt while some parents and grandparents tagged along to observe.
The girls first warmed up on clays down at the five stand station. I highly recommend an event with friends shooting a friendly round of five stand if you have not done so. The practices we held prior to going out to Rose Hill were helpful, but the warm up eased some nerves and jitters before the young women headed to the field. The weather was warm and the dogs worked very hard to find birds, and find birds they did. Every young lady was able to take at least one bird. Some harvested several birds. The girls were then able to get photos and learn how to clean their own birds.
A huge thanks goes out to those that contributed to the hunt in honor of Richard Snow and his family, to Matt, Kathy, Brian and Travis, as well as the parents that supported the young people. Rose Hill, you all are awesome and really helped us out by hosting the Women in the Outdoors event!

Check out these links for some short YT video (hover just after the URL):
Hannah breaks a clay https://youtu.be/4ocC8D73TRw youtu.be/4ocC8D73TRw
Hannah's bird https://youtu.be/kPdnxZ2xTpE   youtu.be/kPdnxZ2xTpE
Becca's chukar https://youtu.be/td16DT03Dvc  youtu.be/td16DT03Dvc

Mark Fike
King George Outdoor Club recently hosted an event sponsored by Lowes in Central Park Fredericksburg, Virginia, the James Madison Garden Club in King George and Kimberly Jewell, principal broker at Reform Realty. All three donated the wood, paint, screws and more wood to allow the youth at King George Middle School the opportunity to learn about bluebirds and make a home for them. The students also learned some basic safety and use of tools such as screwguns, screwdrivers and construction skills.
Sgt. Frank Spuchesi of DWR and cofounder of the King George Outdoor Club, put out the call for help from his circle of friends. Roger Summers, Monty Clift and Rick Herron came with tools in hand to assist the 20+ students that stayed after school in March on a Friday to learn how to build a bluebird box. Kristy Fike joined in to assist our sight impaired student that came and used her hands to “see” the wood and feel the other completed box to figure out how to put hers together.
The kits were precut and some were drilled to ease the students into building the houses. The meeting started out with a safety brief and then a short lesson on bluebirds and their biology and habits. Then students were quickly shown the kits and an explanation was given to how to assemble the parts. Pointers were made about keeping the sides flush and lined up. The adults worked closely one on one with students at each lab table by assisting them with advice on how to build, keep sides even and use the tools. This took a lot of energy to keep up with the demand of questions by the students, but the event was a great learning experience for the kids. Students were partnered up to help each other hold the wood parts while the other put the pieces together with screws. All of the boxes had a clean out feature as requested by the James Madison Garden Club.
There is a little background that needs shared about our donors. Lowes at Central Park Fredericksburg, Virginia has been donating wood and supplies to our outdoor club for this event and a bird feeder event for a number of years. Due to the cost of wood, I did not feel it was fair to have them donate all the supplies.
James Madison Garden Club has stepped up and really assisted us for several years to include last year when we were teaching in a virtual format. At that time we took the funding James Madison Garden Club gave us and put together kits for bird feeders and delivered them to parents/students, made a YouTube video on how to assemble the parts, and the students made them at home and sent photos of the completed project. The students were able to enjoy a hands on experience after sitting in front of computers for hours each day thanks to James Madison Garden Club and their donation! This year they donated funds for a lot of wood and screws and paint.
Kimberly Jewell, Principal Broker of Reform Realty came into the picture this year in a way that is a story unto itself. I was at Lowes purchasing more wood using the funds James Madison Garden Club gave us when I realized I had more wood on the cart than I had funds for. This occurred at checkout. Kimberly Jewell was behind me in line and apparently heard my dilemma. The excess wood was transferred to an empty cart to be restocked and I paid for what I had and could afford and went to my truck to load it. The next thing I knew, Kimberly came out with the cart of wood I had left and told me she wanted me to have it and when she heard what we were doing with it, she was thrilled to know the wood was going to a good cause. We visited a few minutes and I asked her about her business at Reform Realty (www.reformrealtyco.com) and found out that she enjoys helping clients and charges a flat fee instead of a percent for her services which helps her clients. It did not surprise me she ran her business in such a way to help everyone when in a time of need, given she stepped right up to help a total stranger that was trying to help some kids build bluebird houses. You have to gain some faith in humanity when someone like Kimberly steps up without being asked.
Thanks again to the donors, and those that assisted with supervision and instruction to include Sgt. Spuchesi, Monty Clift, Roger Summers, Rick Herron and Kristy Fike for showing up when the event started to help the kids learn how to properly and safely use tools to construct something that will assist wildlife down the road!

Each year Sgt. Frank Spuchesi tries to arrange his schedule so that he can host an annual rabbit hunt for select youth in the King George area. Typically I am honored to choose the youth from a group of hunter education course graduates that I have gotten to know in the classroom and at school.
While the number of youth growing up hunting from the time they could tag along behind a parent or relative in the woods has certainly dwindled, the number of youth that are interested in finding out what hunting is about is growing. This means more youth are breaking into hunting coming from a household that may not traditionally hunt. The challenge is competing with organized sports and the schedules they require.
This year Sgt. Spuchesi told me to do my best to get my schedule set to do two rabbit hunts. He gave me the dates and we had a list of kids wanting to go and try the hunting. Unfortunately we could not take them all, but the ones that were able to go certainly got an experience they will likely not forget.
Anyone that has rabbit hunted with good beagles knows that the action is quite good and the hunt is enjoyable. On the first hunt our hunting party consisted of all young ladies.  Ava was there with her grandfather Roger, Lynne was there with her father who loves to hunt, Morgan was there with both her mother and father, and Layla and her mother came to see what the rabbit hunting was all about. All of the youth had just started hunting, most this season. None had rabbit hunted before and were in for a treat.
Sgt. Spuchesi leaves a certain property he has access to alone each year just so the kids get the best experience for their rabbit hunt. We were at that property before 8 AM on a day that reached to 70 degrees; quite warm for a winter day! He gave the safety brief and urged the youth to remember what they were taught in hunter education class about gun safety and muzzle awareness and knowing where everyone was located. All of us were wearing blaze orange for that reason.
Next, our host went over how the hunt would run and he described how the dogs would jump a rabbit and the rabbit would circle back around eventually. Roger and I were nodding as we have been on these hunts a number of times. I don’t think the youth quite understood how it was going to go but they soon found out. The tailgate was dropped on the truck housing the dogs and they tumbled off, tails wagging furiously and noses snorting and whiffing the ground in search of a rabbit.
Meanwhile, the parents and youth spread out to cover a large swatch of field and slightly overgrown draw where the rabbits typically lived. Within minutes, the first dog started the excitement and the train of baying beagles fell in order with the lead dog sounding off followed by the rest of them all in military order as they moved along tracking old Peter Cottontail. As Sgt. Spuchesi explained to the group, the rabbit jumped and made his rounds past nearly every youth with many taking a shot but missing the first go around. The agile rabbit looped around quite a few times riling the crowd up with excitement and anticipation. I was standing with Layla and her mom and the rabbit made a mad dash right at her which bought him some time as she could not get the gun around on him quick enough. I was chuckling and the dogs were obediently and patiently pursuing. At some point Layla did get a shot, but due to the proximity, a large trench in the ground was made with the shot and the pep in the rabbit’s step was noted, but not a hair touched for another few go arounds. Finally the rabbit went by Ava one time too many, and with her grandpa’s guidance, she ended the chase to the cheers of those in the field. Then the race to chase another rabbit started.
This scene repeated itself a number of times, five to be exact, until every young lady was able to bag a rabbit for supper. One rabbit ran by Lynne who was positioned on the hill above us in the broomstraw and she decided to cut down on her field dressing time and removed all entrails with her shot with such precision that left me in awe. No meat was hit and there was very little to do other than skin the rabbit. Layla and Morgan were also able to claim their rabbit too. Just when we thought the hunt was over and it was getting too hot, the dogs made one last push and flushed out a rabbit not far from Ava who moved to a good ambush site on the track it was running. She was able to take a second rabbit under the watchful eye of her grandpa.
By then the temperatures were really hot and the dogs were feeling it. Sgt. Spuchesi watered and cooled them down while Roger and I showed the kids how to dress out the rabbits. The girls very willingly jumped in and cleaned their rabbits with some verbal guidance. No squeamish huntresses were present. I was impressed! We took the time to point out the organs since we had recently learned that in school. It was a good practical moment to review.
On our second hunt the weather was a carbon copy so we got started as soon as we could in the same area. Five youth were on this hunt with siblings and parents and mentors. Again, these youth were not highly experienced hunters, but they were very trustworthy and very safety conscious, which was very nice to have, given the number of dogs Sgt. Spuchesi was running.
Red, Little Red, Little Man, Artemis, Dot, Cinder and Buddy all tumbled out of the box and went to work looking for rabbit scent. It took a minute or two and the chase was once again on. I was standing with Hannah, Roger stood with Rebecca, Joe and Gus stood with their parents forty yards apart and Morgan was accompanied by her father.
As with the first hunt, the youth had to get used to the speed of the rabbit bouncing by, learn to lead the rabbit and take the safety off and put it back on. The first few shots were missed, but the dogs knew their job and kept the train moving along pushing the bunny back around. One rabbit went around multiple times and then was finally bagged. A few times we had to laugh because other rabbits were squatting and hiding nearby within a few yards and suddenly made a break for it without even getting shot at!
Near the end of the hunt, Sgt. Spuchesi moved us up the hill and we spread out overlooking a gully of briars, gum saplings and weeds. The lower end of the gully was full of trees with brush lining the sides. Two “big rabbits of the 110 pound variety” as Mr. Braden put it, went tearing out of the area startling some of us. Once the dogs started into the gully, the rabbits started squirting everywhere. Rabbits were scurrying up the gully, across the gully, around the gully, down the gully and then zig zagging all over. The youth got plenty of shots and many took a rabbit in that part of the hunting area. It was very exciting to see all the rabbits and hear the baying of the hounds as they pushed them around and around. Little Red ended up by himself at the top end of the patch and kept poking around in the thickest and meanest briars on the place. Out popped a rabbit after ten minutes of determined work. We were all so excited to see so much action.
However, all good things have to come to an end. The dogs were getting hot, the sun was high in the sky and the harvested rabbits needed cleaned. Much like the first hunt, the youth wanted to try their hand at cleaning their own game. We willingly showed them how to skin and even quarter the meat up before rinsing and bagging it. They were very interested to learn how to do the whole hunt, down to prepping the meat.
I have to say that I was envious of the kids. I never got to go on a rabbit hunt like the one Sgt. Spuchesi puts on at their age. Another enviable experience was that some of the youth had both parents hunting with them. One had a grandfather hunting with her. I told her outright I never got to hunt with my grandfather and I surely wish I had. There were a lot of moms there supporting their kids and that was really super to see!
The rabbit hunt that Sgt. Spuchesi puts on for the youth is more than just chasing rabbits and bagging them. The hunt is a wholesome experience where the kids put their newly learned gun safety and hunting skills to practice and they share that action packed experience with siblings, friends, parents, grandparents and, of course, us. I never fire a gun during these hunts and I have more fun than I do when I am hunting myself. Sgt. Spuchesi says this hunt is by far his favorite of the year. The smiles on the faces of those involved and the interest of the participants makes the prep work and time well worth it. You could say there are new beginnings and timeless memories made on these hunts that will hopefully be passed down the family tree.
Thanks to Sgt. Spuchesi for his houndsmanship, time, and work to host the hunt. We also want to thank Big Dog Outfitters for supplying ammunition for the club and kids, Roger Summers for always volunteering to mentor the kids and help with the dogs and to 2019 Virginia Wildlife Grant Program through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia.
I would be remiss not to mention that this year we had to hold the hunt without the late, great Minnie Mouse and Cricket. These two steadfast and consistent rabbit trackers put a LOT of rabbits in front of a lot of new youth hunters over the years. Those two beagles were near and dear to the Spuchesi family and all those who benefited from their tracking skills. They sure brought a lot of smiles to a lot of faces!

Each year King George native, Steve Purks, tries to put on a youth goose hunt for the young people in the region. This year Purks gave me a call just before Christmas and offered to take a group of kids a few days after Christmas to a property he had scouted that had geese coming in to it. When discussing the hunt, Purks mentioned that he wanted the hunt dedicated to Mr. Rick Wilks, a former Marine aviation officer and a hunter education instructor, who was instrumental in getting me to teach hunter education in the King George Middle School. Wilks taught a hunter education class each fall and spring and often chose youth from his classes to participate in youth hunts he arranged, often with Purks’ help. Wilks coordinated and ran local veteran hunts as well.
The day of our youth goose hunt dawned cloudy, but somewhat mild compared to what normal waterfowl hunting weather can be like. Purks hoped for a light rain and some light but steady wind, but as often is the case, the weather people were wrong and we had to play the cards we were dealt.
We arrived at the farm property at 5:45 and met Purks who led us out into the field where he had set up two Avian X box blinds the previous day. The blinds were so well concealed that I was worried we would not see them. To humor me Purks placed a white stake in front of them so we could find them. He did a spectacular job choosing the hunting site and setting up the blind location.
The six youth, Zach, Gus, Joe, Sydney, Rebecca and Hannah, listened as Purks explained not only what we needed to do to set up the 100+ decoys, but why we were setting them up as we were. The event was not simply a hunt, Purks is very good about teaching kids about conservation and wildlife and hunting. He has a passion for passing on his love for the outdoors just as Rick Wilks did.
The youth went to work placing decoys on each stake that Purks put out. Within 40 minutes the field in front of our blind was alive with decoys wobbling ever so slightly in the variable breeze. A safety brief was held and reminders were firmly given about gun safety, particularly in the blind, since we would be together. Purks also explained his dog needs to be watched for since he would be out picking up everyone’s goose.
Daylight upon us when we settled into the blind with your columnist in the middle of the two blinds and Purks at the open end where he could keep an eye on and assist the youth near him and work the dog. After we got settled, the youth were given direction how they were going to stand and shoot at the geese. Purks had them practice this a few times which was a great idea as some adjustments to seating and so on were made to make everyone a bit more comfortable and able to safely shoot.
The first geese started flying soon thereafter and the youth picked away at their one goose per day limit. Some of the youth did not shoot the first few times because they were still adjusting to rising, sighting, acquiring their target, the goose among the decoys, and firing safely. We adjusted techniques and methods as we went along to ensure each youth got to shoot. Wave after wave of geese came by and Purks worked his magic with his goose call and the flag to bring them on down into the spread. I had two goose calls hanging around my neck but after hearing him call so well, I kept my fingers off of them. There was no way I was going to mess up a good thing. These geese that were out of my pay grade in terms of enticing back to the spread, willingly wheeled back around time and again responding to Purks’ calling before setting their wings and coming down for opportunities for the kids. Some groups flew off unscathed as the kids were learning about moving targets, identifying geese among decoys and so on, but as the morning wore on, the youth were very close to each one having their daily bird. Gunner, Purks’ amazing Labrador retriever, scooped up each dead goose and loped back to the blind delivering to Purks’ hand before disappearing into his own mini blind without so much as a word or command. He knew his job well and needed very little direction. The dog was thrilled to get birds for the youth and his tail steadily wagged on each retrieve as he was all business.
When we were down to the last two youth needing a bird, I got nervous. The sun had come out and the skies were bright, meaning most geese had already found fields to land in. We watched as a few groups over a mile out were angling away from us. I thought they were the last chance for our remaining youth to get a bird. These youth were young hunters that had not taken any game in their life as of yet so we felt it important to give it our best effort.
Purks went to work on his call and the flag and miraculously from over a mile out, the birds turned and started easing in our direction. After a number of torturous minutes and steady calling and working by Purks, the birds came on down within range but they did not hang around long. Purks quickly checked with the two remaining hunters and advised them what they needed to do before urging them to stand and pick out a bird. They did as instructed and big grins and celebration broke out in the blind as the birds went down. We were relieved and happy too.
Gus and Joe’s parents drove out to get photos and help put up the decoys. We all posed for pictures and the youth recounted their amazing hunt. I know a happy but tired group of young people that needed a nap and I know a caller that probably needed two naps!
The landowner who was gracious enough to host the hunt on his property came out to visit with the youth and see how everyone fared. The kids made a point to thank him. In fact, Rebecca and Hannah made brownies for him, Purks and me as a “thank you”. They were SCRUMPTIOUS! The landowner talked to the kids about hunting and conservation and congratulated them on getting some of the geese before heading out. The kids also thanked Purks once again.
Purks and I cleaned the birds for the kids as they watched. They were advised that they needed to hold a knife sharpening class for me as both knives that I brought were horribly dull. I earned that jab and am making sure that my knives are razor sharp before the next hunt! Once we got the birds bagged for the kids we parted ways.
As we drove home I listened as the youth chatted excitedly about their hunt and began reflecting on the fact that I know Rick Wilks would have been pleased with the results. I know Steve Purks was glad the kids had a good time, he always is. I wish he could have heard how much chatter was about his hunt given how much time, money and effort he put into making the event happen for them. This is one reason why hunting continues to be a great outlet and pastime for young people to explore the outdoors. The generosity of others goes a long way.
Congrats to six youth that were able to participate in this hunt and many thanks to our generous landowner and of course to our world class goose guide that never wants any attention for his efforts. Without Steve Purks there is no way this hunt would have happened.
I would also like to thank HeviShot for donating the shells for the hunt.