Senior Youth Hunters Enjoy Hunting with Conservation Police Officer

Senior Youth Hunters Enjoy Hunting with Conservation Police Officer
Mark Fike
Monday February 17th was MUCH warmer than our previous rabbit hunt put on by Sgt. Spuchesi of VDGIF. What a difference some warmer temperatures and less wind can make! As with our previous hunt, we met at the local Sheetz store near the King George Middle School and then followed Sgt. Spuchesi and his friend and our outdoor club mentor, Roger Summers, to the lease where Sgt. Spuchesi has held our rabbit hunts over the past few years.
This hunt was primarily held for the older youth that have been hunting with us for a few years with the hopes we will retain them in our tradition. Alina and her sister, Kayla, have taken rabbits, geese, pheasants, and deer with us over the past four years and they were enthusiastic in wanting to go afield again.  They are also good shots.
Mason Long has taken rabbits, pheasant, and deer with us (we need to get him on a goose hunt) and he is a very mature and trustworthy young man. Scott Mendenhall is currently in my science class and is a good student. Even though he has not hunted with us before and had not harvested an animal prior to our hunt I knew he would fit in just fine.
Sgt. Spuchesi’s beagles did not disappoint. I stood with Alina at the upper end of the cover we were hunting. The dogs were running towards us when Alina commented that her eyesight was not that great. I never remembered her saying that before, so I turned toward her to be sure I heard her correctly. Apparently she thought she would have a hard time picking out a rabbit moving through the brown brush and briars ahead of us. I knew she was a safe hunter and I never doubted her decision making when it came to shooting or not in the previous years.
Well, it turns out she was playing a trick on me even though she adamantly denies snookering me on her eyesight. I say that because I spotted a rabbit tearing through the brush some 25 yards out. The brush was thick and I was losing it briefly and spotting it again, and I have hunted rabbits a lot over the years.
I noticed the rabbit burst out of the briar patch and it was speeding through some brown grass when Alina pulled her 870 up and rolled him in a split second as if it were nothing. I was ecstatic and jumped up and down before giving her a one armed hug and a “Way to shoot!”
Her sister and Mason soon joined in the fun from their position over a hundred yards away when rabbits made the mistake of going by them. They got busy adding to the supper pile. Next, Scott was able to get in on the action and set up not far from Alina. A rabbit was scooting ahead of the dogs and made the mistake to pause just long enough to let Scott send a load of shot to him putting another rabbit in the bag.
As the morning ticked away, the dogs kept the rabbits hopping everywhere. We had rabbits running behind us, to the sides and in front of us. Sometimes the dogs would split tracks when two rabbits got jumped at the same time. They were superb and kept the action going. Every once in a while we would see a rabbit burst out of the cover and hightail it across the field for the next county. Sgt. Spuchesi would bring the dogs back around to get on another of the numerous rabbits in the cover.
As I stated in the last article, the youth get his full attention on these hunts. He leaves these spots alone just so the kids can get the best chance at having a great time afield. This is a very unselfish act on his part and additionally to his credit, he commented that the youth hunts have become his favorite hunts of the year to include comparing to his own personal hunts. Seeing a young person enjoy being outside, their smiles as they heft up their rabbits, or hearing their comments as they retell how the dogs ran by them chasing the rabbit is sweet to his ears and the mentors’ too.
We are grateful for the opportunity to take the kids out and see them have a great time. Sgt. Spuchesi and Rogers Summers are excellent mentors with the rabbit hunts. I think they have as much fun or more than the kids sometimes.
Each youth bagged multiple rabbits which we cleaned at the end of the day so they could enjoy them at home.
We would like to also thank NWTF Rappahannock Spurs for supporting this hunt.  This program is supported by the 2019 Virginia Wildlife Grant Program through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Foundation of Virginia.