It was a small group with a specific goal in mind and excuse the pun ... they had a blast.
A youth mentored waterfowl hunt was conducted in the Estevan area Oct. 27 and 28. The event was co-ordinated by local hunter and outdoorsman Garry Leslie who used a training template recommended by Ducks Unlimited.
The training session sees one young hunter or potential hunter teamed up with one experienced hunter under careful guidelines to ensure safety as well as a rewarding hunting experience.
"We didn't seem to have a big program for new waterfowl hunters, or those thinking they wanted to be," said Leslie. "We have programs for land birds and big game, so some local Estevan Wildlife Federation members got together to make this happen."
There were five young hunters paired up with five experienced hunters for the two-day session that began with a Saturday afternoon dedicated to firearm safety reviews, patterning shotguns, trap shooting, blind set-up and shooting from blinds, decoy set-ups, and general discussion about the next day's shoot.
Local conservation officer Ryan Kreinke attended the training session to answer questions regarding ethical and legal guidelines on a waterfowl hunt.
"The next morning at 5:30, parents and youth hunters arrived at my farm and the young people were paired with their mentors for the ride to the field. The previous day's training on decoys and blinds was put to practical use using the vehicle's headlights. Each hunter and mentor occupied a single blind with the mentor handing out just one ammunition round at a time to ensure safety," said Leslie.
The ducks started arriving at 6:55, just before the legal hunting time, which gave the mentors an excellent opportunity to engage their students in the legal and ethical discussions again. When the 7 a.m. legal hunting time arrived, the hunters noted that the ducks had co-operated by sticking around and three were taken. The hunt continued until 9:30 that morning with a dozen ducks and geese falling under the shots of the youth hunters.
The empty hulls were cleaned up along with the blinds and decoys, and field photos were taken before everyone enjoyed a tailgate snack before returning to Leslie's farm where a demonstration was provided on field dressing the birds. The young hunters then cleaned their own birds and the day concluded with a hot dog roast.
"It's a non-profit event that we like to do under the SWF umbrella. The guns that the young people used were all supplied by EWF members. This group consisted of young hunters between the ages of 12 and 14. Twelve is the earliest age at which a young hunter can hunt legally," Leslie said.
The program however, can apply to anyone. In fact Leslie said that he has a 40-year-old first-time candidate patiently waiting for an opportunity to learn how to hunt properly under the program.
Because of hunting season time limitations and work restrictions, Leslie said there was just one opportunity to pull this program off this year.
"A lot of the kids who expressed interest have been in the EWF summer and winter youth camps. A few hadn't," he said. "Five participants was the best. We might have been able to handle six, but you don't need too many faces popping up out of blinds for safety reasons as well as the potential for scaring off the ducks and geese. The more bodies you have, the more potential there is for something unplanned to happen."
All hunters used a typical 12 gauge shotgun. There was a small registration fee covering the cost of the ammunition that was supplied. The students learned about the different sizes of shot, one for geese, the other for ducks, and learned about the various types of geese and ducks that are out there, he said.
"The best thing was everyone got something. Nobody was shut out and the one shot at a time rule is good for another reason and that is the fact that the first-timer learns to make every shot count because in this case, they knew they didn't have another shell to pump into the chamber, so they were going to make sure they were careful. They didn't hurry and they paid close attention to the safety details so it was a great learning and teaching occasion," Leslie said, noting that the previous mentored hunt wasn't so successful.
"I had to report that on that hunt, no duck or goose was injured," he said with a laugh.
The hunt was carried out with permission of landowner Kevin Phillips who provided the space for the 10 participants on his land west of Bienfait.
The mentors who were lined up to provide the practical and verbal lessons along with Leslie included Jerry Seipp, Rick Rohatyn, Victoria Leslie and Stefan Seipp. The young hunters included Riley Pylychaty, Damon Doerr, Dakota Carriere, Braiden Longney and Carlin Pylychaty.
"When I reported in to SWF about completing the program, they told me that a sanctioned mentoring program had just been completed in Saskatoon as well. It seems to be growing in popularity," Leslie said.
He noted that it's a good way to handle the introductions to waterfowl hunting by making sure that the right people are teaching and the students are getting all the bases covered thanks to the completeness of the program's details.
