(Provided by Michigan DNR)
Youngsters can learn hunting with small game opportunities.Some Michigan hunters fondest childhood memories were made outdoors, pursuing game and in the company of family.
In order to keep Michigans rich hunting tradition alive and help it thrive its critical that todays young people have the same opportunities to create these lasting memories.
To that end, the Michigan DNR and its conservation-minded partners continue to develop programs aimed at giving youngsters the chance to try hunting.
Recent initiatives range from local habitat-improvement projects and a collaborative effort to restore pheasant hunting, to youth deer and waterfowl hunting weekends, to programs like mentored youth and apprentice hunting that allow youth to get their feet wet under the guidance of more experienced hunters.
The DNR is also teaming up with sportsmens groups to encourage kids to give small game hunting a once-popular pastime among young hunters a try.
In December, DNR wildlife biologist Pete Kailing of Big Rapids partnered with the Mecosta Rod and Gun Club to put on a Saturday event dubbed Kids and Dogs Small Game Hunt.
Working with retired DNR biologist Jeff Greene at the Mecosta Club, Kailing was able to get representatives from local chapters of the Michigan Duck Hunters Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Ruffed Grouse Society and Pheasants Forever to bring dogs and help mentor the youths. The Michigan Squirrel Dog Association a group Kailing said he had never even heard of found out about the event and showed up, too.
Twenty youngsters, 17 years old and younger, got to hunt small game with mentors on both private and public land.
For three of the kids two teenage boys and a girl it was the first time they ever had a chance to shoot at anything, Kailing said. Altogether, the hunters brought back nine rabbits and four squirrels.
With small game and dogs, you can see the action, he continued. You can be active when youre small game hunting. You can talk out loud. Its not like deer hunting when you have to be still.
Kailing said the hunt was a resounding success.
It all fits within the goals of promoting youth in shooting posts, small game hunting, interacting with youth, working with our partners and the general camaraderie of the hunterhood, he said.
In mid-January, several members of the DNRs Wildlife Division partnered with sportsmens groups for the second year in a row to put on a rabbit hunt headquartered out of the Belding Sportsmans Club near the Flat River State Game Area. The event drew 52 youngsters, almost twice as many as the inaugural event.
Despite less than optimal conditions it was warm with no snow remaining on the ground 15 rabbits were brought to the headquarters with at least a half dozen youngsters taking the first rabbits of their hunting careers.
Brothers Cache and Sage Blunt, 10 and 16, respectively, each took their first rabbit with .410 shotguns. The brothers had hunted rabbits before with their father, but this is the first time the stars aligned.
Mitchell Neeb, a 13-year-old from Clarksville, killed his first rabbit at the hunt. Already a successful deer hunter, Neeb said rabbit hunting was exciting and more fun than I thought it would be.
Bill Bird, an Ionia County berry farmer who usually runs his beagle two or three days a week, said he was more than glad to bring his dog Sadie to chase rabbits for the youngsters.
I literally couldnt sleep last night because I was thinking about this hunt and how the weather was uncooperative with no snow, he said. Im glad we were able to get them some shooting.
Theres still time to get youngsters out hunting. Squirrel hunting season runs through March 1, with rabbit and crow hunting seasons continuing through March 31.
To learn more about opportunities to get young people involved in hunting, visit www.michigan.gov/mentoredhunting.