By Bill Bebee, AWWC Huntmaster

Every time we get into the woods it is memorable, but some are just more memorable than others and the Youth Hunt on the weekend of January 8-10, 2010 was one for the record books. The hunt took place on the Wes Walters Ranch in Williamson County near Jarrell. Wes did what most people would never consider and that was to give us the combo to the gate, keys to the house and encourage us to have a great time using anything he had there to make it enjoyable. These ranch owners are the life blood of our program and we could not do it without their generosity.

I had five hunters who had never experienced harvesting a deer. It was hard to tell who was more excited about the first hunt, the youth or their parents. Saturday morning it was 10 degrees and Sunday morning it jumped up to 16 degrees. No deer were taken the first morning probably because of the frigid temps but things changed that afternoon. After practicing at the rifle range, an informative talk from the Game Warden, and a great Skills Trail, four of the five hunters harvested their first deer on the afternoon hunt. One of the families represented 3 generations and
Granddad was with his grandson when he got his deer, and dad was with his daughter when she took her first.  Huntmaster Roberts was with their other son when he took his first deer. We also had another family of husband, wife and daughter and she harvested her first deer. Mom and Dad were right there to enjoy the excitement.

My support team was made up of Huntmaster Ron Roberts, his wife Lisa who was our gourmet cook, Huntmaster Virginia Roberts and their younger daughter
Suzanne Roberts. My brother, Don helped as a guide and our deer processing leader. Ron and Virginia put on a fantastic Skills Trail and Lisa, with the help of Suzanne, cooked up some of the best food ever.

One thing that really stuck out to me this weekend was how much each family enjoyed being together and how quickly everybody warmed up and got along so well with people who started out as total strangers. The common denominator was a love for the great outdoors. Mother Nature has a way of bringing out the best in people and helping us to slow down and take in all that God has created for our enjoyment. Our group observed coyote, fox, raccoon, owls and other birds. Oh yes, and I forgot the friendly donkey.

Our goal is to take someone from the city, get them into the outdoors and educate them on all of the safe, legal and ethical ways to harvest wild game from the field to the table in two and a half days and to exceed their expectations. The youth hunters grow in self esteem, self confidence and get a live experience of discovering a love for the great outdoors and hunting. We experienced that this weekend and my reward was seeing the change made in the hunter and their guide (adult) by the end of the hunt.

If interested in learning more about the Texas Youth Hunting Program or you want to hear some good youth hunting stories, give me a call.

AWWC
Austin Woods and Waters Club
219-1199