Oklahoma group trying to keep the hunting heritage alive
Want to help in some small way to help change a child’s future?
This weekend the Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting Program will have a booth in the lobby of Bass Pro Shops in Bricktown as part of the store’s Outdoor Extravaganza.
The organization will be selling raffle tickets for a rifle, a fully guided private ranch bull elk hunt near Red River New Mexico and an African Safari hunt.
The proceeds raised from the raffles will be used take children and adult guardians on youth deer and turkey on their first deer and turkey hunts.
The mission of the Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting Program is to create hunters out of non-hunters.
In its five years of existence, volunteers from the Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting program have guided more than 100 children in Oklahoma on their first deer and turkey hunts.
The mission of the organization is to pass on Oklahoma’s hunting heritage to a generation of children who otherwise would never get the opportunity. Only Oklahoma kids from non-hunting families can participate.
“There are kids who want to hunt but there is no one to take them or to teach them,” said Andy Keim, founder and director of Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting Program.
A family guardian must accompany the youth on the hunting trip. Not only do the kids hunt, but they learn how to clean and prepare their game.
The weekend trip also includes a cookout, a hunting skills trail and other activities.
Keim said his organization selects kids for the trips who are really interested in hunting and have supportive guardians.
“We try to pick kids that are will continue the tradition and it won’t be just a one-time thing,” Keim said. “For most of them, it really clicks. It really turns them on to a new world.”
The hunts are frees. The youth only have to buy their hunting licenses. Everything else is provided by the Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting Program.
Keim also is looking for landowners who will allow use of their property for the hunts.
On May 9, the Oklahoma Shooting and Youth Program is holding a noon meeting at the Canton Senior Citizens Center for anyone interested in participating.
Lunch is provided and a brief presentation on the Oklahoma Shooting and Youth Program will follow. For more information or to reserve a spot at the May 9 meeting, call Keim at (405) 747-1919 or George Edwards at (405) 850-1630. Or you can visit the Outdoors page on NewsOk.com Friday at 11:30 a.m. where Keim will by my guest for a live online chat about the program from the H&H Shooting Sports Complex in Oklahoma City.
In addition, AMBUCS is holding a sporting clays shoot at Silverleaf Shotgun Sports in Guthrie on Friday with a portion of the proceeds going to the Oklahoma Shooting and Youth Program. Cost is $400 per team or $100 per person. Shooting begins at 9 a.m. with registration beginning at 8 a.m.
