The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, managed by the California Dept of Fish and Wildlife hosted a weekend of pheasant hunting for Juniors, New Hunters and Veterans this past weekend, the 16th and 17th of November. Pheasants Forever Yolo Chapter provided dog handlers, mentors and lunch for the participants on both days.
Saturday the 16th, was all about the Juniors. 10 juniors in the morning and another 10 in the afternoon. While there is a good population of wild Pheasants in the Yolo Bypass (300 have been shot in the first week of season!), to ensure opportunity, 20 birds were planted in the assigned fields for each group. The hunt started at 8:00 for the first group, and 1:00 for the second group. Each junior was accompanied by a dog handler and several had additional mentors along as well to help coach and provide safety watch and education. All the juniors had shots at birds, and several managed to harvest roosters. A few hens were jumped along the way, proving the existence of the wild birds as only roosters were planted. The wind was blowing steady at about 10-15 mph out of the north and the ground was very dry that day, so it added a challenge for the dogs and shooters! Most birds would get up into the wind and then turn with it to sail quickly away. This provided not only a challenge to the shooters, but a challenge for safety as well, but no accidents occurred, and all the participants did a good job of staying in their safe zone of fire.
A short night’s rest and the Mentors and Dog Handlers were back at it again on Sunday morning, meeting at the Hunters Check Station at 6:00 to get ready for the day. Sunday started with an R3 hunt. R3 stands for Recruitment-Retention-Reactivation. This hunt was designed for Recruitment. Several women who were very new hunting attended this event, along with a few more juniors and some men who were also new to hunting. Fortunately, the wind had quit, and the moisture levels were up, providing better scent trails for the dogs, and somewhat less challenging shots for the hunters. Again, there were 10 hunters for the R3 event. Everyone had shots and harvest percentage went up a little bit.
The Afternoon of Sunday was a hunt for Veterans, and it was a great afternoon. The dog handlers and mentors really enjoyed taking the Veterans out to get them some birds. Many of them had good experience in hunting so it was a more relaxing hunt and again the success rate increased for harvested birds.
All in all, it was an extremely rewarding weekend to be able to help mentor so many new hunters and even some experienced ones. The smile on a person’s face when they harvest their first bird is what makes volunteering for these kinds of events worthwhile. It feels good to know you have helped them take those first steps into, what for many, becomes a lifelong passion that can be passed down thru generations. If you want to know more about volunteering for events like these, or becoming an official Mentor, please reach out and I will get you pointed in the right direction. Pass on the Tradition!
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