Central Wisconsin F3 hosts second youth turkey hunt
By Nathaniel Underwood
Central Wisconsin Fur, Fin and Feather (F3) had their second annual youth turkey hunt event this past Saturday, to great success. For the second year in a row, the outdoorsman group hosted the youth hunt event to encourage and promote engagement with the hobby for young hunters and mentors alike.
What started as a small gathering of hunters has grown into an event with about 40 youth hunters participating with the help of F3 and some local sponsors.
“We brought up the idea at a meeting with F3 to see what we could do together as a board to make it happen for the lciddos,” Matt Schnabel, who is part of the F3 board.
“We started it last year and it was a huge success.”
After seeing the results from last year’s event, the board decided to host once again. Taking advantage of the Wisconsin state youth turkey hunt over the weekend, in which hunters under the age of 16 can hunt prior to the regular turkey season, the event pairs up young hunters with experienced mentors who guide them through the process of a turkey hunt. After a morning of hunting, the group then gathered to eat, trade stories of their hunts and potentially win some prizes.
“The kids hada great day,” Schnabel said. “They get a chance to get together for a break in the afternoon, where they get a meal and can enter into some drawings and win some outdoor prizes. Just a fun day for the kids.”
“Our mission is to leave it better than we found it and to get involved with our local veterans, youth and disabled to keep them involved in the outdoors,” he added. “So this means a lot to the board to see the kids staying involved, getting outside, and getting away from the normal electronics lifestyle. It’s a good way to give back to the local community as well.”
Twelve youth hunters were successful on their Saturday morning hunt, including two that were out on a hunt for the first time. Even if those who did not come away with a turkey still came out of the weekend with some excellent tips and experience and a greater appreciation for the outdoors.
Schnabel noted that the weekend could not be possible without the contributions from the mentors and the local businesses who sponsored the event, including Complete Filtration Resources, Big Bear Down, Decker Sanitation Services and Smith Bros. Meats. The F3 board also showed their appreciation for Travis and Carissa Sobeck, who hosted the event.
With the success the group saw this year and last, F3 hopes to continue the tradition into the future.
“We can’t wait to see [this event] continue and grow and see where it takes us,” Schnabel said. “We’re going to do it next year. We can’t wait to see the kids continue to show up and to do other events coming up in the future, because we’ve got some cool stuff coming.”
More pictures can be found on page 25.
THE RESULTS OF A SUCCESSFUL DAY IN THE FIELD - Central Wisconsin Fur, Fin and Feather hosted a youth turkey hunt event over this past weekend, with about a dozen young hunters coming away with a turkey at the end of the day. The hunters got a chance to pose for pictures with the hunting mentors for a group photo, upper left, and for some individual pictures as well. In the upper right are Ridge Reynolds with mentor Jake Reynolds, in the lower left are Gabe Lemmer with mentor Jordan Christianson, in the lower middle are Ivan Meyer and mentor Doug Meyer and in the lower right are Meg Smith and mentor Matt Sch nabel. submitted photos
