By Stan Rauch, President of Pope & Young Club

The friendly voice on the other end of the phone said she had seen the article in our local Bitterroot Valley Montana newspaper about mentoring kids in bowhunting. “He’s only 12 and all he can talk about is bowhunting. I don’t know where he picked this up. Can you help?” , she exclaimed. We talked some more and in the course of the conversation I found that the family lived only three miles from me. One thing led to another and I eagerly expressed my desire to get together with young Nate Pelkey for the purpose of mentoring him in this grand endeavor of hunting with the bow and arrow. Little did I know then of the tremendously satisfying experience that lay ahead for both of us.

According to the results of a 2002 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey, Montana has the largest percentage of the population that hunts of any state in the country – 24 percent. Yet our Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks note4s that as many as one third of all the youngsters who successfully complete the regular hunter education and bowhunter education courses will never get to go hunting. Even families with a hunting background often aren’t able to get their kids out in the field frequently enough to provide them with a learning experience that will catch hold and carry into the future. It seems that these days there is so much required just to provide for the welfare of the family that hunting can and often does take a back seat. And, if a young person is not introduced to hunting in their pre-teen or teenage years, the likelihood of them taking it up later in life is reduced substantially. We hear about kids being occupied with so many different things that they just don’t have time to get into hunting but the fact remains that a great many of them simply need someone to take them out and give them the opportunity to develop as hunters.

Hence the roll of the mentor. We are all aware that the future of bowhunting, and all hunting, lies in the youth of today. Teaching a young person to bow hunt requires the investment of a significant amount of time and energy, but the rewards are many. There are so many factors that enter into this highly complex, yet very basic way of hunting, that makes this endeavor so special to so many of us. Consequently, there is much to pass along to a youngster even before he or she goes afield for the first time. Being able to accurately shoot a bow and arrow, and be prepared to do it in a hunting situation, is certainly one of the basics. But the entire process is satisfying and fun for student and teacher alike.

The 1998 season was the first that Nate hunted and as would be expected, there was an exceptionally large learning curve. The wily whitetails were valuable members of the teaching team as they made it apparent that this bowhunting thing could be downright frustrating, but it was a good kind of frustration. Nate’s eagerness to learn and his comprehension were truly remarkable and almost from the beginning he was directly involved with the strategy aspects of bowhunting. I remember saying to myself “Whoa, I’ve got a live one here!” All he needed was the opportunity to bring his latent hunting instincts to the forefront. There are lots of similar type kids out there who simply need to be given the chance to hunt. That first season ended with a vow of “wait till next year”, and it was obvious that Nate was hooked. Then he really drove his folks crazy talking about bowhunting, but they were and always have been very supportive.

As a fast forward, Nate is now 18 and has taken two dozen whitetails, a mule deer, bighorn ewe, and a 39 inch bull moose with his bow. He is a bowhunter and a darned good one. Lots of excitement and satisfaction for both of us are wrapped up in those many days afield, and we anticipate many more hunts together in the future. Always to be remembered will be his first buck, a 3X3 that he shot from a ground blind at 5 yards and the bull moose that he took when he was 17 stalking in to 22 yards to make the shot with his recurve bow.

Nate was the recipient of the Montana Bowhunters Association’s 2002 Paul Schafer Award , which is given to a young person who demonstrates responsibility, ethics and accomplishment as a bowhunter. Even at his young age it is apparent that he is destined to be a future bowhunting leader.

In 2004 Nate’s younger brother Seth turned 12 and to say that he was eager to bow hunt would be an understatement. So a new mentor-student relationship began as we hunted our local whitetails with great enthusiasm. On one occasion early in the season he had a nice 5X5 buck in to about 4 yards of his tree stand but it was head on to him so did not provide the angle required for good arrow placement. He waited for the buck to turn but it just came straight ahead and walked on out. But this heart-pounding kind of experience is precisely what makes bowhunting so exciting. At the time of that close encounter he said that he knew then that he was committed to being a bowhunter.

Later in the season, Seth’s opportunity to take his first deer arrived when a spike whitetail came down a trail to his tree stand and stopped at 12 yards broadside. He made a perfect double lung shot and the buck dashed off. As we followed it up together and found it quite dead, it was a time of great happiness and immense satisfaction. Thus another young person’s bowhunting career was officially launched with the taking of his first big game animal. Seth will no doubt be out there with bow in hand for many years to come and we are already looking forward to hunting together this coming fall.

Nate and Seth could have easily slipped through the crack and not become hunters at all. Only by a quirk of fate where his mother responded to the newspaper article did they become involved in bowhunting. There are lots of kids like them out there who have the interest but they just need someone to show them the way.

Give some serious consideration to mentoring a young person. Even a minimal amount of time invested may provide the spark needed for a particular youngster to become a dedicated hunter.