Jeff Hajny

    Hunting season is nearing. That means it's time to dust off the hunting gear, get the dogs ready and prepare to head out into the wilderness.
     With hunting season, there will be many new, young hunters out there who may need a little instruction.
     On Oct. 14, Seward County Pheasants Forever, Butler County Whitetails Unlimited and the Oak Creek Sporting Club sponsored the yearly Youth Mentor Hunt at the Oak Creek Sporting Club outside of Brainard.
     The day-long event gave kids between the ages of 12 and 15 the opportunity to learn about different shooting techniques, dog training, habitat talk, archery, gun cleaning, bird cleaning and many other activities. The day ended with an afternoon hunt where the kids were given a shot at two birds with their mentor guiding them.
     Each youth who participated was assigned a mentor to help them through the activities.
     "We feel it's important for kids to get started hunting the right way and have someone show them how to get off to a good start," John Brady, Oak Creek Sporting Club Youth Coordinator, said.
     This year's hunt was attended by 23 kids from places ranging from Seward to David City to Lincoln.
     The event takes place once a year towards the beginning of hunting season.
     Brady said that last year, the club tried putting the hunt on in December, but it didn't work out.
     "We try to put it on around the first part of October, to give the kids a head start," Brady said.
     Overall, Brady was impressed with the turnout this year.
     "People did this for my daughter when she was hunting and now it's my opportunity to do this for the other kids," Brady said. "It turned out pretty good. Our goal was to increase the number of kids from last year. Last year, we had four, this year we had 23. We had a good variety of mentors and kids and the weather held out so it went really well."