Shooting Sports/Wildlife Rendezvous Saturday

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, June 19, 2008

Any time a 4-H member has a third-place state ranking to his or her credit, future participation is even more appealing. Such is the case for Devon Hooper, 14, a member of Dane Prairie 4-H, who will participate in archery this weekend during the 4-H Shooting Sports/Wildlife Rendezvous near Dalton.

Devon, who lives with his family on a hobby farm near Wall Lake, took third in the state archery 4-H intermediate division competition held in September 2007 in the Twin Cities.

“Preserve the tradition” is the theme for this weekend during the 4-H rendezvous set from 9:15 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Grant County Shooters Association Shooting Range and Museum of Natural History. Youth ages 10 to 18 will attend.

Extension Educator Tammy Nordick said it’s not a competition this weekend, but simply a fun shoot.

“I really like to be part of 4-H,” Hooper said Tuesday afternoon while practicing archery near his home north of Wall Lake. “This is a nice day to practice and it should be fun this weekend.”

His father, Mick, is a 4-H archery instructor.

“We got into this (archery) as a father-son activity about four years ago,” Mick said. “It had been many years since I took part in archery. It’s been fun getting back into archery and also helping the 4-H kids as an archery instructor.”

Devon, in addition to archery as a 4-H activity, also has enjoyed showing goats and rabbits during previous years at the West Otter Tail County Fair. This year he and his sister, Emily, 16, will each show a llama at the county fair. Emily also has shown goats and rabbits in prior years.

Their mother, Teresa, also is involved with 4-H. She has served as a volunteer with 4-H at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul.

Saturday’s event provide a unique opportunity for Devon Hooper and other youth to try shooting sports from archery to shotgun to black powder and more. 4-H organizers are planning wildlife seminars, tomahawk throwing, campfires, fur traders and more.

Orientation will be from 9:15 to 9:30 a.m. at the GCSA Shooting Range. Youth must be 12 and had firearms safety to participate in 3-D Archery, .22 rifle, black powder and shotgun. Youth 10 years and up who do not have firearms safety training can shoot beginning archery and air rifle.

Session I from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. includes air rifle, beginning archery, .22 rifle (range), and 3-D archery (museum). There will be a 15-minute break and travel, if necessary, between the range and museum.

Session II will run from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. and include shotgun (range), building hen houses (museum) and black powder (museum).

Everything in the afternoon is at the museum location. Lunch and museum tours will be divided into two groups and be rotated. Group one will be from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and group two will be from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m.

Session III from 1:15 to 2 p.m. will include orienteering/compass/GPS and turkeys and turkey hunting with Mike and Ranae Edwards.

Session IV is from 2:10 to 3:10 p.m. and includes fur traders with Don Felton and Go Wild with MaryAnn Anderson.

Session V goes from 3:15 to 3:55 p.m. Included are rendezvous tents, fur traders and historical re-enactment.