Kids! Invite A Friend, Win Free Hunting Trip!

Providing hunting opportunities has always been a focus of GONetwork and its SEEDS program. The new SIDEKICKS effort will provide more great hunts, and it will also reach kids who have never had the chance to hunt.

It won’t be long now when crisp, cool mornings greet the camo-clad thousands who still enjoy the legacy and passion of Georgia hunting. It’s time to make plans and get ready for another season.

It’s also time to get more kids involved in the great tradition of hunting, and a growing line-up of free hunting trips is one way that GONetwork hopes to help.

Deer hunts in Morgan, Washington, and Wilkinson counties; a weekend turkey hunt in Chambers County, Ala. and another turkey hunt in Putnam County; a rabbit hunt with the Mid-Georgia Beagle Club… those hunts are already available for young hunters, and more hunts are being added to the list.

All a young hunter has to do to get to go on a guaranteed, free hunt is invite a friend who has never hunted, and then fill out the application on the opposite page.

SIDEKICKS is a new youth-hunting program designed to provide rewarding hunting experiences for young hunters, and also to reach kids who have never hunted. Many of the existing youth-hunting programs, including the SEEDS Growin’ Sportsmen Giveaway, serve a critical need in providing hunting opportunities. However, the kids winning those hunts are, in almost every case, already young hunters. SIDEKICKS recognizes a critical need to reach kids who have never had an opportunity to hunt. Most kids in this non-hunting group don’t have a parent or close relative who hunts who could introduce and mentor them. However, many kids in the non-hunting group have a friend who hunts — someone in their school, on their ball team, at church, or in the neighborhood.

SIDEKICKS gives incentive to young people who hunt to invite a non-hunting friend by offering a free hunting trip to both kids. SIDEKICKS is not a drawing. While we can’t guarantee the type of hunt or the exact timing of when it will take place, SIDEKICKS guarantees a hunt to both a young hunter and the new, aspiring hunter that he or she invites.

For more details and downloadable applications, visit the GONetwork website at www.georgiaoutdoornetwork.org.

Landowners Volunteers Needed
Only through the gracious invitations of landowners and hunting clubs can the SIDEKICKS Youth Hunting Program provide safe and rewarding hunting experiences for our kids and their friends. The program depends on volunteer landowners and hunting clubs who open their land to SIDEKICKS applicants. Any hunting opportunity is a blessing to these kids! We are not seeking only dream trips to the most exclusive hunting properties in the state. Any tract of land and hunts for any species are welcomed. Please consider signing up to be a SIDEKICKS Landowner Volunteer. If you would like to join in this important effort, call (800) 866-5516.