Seeking New Youth Hunters For Free Deer Hunt

The Foundation for Outdoor Kids is providing an opportunity for kids between the ages of 8 to 16 to start off the new year in the outdoors by hosting their second free youth hunt on Saturday, Jan. 6 at Broughton Plantation in Newborn. The day-long event will teach kids necessary skills such as firearm safety, deer stand safety and range practice. During the afternoon, the parent-child teams will go on a guided hunt.

In partnership with the Georgia Wildlife Federation, the Safari Club International and the Quality Deer Management Association, the Foundation for Outdoor Kids is hosting up to 10 parent-child teams for the event. There are two requirements in order to be eligible for this hunt. The child must be accompanied by a parent/guardian and must have never been hunting before. If you would like to be considered for this opportunity, simply e-mail David Smith at [email protected] and tell him about yourself and your future hunter.

“We want to try to give kids who have never hunted an opportunity instead of giving a free hunt to somebody that is already going—to get more exposure to hunting,” said David Smith, founder of The Foundation for Outdoor Kids. “We can get kids interested in hunting, but if we don’t teach a parent or guardian how to take that kid hunting, then they’ll never go again,”

The Foundation for Outdoor Kids’ mission is to introduce children from all walks of life to the wonderment of the outdoors that can be experienced through hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits. They host a variety of educational programs at summer camps, parks and schools to help fulfill this mission.

On Oct. 14, 2017, the Foundation for Outdoor Kids successfully hosted their first free youth hunt at Broughton Plantation. The members of Safari Club International generously donated the land on the plantation to host the hunt.

The event took place on opening day of youth season, giving the seven parent-child pairs chosen a great opportunity to go on their first hunt as soon as possible. Throughout the day, a team of around 15 volunteer instructors taught important hunting skills to not only the children, but to the parents, as well.

“We want to teach the parents how to take their child hunting in hopes that after they do our event, they’ll continue to take them hunting in the future,” said David. “After these events, we want to keep up with the kids through the future to see if they continue to hunt, in order to measure the success of these events, to see if we are getting kids interested in the long term.”

During the evening of the Oct. 14 event, the parent-child pairs went on guided hunts, and three out of the seven kids were able to kill their first deer. Another kid had an opportunity to kill their first deer but missed. The kids who harvested deer were able to get their meat processed for them to take home to their families.

“It was just a really successful event,” said David.

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