Young guns hit the field
Imagine this: 9- and 10-year-olds legally shooting a firearm.
One need not imagine it, as it became reality this hunting season, thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission's new Mentored Youth Hunting Program.
Rachell Rottman, 9, of Chicora and 10-year-olds Jimmy Mulkern of Connoquenessing Township and Michael Snow of Butler took advantage of the program and each shot a buck during the first day of gun season Monday.
All three hunted with their fathers.
"It was exciting for him,"Linda Snow said of her son, Michael. "My husband worked with him on the safety end of things and it's good preparation for Michael as a hunter down the road.
"As a mother, I was skeptical of this at first. You hear about hunting accidents and all that. But overall, it was a good experience for him."
The mentoring program is designed to create expanded youth hunting opportunities while promoting safety afield. Any licensed hunter age 21 or older can serve as a mentor, but only to one youth hunter on a given outing.
Only one firearm can be used between them and the youth cannot carry the firearm into or out of the woods.
Snow shot an 8-point buck from a tree stand.
"I practiced shooting at a couple of targets for a while before going out," Snow said.
Mulkern said he was practicing for two years at a camp shooting range before venturing into the woods with his father.
They were sitting under a hemlock tree at the bottom of a valley when his father spotted a 5-point buck.
"It was about 75 yards away,"Mulkern said. "Dad steadied the gun for me and told me to shoot it. The first shot, it dropped like a rock. I got it through the heart and a lung."
Joy Mulkern, Jimmy's father, said she felt as comfortable with her 10-year-old son hunting for the first time as she would with her 14-year-old son."A teenager is more likely to talk back to an adult and maybe not be as careful,"she said. "Jimmy understood the importance of safety and he seriously prepared for this. That's what I like about the program."He shot the deer at 8 a.m. Monday. Now we're trying to convince him that deer kills don't usually come this easily."Randy Rottman, Rachell's father, has been hunting for 30 years. He held the gun as his daughter shot a 7-point buck from a tree stand."At first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go,"Rottman said. "I wasn't going to force her. She decided she wanted to give it a try."Rottman spotted the buck about 50 yards away. As he instructed Rachell to fire, he watched the buck slowly begin to walk away."I'm not used to watching a deer walk in the woods without shooting at it,"he admitted. "It was hard being patient, but I had to be."When the buck was 75 yards away, Rachell finally pulled the trigger — and shot it in the rear end."Its back legs folded out and it went down,"Rottman said. "I told her to shoot it again because I was afraid it was going to get away. She took another shot and missed. But the deer was dead when we got to it."Rachell admitted to being "a little nervous"about shooting the gun."But it was fun — really cool,"she said. "I was glad my dad was there. Now I want to do it again."Like other Pennsylvania hunters who got a deer, she'll have to wait until next year."This is a spectacular program,"Randy Rottman said. "Instead of losing potential hunters, we're introducing kids to the sport at a younger age."It's exciting for them and it's a good bonding experience for everybody involved."
