The Blair Youth Shooting Sports (BYSS) range hosted a number of events during the fall months from trap leagues to meat shoots.
The overall list of activities, though, included the Washington County Pheasants Forever 19th Annual Mentored Youth Hunt on Oct. 14 and multiple shoots to determine a high school conference championship — which the Blair team won.
16 participate in Youth Hunt
Sixteen young hunters, ages 12-15, attended the 19th Annual Mentored Youth Pheasant Hunt in mid-October.
Forty-eight volunteers helped make the event possible, too, acting as mentors, shooting coaches and filling other valuable roles during the event. Mentors teamed with youth participants one-on-one throughout the day, sharing their hunting experiences and reinforcing the importance of safety through several activities, according to a hunt report sent to Enterprise Media Group by Sharon Rion.
The kids learned through their efforts in a dog demonstration, a Hunter Safety refresher, blue-rock shooting, a DryFire shooting simulation, five-stand shooting, a Nebraska hunting law session with Game and Parks conservation officer Kelbi Abke, shotgun cleaning and downed-bird locating.
Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist Ashley Oblander was new to the annual event as well, focusing on conservation and habitat aspects.
As with each year, young hunters participated in a guided pheasant hunt on land near the shooting sports range, too.
“The youth, guided by their mentors, experienced a very realistic field hunting experience using bird dogs controlled by a dog handler,” the aforementioned report stated. “This year all youth participants were able to take a shot at a Ringneck pheasant, and many were successful.”
Blair team wins conference title
A Blair trapshooting team of 10 recently won its high school league's conference title at the BYSS range.
Gavin Baker, Tregan Baker, Jaydyn Backman, Evie Hearn, Jackson Kempcke, Alyssa Lode, Greyson Nichols, Revlyn Rasmussen, Jake Vanek and Hayden White joined forces to top the 1A-Conference 1 standings ahead of Utah's South Summit High School. Teams from Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington and Alabama also participated, falling short of Blair's squad on the range.
Each team shot at home, comparing scores later to decide finishes. When all was said and done, Rasmussen, Baker and Backman claimed top honors individually, too.
Rasmussen earned first as the season average female leader overall, while Backman was second in the conference. Baker was second in the boys' average standings as well.
Team members will receive their conference awards in the coming weeks.
