Cater Lake Wildlife Federation awards night a big success

It was also a treat for the kids to meet Mayhew as well.

“She’s a very down-to-earth person. Any kid who came up to her, she took lots of time to talk to them,” Starling said. “After the main program was over, she took the time to sign autographs.”

The club had fewer entries for awards for big game this year.

Starling attributes the decline in entries due to a winter with heavy snowfall, which hampered hunters trying to access as many hunting spots. Bird entries were down significantly. The big game awards were all handed out, but there were no significant heads that were harvested last year by the CLWF club.

However, fishing awards saw a better turnout of entries, and were all snatched up by the budding anglers.

Awards were given to people in all age categories, from youth to adults.

Starling said he would like to grow the CLWF club, to bring in more members.

“We’re trying to expand,” he said.

Saskatchewan Goose Company outfitters, based east of Glaslyn, donated the stay at the outfitters’ lodge for Mayhew during her visit here.

A highlight of the night, the outfitters company announced it will offer a special guided hunt for young CLWF hunting enthusiasts.

Saskatchewan Goose Company owner Tyler Mann told battlefordsNOW the outfitters group decided to donate one of its guided hunts for youth to take part in.

“We’re going to take all the youth out,” he said. “It’s something we wanted to do, to give back to the community.”

There will be no cost to the youth to attend.

“The youth are our next generation of waterfowl hunters,” Mann said. “There are not enough youth involved with waterfowl hunting anymore. So, if we don’t have people to take up the traditions of waterfowl hunting, [the sport will be lost]. In Saskatchewan, we’re lucky enough here, we’re in an awesome bountiful place for waterfowl or hunting in general… Hopefully, we get some kids involved that want to continue to waterfowl hunt.”

Saskatchewan Goose Company will provide the guided hunt with support from a number of sponsors.

Final Approach Decoys has a web series on YouTube called “The Last Pass,” focusing on hunting. So, this company will film the whole event for its web series, and also provide decoys.

Other sponsors include Weatherby Firearms that will donate the guns for the hunt, and Federal Premium Ammunition that will provide all the ammunition.

“We’re going to take the kids out for a guided hunt, just like we do for our Americans [participants],” Mann said.

There was a great response to the offer when it was announced at the awards banquet.

“They seemed to be pretty excited,” Mann said.

The kids with hunting licences taking part in the event will attend a morning, half-day guided waterfowl hunt with Saskatchewan Goose Company outfitters in October in the Glaslyn area. Some parents will also attend to assist.

Participating youth will need to be ages 12 to 18.

“Then, we’re going to come back here and show them how to clean the birds, and how to process them properly,” Mann said. “We’re going to have a big barbecue for everybody that’s around. And, if there is enough interest, we’ll do an afternoon hunt as well.”

Leading up to the event, the youth will participate in a safety program and a practice session in August to get prepared.

“We’ll do a trial [run] to get the kids to be safe, know what we expect out of them, and how to shoot properly,” Mann said. “Then, in October we’ll do the real hunt.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

Cater Lake Wildlife Federation awards night a big success

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