Kids get chance to hunt pheasants and learn about nature

BUCYRUS - Children have been invited to learn about the outdoors this weekend during the 20th annual Family Field Day at Elkhorn Lake Hunt Club.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday and admission is $5 a person. Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the day.

“We have at least 10 venues this year,” said Ruth Malpas, who manages the facility for her family. “We might even have more.”

Elkhorn was formed in 1962 for sportsmen interested mostly in hunting game birds, including pheasants, quail, Hungarian Partridges and Chukar Partridges. Malpas said more than 20,000 birds are harvested from the preserve each year.

For children who have passed their hunters' safety course, purchased a hunting license, are at least 12 years old and are wearing blaze-orange apparel, one of Saturday's activities can be a guided pheasant hunt at the club. The bag limit for the event is two birds per child.

“It is by draw,” Malpas said of the hunts. “We only have so many spots, but we’ve never had to turn anyone away before.”

Malpas said families are welcome to bring their own shotguns for the hunt, or Elkhorn Lake can provide one for the afternoon. The club does have a limited supply of youth-sized guns.

“If they could let us know ahead of time what they will be shooting, that would be great,” Malpas said.

Stations available for children to visit include fly fishing, boating safety, BB gun shooting and much more.

"The pond ecology is really neat," Malpas said. "They have these little nets and they pull out the slime to look for bugs and larvae. They're checking the health of the pond."

The Christian Bow Hunters Association will be teaching children how to properly shoot a bow-and-arrow.

"They have been with us all 20 years," Malpas said. "They have been faithful."

The National Wild Turkey Federation will teach children about their Jakes program, and other aspects of turkey hunting.

"I believe they're going to work on calls, safety in the field and maybe some decoys," Malpas said.

There also will be a few law-enforcement personnel in attendance throughout the day.

"We have at least two wildlife officers who are coming out that day," Malpas said. "The kids and the parents get to meet them."

Everyone who attends gets to eat a soup meal for lunch that they have possibly never before tried.

"We will be doing some sort of a game meat meal for lunch," Malpas said. I'm still looking for some game meat donations, since it's not allowed to be sold. If it's something they can't bring, we can go get it."

There will also be a door-prize drawing. Prizes include a compound bow, backpacks and more.

Malpas wanted to be sure to thank all of the volunteers who have helped the club host the event for the past two decades.

"We can't do it alone," Malpas said. "It's all volunteers."

Anyone with questions can call 419-562-6131.

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419-564-3508

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