The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, in cooperation with Smoky Hill Pheasants Forever No. 424, will host the annual youth upland hunt in memory of a former volunteers Darrell Brown, La Vern Steiben, LeRoy Culbreath and Sid Carlile on Oct. 10.

The event will be held at Hays City Sportsman Club, just off Interstate 70 at Exit 157.

The hunt is for youth between the ages of 12 and 18 years of age. Each youth hunter will have the opportunity to harvest at least 4 birds while hunting over some fantastic pointing dogs.

The participants do not only hunt, but are mentored on a variety of other subjects. They receive instructions on how to hunt with pointing dogs, field safety, how hunting dogs are trained, gun handling, how to clean and prepare the birds they harvested, and what type of habitat to look for when hunting upland birds. The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is also incorporated into the event.

Special hunts like this one are part of the Kansas Hunter Recruitment and Retention Program called “PASS IT ON.” This program addresses the need to recruit new hunters and retain existing hunters in order to ensure the future of hunting.

For more information or to register, contact Shayne Wilson at (785) 628-1415 8am-5pm. Monday thru Friday. There is no charge for the hunt.