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61 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 19, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 2, 2004 Youth hunters can reserve spaces for annual Youth Game-bird and Waterfowl Hunt By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune WHITE CITY — Youth hunters interested in a special pheasant hunt at the Denman Wildlife Area can begin reserving space for the Sept. 25-26 outing. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began taking reservations Wednesday for the annual Youth Game-bird and Waterfowl Hunt at the wildlife area in White City. For pre-hunt reservations, call (541)826-8774. The juvenile hunters will have 500 pheasants planted in the fields just for them to stalk for this free hunt, and only kids 17 and younger can hunt that day. The birds were purchased from an Idaho pheasant farm by ODFW and the Oregon Hunters Association, which is one of several co-sponsors of the event. The ODFW and OHA used to supply 400 birds for the two-day event, but they stepped it up with 100 more birds last year and saw excellent results. Advertisement Denman manager Vince Oredson says 140 kids participating in the pheasant hunt shot 147 birds; that’s far better than the adult fee-pheasant program’s overall success rate of 45 percent. In 2002, 150 kids shot 105 birds, Oredson says. The rest of the hunt remains similar to last year. On both days, walk-up registration for open spaces not filled through the pre-registration process begins at 6:30 a.m., with shooting hours running from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For safety, a maximum of 85 hunters are allowed in the field at any given time. As those hunters leave the field, stand-by hunters will be allowed to participate as long as the 85-hunter maximum is kept. Denman has hosted the youth hunt accident-free since its inception in 1990. That has not been the case at other wildlife areas, where teen-age hunters showed a little too much exuberance and racked up several gunshot injuries during two bad seasons in the late 1990s. The ODFW since has enacted extra safety rules for the youth hunt. Adults can supervise just one hunter at a time in the field, and they both must read and sign a safety-review card and participate in a safety orientation. Participants must wear blaze-orange vests, and blaze-orange hats are required this year. Only non-toxic shot is allowed on the wildlife area. Regardless of whether visitors participate in the pheasant hunt, kids can join the shotgun skills clinic that runs both days. Birds that survive the youth hunt often stay on the wildlife area, which hosts a fee-based pheasant season Oct. 1-16. Other co-sponsors include United Hunters and Sportsmen Inc. and several members of local hunter-education courses, Oredson says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities