4-H Shooting Sports Club Pheasant Hunt

by Deb Padden, Allegany County 4-H Shooting Sports Program

            Five members of the Allegany County 4-H Shooting Sports Program took advantage of the first day of the New York State pheasant season 2005, by attending the 10th annual Youth Pheasant Hunt in Endicott, NY.  The young hunters were accompanied by Dr. Mel Chambliss, DVM, who is one of the leaders of the Allegany County 4-H program, a NYS DEC Hunter Safety Instructor and father of two of the club members, Kameron and Kalem Chambliss.
            Dr. Chambliss describes the event -  “The day was damp and a little misty when we arrived at the Christmas tree farm of Gene and Richard Molyneaux.  We pulled in to the Endicott, NY farm at 8 am. Larry Shutts from the Southern Tier Chapter of Pheasants Forever got the group settled in and Mike Zagata, a CANY(Conservation Alliance for New  York) board member, welcomed everyone, discussed safety and the opportunity these kids were getting.  Larry Shutts introduced the dog handlers and broke the guys up into groups. Jamie Stewart, Andy Bentley, and Matt Eisenhardt were grouped together with Mr. Bob Patterson and his dogs and a guide. Kameron and Kalem were grouped together Mr. Jim McNeil and his chocolate lab, Scout. Prior to the hunters going to their respective hunting areas, the guides released the birds and the dog handlers explained the rules of hunting over their hunting dogs.
            I could only follow one group of our guys, so I chose to go with Kameron and Kalem. They got in position on the first field, began to move through and got about a third of the way through and up flushed a cock pheasant on Kalem’s side.  He shot once and missed the first bird of the day. They went to the end of that field and then turned around and came back through picking up a hen, which Kameron got. It seemed like Kalem was the one getting all the shots, finally, Kameron got one long shot at the last cock pheasant the dog flushed, but no luck. Kalem shot 5 times and ended up making a great shot on a hen.  My daughter, Mekalea and I had a chance to see the shot from our vantage point. We also saw the bird Kameron missed, watched him go into the hedge row and get flushed again, by Scout, out of gun range and fly in front of us into a pine tree row. What a beautiful sight!
            The boys were plenty wet by 11:30 am when we wrapped up their hunt. We went back to the Cabin to await the others. The other hunters, Jamie, Andy and Matthew, were all smiles when they returned.   I don't know how many opportunities they had to get shots, but I do know they each got a bird and were genuinely excited to have had the experience of hunting pheasants and working with dogs. We took pictures of the whole crew. Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, cider and pop, a great ending for a great morning of hunting, capped off the whole event. 
            Man, I am jealous of our kids!  I wanted to be out there in the field with them getting my chance to shoot at a pheasant.”
            The pheasant hunt was a wonderful opportunity for those club members interested in hunting. Many thanks go to the Pheasants Forever for making this event possible. The Allegany County 4-H Shooting Sports Program allows club members to choose the type of shooting sport each is interested in – archery, rifle target shooting, shotguns and clay target shooting and muzzleloading.  Youth interested in joining the program should contact Deb Padden, Program Coordinator at (607) 478-8773 or Contact Allegany County Cooperative Extension at (585) 268-7644.