Four teens from St. Louis have earned their first visit to the U.S. Youth Hunter Education Challenge competition.

Two older area kids are part of a five-member senior team that returned to the national championship after finishing second in 2000.

The older team is named Missouri Magnum. Franklin Clayton of Robertsville in Franklin County and Mick Muckerman of Chesterfield are the two area kids involved. The other three team members are from the Jefferson City area.

Sixteen-year-old Franklin said he's been hunting "pretty much my whole life." Of course, his opportunities are quite a bit better than most kids in and around a major city.

He said, "The hunting is pretty fair right in my back yard." He bagged his first deer with a bow and arrow when he was 11. "I was only about 100 yards from my house," he said.

The national Youth Hunter Education Challenge is more than just shooting. There is competition with light hunting rifles, shotguns, muzzle-loading rifles and bow and arrow. But, kids also compete in orienteering, wildlife identification and hunter responsibility.

Orienteering involves finding your way in the woods with only a compass and a topographical map.

The emphasis during the whole hunter challege is on being responsible in the outdoors.

Franklin said he met other members of the Missouri Magnum team during state youth hunting competitions. "We didn't have a team at first. But, we started hanging around together and formed the team," he said.

This will be Franklin's third visit to the nationals.

Four members of the junior team from the Jay Hentges Range and Training Center qualified for nationals. They are Danielle Metzger, Cameron Hall, James Vest and John Marshall. The Hentges range is operated by the Missouri Conservation Department. The range is located at Exit 269 (Antire Road) on I-44 west of I-270.

Young Saint Louis.com featured a story about the early training of the Hentges junior team in its January, 2001, edition. To get more details about the Youth Hunter Challenge program from that earlier article, just click here.

The junior kids were entered as a five-member team in the state finals in June at Jefferson City. But, only four qualified for the nationals so they can't compete as a team.

The trip to the nationals is quite an experience. The U.S. competition runs from July 30 through Aug. 4 at the Winnington Center near Raton, N.M. That's the huge National Rifle Assn. facility in the northeast corner of the state, just south of Colorado.

Danielle and Cameron are both 14 and students at Parkway South High School.

Danielle said the shooting competitions at nationals are set up different from the state meet. At the state tournament, shooters fire from set positions. She said, "in the nationals, the targets are set up as if you were walking on a regular hunt."

She said she's very excited about her first chance at the nationals.

Cameron said he scored best during the state competition on the hunter safety trail. There were 15 stations but these didn't involve targets and shooting.

One test checked to see if the kids showed proper gun safety precautions when crossing a fence. Another tested their knowledge of first aid in case of an hunting accident.

Fourteen-year-old James Vest will be a 9th grader at the College School in Webster Groves. He said he likes bow and arrow hunting the best.

Like the others, he started hunting early, at age 11. "Normally, I hunt water fowl with a shotgun. But, this year, I'm going to try deer hunting with a bow and arrow," he said.

Cameron said one of his first hunting experiences was during a hunter education class. "I was introduced to trap shooting when I came to the range," he said.

He said his favorite hunting is for quail. He said he usually hunts in the Bootheel area of southeast Missouri.

Danielle said she was 11 when "I went duck hunting with my dad." She said she didn't bag any birds that first time but did better in later trips. She said she gets to hunt quite often because her family has had permission for many years to hunt on land near Rolla.