Kids training for Youth Hunter competition

Cody Wibbenmeyer

Thirteen-year-old Cody Wibbenmeyer's first hunting trip was when he was 3. His dad took him squirrel hunting.

This year, the 7th grader at Francis Howell Middle School is practicing for a state test of his hunting and outdoor skills. The Missouri Youth Hunter Education Challenge competition will be held June 23-25 near Jefferson City.

Cody will be on one of the junior teams from the Busch Wildlife Area in St. Charles County. Kids 11-to-14 make up the junior teams. Busch Wildlife also expects to enter senior teams with kids 15-to-19.

The state YHEC meet tests kids in a variety of hunting and other outdoor skills.

The kids shoot both rifles and muzzle-loading guns at life-size targets in simulated hunting conditions.There is also shotgun firing in simulated bird-hunting conditions.

The kids have an archery challenge, firing arrows at life-size 3D targets.

In addition to the hunting tests, kids compete in orienteering, wildlife identification and on a safety trail. There's also a hunter responsibility exam covering safety, ethics, conservation and advanced hunter knowledge.

(If you'd like to know more about YHEC, visit www.moyhec.com.)

The Busch Wildlife kids get together every two weeks to practice for the state meet.

One weekend last month, Cody and a number of other kids practiced at the Black Hawk Hunting Club north of St. Peters. That club gave the kids practice in shooting clay pigeons that were released unexpectedly as they walked on a field trail.

Farmer Greg Palmer has set aside nearly 100 acres of his 600-acre farm as a private hunting club area. The hunting area includes both stationary skeet-hunting stations as well as wandering trails for field-experience shooting.

Palmer granted the YHEC kids access for their practices for the state competition.

Robert Hester III

Eleven-year-old Robert Hester III and his dad made the long trip from the city of St. Louis for the weekend practice session. He's only been hunting for a year.

The 5th grader at Nance Elementary School had his first hunting experience during a turkey hunt. However, he didn't bag a bird.

For last month's YHEC practice he brought along his 20-guage shotgun.

Bryan Stokes

Most of the other kids owned more than one gun. For instance, Cody has a 12-guage shotgun along with two smaller-caliber rifles.

Thirteen-year-old Bryan Stokes of St. Peters owns two 20-guage guns, two .22-caliber rifles along with .410-guage and .248-caliber guns.

Bryan, a 7th grader at Saeger Middle School, is one of the kids with past state YHEC competition. Last year, he was on a team that finished 3rd in the junior division.

His first hunting experience was when he was 4. He went dove hunting in Illinois with his father, John. His dad is one of the YHEC team coaches.

Houston Barber

Fourteen-year-old Houston Barber of University City also had his first hunting experience on an Illinois dove-hunt. He hunted on land near Beardstown, Ill., owned by a friend of his uncle.

His best hunting experience also involved dove hunting. That was last summer when he killed his limit of 12 during a hunt on the Missouri Department of Conservation's new Columbia Bottoms area.

Sam Christy

Eleven-year-old Sam Christy of rural Troy, Mo., has been hunting for the last four years. "We moved to the country and I hunt on a neighbor's land," the 6th grader said.

He said his best hunting trip so far was in 2004 when he bagged his first male deer. "It was a 7-point buck. It had an odd number of points because one of his antlers was broken," he said.

When asked about where they'd like to go for an unusual hunting experience, most were thinking long distances. Some were looking overseas.

Houston Barber wanted to go to Alaska. "I've never been north and they have lots of moose there," he said.

Bryan Stokes was thinking about a safari in Africa.

Cody Wibbenmeyer said he'd like to go to Argentina. "They've got lots of ducks and doves there. I watch them on TV all the time," he said.

Robert Hester said he'd like to go to Columbia, in South America. "We studied in school the different animals they have in Columbia. There are lots of them there," he said.