As a public-school educator, gun writer, and leader of a youth outdoor club, I've had the unique opportunity to speak to youth about hunting and shooting sports. Over the years, I've formed some valuable partnerships with businesses and families that have not only enriched the lives of many kids, but built a stronger community of hunters and shooters as well. One of my most meaningful partnerships has been with the Snow family.
Several years ago, Julia Snow and her son Daniel told me they wanted to sponsor some youth on an outdoor excursion in memory of Richard Snow, Julia’s late husband and Daniel’s father, who was my realtor and friend. Richard was a first-class guy and an amazing outdoorsman who loved not only being in nature, but he also loved learning the finer details of everything he did to include hunting and cooking game.
During our discussion, the Snow family explained that Richard often took his daughter, Clara, with him on his duck hunts. The family would be pleased if I found some young women who wanted to learn how to hunt. Thus, the annual Richard Snow Memorial Hunt was born.
Each year I teach a hunter education class and I invite students of the school where I teach to participate and learn about hunting and see if they would enjoy it. This year Lea, Olivya, Sydney, Leah, Faith, and Charley took hunter education and passed the course, prompting an invitation from me to go hunting for the first time. We were going to be hunting pheasants and chukar at Rose Hill Game Preserve in Culpeper, Virginia.
Rose Hill Game Preserve is one of the businesses we have partnered with for years to grow hunter numbers. Matt, his wife Kathy, and the crew at Rose Hill are patient and take the time to educate the young women about shooting form, tactics, and safety while in the field, as well as explaining how bird dogs work, the biology of the birds, and habitat needs. For this hunt and others in the past like it, Rose Hill Game Preserve has donated guides and kept the cost down for the young people to hunt … and the Snow family donates the cost of the hunt and tips for the guides as their way of honoring Richard and keeping his memory alive.
Because it was the girls’ first wingshooting experience, we had to get them up to speed. We held several practices on my hunting lease and Faith’s dad, a U.S. Navy small arms instructor, was an integral part of teaching the girls how to shoot properly. Big Dog Outfitters in King George County, Virginia donated shells and clays to our practices and the hunt. Big Dog has always supported the kids very generously in learning to hunt and shoot.
Our first practice was spent familiarizing the girls with shooting a firearm. We started with a .22 rifle and then graduated to a few cans on tree limbs with a 20-gauge shotgun to get the jitters out. Faith’s dad and I were able to tweak the girls’ stances, gun mounts, and forms enough that they were hitting clays and gaining confidence. By the end of the second and third practice, the girls were proudly showing off their skills and asking when we were going to shoot again.
We scheduled our hunt for the first day of spring break at Rose Hill Game Preserve. Julia and Daniel Snow met us at the preserve and spoke to the group about why they sponsored the costs of the girls to go on the hunt. They expressed how Richard loved the outdoors, and how he loved sharing his passion for hunting with others.
The girls listened intently with their accompanying parents, who were with them on the hunt. Matt, the preserve manager, held a safety brief and introduced the guides, then we headed down the hill to let the young women warm up on some clays before heading afield.
After the warm-up, each of the three guides set off with two of the young women and parents to the fields to hunt. Bird dogs were cut loose, and began zipping across the fields through the cover to locate birds … the hunt was on!
Over the course of several hours, shots rang out followed by exclamations of, “Way to go!”, “You got it!”, and “Nice shot!” The girls and their guides were having a great time.
As the girls completed their hunt, they unloaded guns, walked up the hill to the cleaning shed, and removed their blaze-orange vests to empty the birds out and start learning to clean them after getting a few photos as a group with their birds. Smiles were big and chatter was not in short supply.
The guides took the time to show the young women how to dress out the birds and get them prepped for a meal. They also shared some recipe ideas and told them how to make a fan with the tailfeathers. An impromptu biology lesson occurred when Kathy, the office manager and one of the guides, showed the girls multiple eggs forming in a pheasant.
The girls all had a question when it was over and that question was, “When do we get to go hunting again?” I would say the annual Richard Snow Memorial Hunt was a success! Welcome to the family of hunters, young ladies!
“I would like to start out by saying “Thank you” to the Snow family for providing the hunt! This hunt meant a lot to me because it was my first ever hunt and I put food on the table for my family. Overall, I am pretty sure I will be hunting again soon! --Lea
“I enjoyed being able to hunt with my friend and getting to eat pheasant for the first time.”-Leah
“I had a lot of fun and got some pheasants which my dad cooked on the grill, and they were really good!” Olivya
Many thanks for the Snow family for sponsoring youth to learn about hunting and shooting safely each year. We also want to thank Rose Hill Game Preserve in Culpeper County, Virginia for doing this hunt each year and setting aside the whole farm for the young people. Last, thanks to Big Dog Outfitters in King George County for always donating shells and clays for the kids.
