YHEC Program Coordinator Susan Hill has been hard at work this fall helping to start many local Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) events across the Midwest as part of the YHEC Mid-America Expansion project. In the coming weeks, we’ll have reports and photos from Susan on the various events she attend, starting with the Lake City YHEC event in Missouri. Susan attended and helped conduct a first-time YHEC event in Buckner, Missouri at the Lake City Range on August 26th and 27th. Here’s what Susan had to say about the event:

The Lake City Range is owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Mindy Gelhorn was our Event Coordinator and did an outstanding job along with her husband and crew of amazing volunteers.

Mindy had 60 participants in attendance from the Lee’s Summit Home Educators (LSHE) group, with 30 volunteers helping to run the event.

Steve Elliot, who manages the Missouri Conservation State Range provided several staff members to help set up the Hunter Safety Trail and run the event itself. Mark Miller, an Outdoor Skills Specialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, drove over 200 miles from Warsaw, Missouri to help with the event.

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Last week we told you about their feature on the 2011 International Youth Hunter Education Challenge, but November's digital edition of NRA InSights has much more to offer. Check out what Managing Editor Wendy LaFever had to say about this month's edition:

NRA InSights, NRA’s publication for Junior members, is pleased to announce that its November digital edition is online and ready to be enjoyed! NRA InSights covers all the latest in shooting news just for young shooters—competitions, youth-appropriate gun and gear reviews, tips, tactics and stories from readers. This month’s edition features the story of the young hunters who excelled at 2011’s International YHEC competition, an on-the-ground report of the National Junior Air Gun Championship by NRA Blog’s correspondent Kerrin Brinkman, a review of a great first .22 rifle and a very special digital-only exclusive on sporting collectibles. Sharing NRA InSights with your favorite junior shooter is as simple as clicking here!

At the 2011 NRA International Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) this summer, I wasn't the only one on the range with a camera and notepad. Wendy LaFever, Managing Editor of NRA InSights magazine and NRA Publications photographer Hannele Lahti made the trek to the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico to enjoy the fun and bring NRA's junior members an indepth look at YHEC. Wendy's article on the 2011 YHEC is featured in this month's issue of InSights, which is now available as a digital publication. Here's a look at the article, but be sure to check out the entire issue.

Read the entire article and all of this month's issue are available online at www.insights.org, so be sure to check it out (with your parents' permission, of course) or visit www.nrayhec.org to learn more about the NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge.

Lance Frazier from the Herald Journal has a good interview with the manager of the Cache Valley Public Shooting Range in Logan, Utah, who recently received a grant from Friends of NRA to construct a new range facility.

Logan shooting range manager talks about future of facility

The Cache Valley Public Shooting Range opened in 1991 on Logan’s west side. Known at the time as the Cache Valley Hunter Education Center, the range was small, but over the years it has grown to include shooting options for virtually any type of weapon, and a variety of shooting events for adults and youth.

More on NRA's grant to a Utah Shooting Range ...

Young shooters shine at national NRA contest

Young shooters from the Twin Tiers captured some of the top honors when teams from across the country gathered late last month for the annual NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC).

The national competition alternates between Mansfield and Raton, N.M., and teams from Chemung and Bradford counties were among the hundreds of youth who traveled to New Mexico the last week in July.

One of the best local performers was Ryan Haller, a member of the Troy-based Pennsylvania Junior Gold Team.

Haller, 15, captured first place in the junior shotgun competition, and ranked in 13th place in the standings at the national event. Haller was the overall junior champion at the state YHEC event in June.

Preparing for the national championship meant a lot of hard work, but it was worth it and also fun, Haller said.

"Mostly what our club did was a lot of practices. Three days a week we'd go down to the club and practice," Haller said. "June 18 was the state shoot in State College. All clubs from Pennsylvania shot against each other. I think that prepared a lot of kids.

"Shotgun is what I enjoy the most and that's one of my best," he said. "I was very confident because at the state, I took first overall for junior. That boosted my confidence big-time. It was a very, very fun experience."

Finish reading the article here.

Raton, New Mexico - Above are photos from the 2011 Youth Hunter Education Challenge Awards Ceremony at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton.

Raton, New Mexico - The results are in, and here are your Individual and Team Champions for the 2011 NRA International Youth Hunter Education Challenge. Hunter Efird of North Carolina earned top individual honors with a score of 1845 (his second YHEC Individual title) and North Carolina Forbush High School Senior Red earned the highest team score with a 8761. Our friends with Hunter Services tell us that a full listing of results will be available in a few weeks, but until then, here are your 2011 Champions:  

Senior Individual Overall Winners:

• 1st Place: Hunter Efird, NC Gray Stone - 1854
• 2nd Place: Colton Horn, NC Forbush High School - 1827
• 3rd Place: Dustin Harrold, Oregon Senior Team - 1817

Junior Individual Overall Winners:

• 1st Place: Reed Koozer, Oregon Junior Team - 1738
• 2nd Place: David Leavitt, Oregon Junior Team - 1728
• 3rd Place: Doyle Donaldson, Louisiana Bayou Bandits - 1719

Senior Team Overall Winners:

• 1st Place: NC Forbush High School Senior Red- 8761
• 2nd Place: NC Gray Stone - 8562
• 3rd Place: Oregon Senior Team - 8497

Junior Team Overall Winners:

• 1st Place: Oregon Junior Team- 8264
• 2nd Place: NC Park Ridge Sharpshooters - 7925
• 3rd Place: Louisiana Bayou Bandits - 7597

Check back with us tomorrow for a photo slideshow from the Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to our 2011 Champions, and we'll see you next year when YHEC returns to Mansfield, Pennsylvania! 

Bob Morris from the Raton Range featured the 2011 NRA International Youth Hunter Education Challenge in today's issue:

Many skills tested at YHEC 

In order to do well in the International Youth Hunter Education Challenge, you can’t be strong in just one area of marksmanship.

That’s how Quintin Dean, a member of the Bullseye 4-H Youth Sportsman Club team from Las Cruces, describes what makes the YHEC event fun and challenging. The 26th annual event started at the NRA Whittington Center Monday and was set to conclude Friday.

“Unlike other events and competitions, you have to be good at everything to be successful,” Dean said. He explained participants who tend to dominate one field, but aren’t as strong in others, aren’t always the most successful, whereas those who are solid in all areas tend to do better.

“It gives those who aren’t strong in one area an advantage,” Dean said. “You have to be well rounded.”

Fellow team member Zack Salopek agrees. “You can’t be strong in just one event,” he said.

Salopek added the YHEC event is “fun (and) it’s challenging. You get to see the best in the country from 17 states this year.” This year’s event — which alternates between the Whittington Center and a Pennsylvania site — drew nearly 300 competitors from 17 states.

Dean said another interesting aspect of the event is the chance to meet with participants from different states and learn about how people from other states experience the outdoors and shooting sports.

“Coming from New Mexico, I live in the desert,” he said. “Hunting in the desert is different from a boy hunting in Louisiana.”

Brandon Cunningham, a member of the Eddy County 4-H team, said he likes the challenge the events offers, saying muzzleloading is one of his favorite events. “That’s the hardest event with the smallest targets with open sights,” he said.

Fellow team member Jeremiah Fletcher also enjoys muzzleloading. “It’s kind of like the old-style firearms,” he said. “It’s like you get to shoot like they used to” in earlier times.

Fletcher said the main thing he enjoys is the chance to shoot different firearms. “I like going up for our practices, and then you get to compete with everyone from the state,” he said, referring to the state shoot at which the Eddy County team qualified for nationals. The state shoot was held at the Whittington Center in June.

Read the entire article here.  

Raton, New Mexico - Each year, everyone at the NRA International Youth Hunter Education is looking to win. But there's one event where bragging rights are on the line, and brute strength and power of will are what get you the win - the annual Tug of War.

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