Oklahoma Hunting Program Teaches Teens Outdoor Skills

Rick Wells, News On 6

UNDATED -- If you're a hunter, we're pretty sure you remember your first hunting trip. There's a group of Oklahoma's own creating that first hunting memory for new young hunters ages 12 to 17.

Joshua and Caleb Williams are at the Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow, thinking about their next hunting trip. Maybe bow hunting this time.

Last month, they went deer hunting for the first time with the people from the Oklahoma Youth Hunting Program and they each got a deer.

Rick Wells, News On 6: "Whose was the biggest?"

Joshua Williams: "Mine, of course."

Caleb Williams: "Joshua is young and his eyes deceive him, mine was obviously bigger."

Joshua and Caleb's mother Bethany said she wanted her boys to learn to hunt but she doesn't hunt herself.

"I'm a single mom," she said. "The opportunity never seems to present itself until now."

She went along and said the boys were safe, supervised and patiently instructed. The Oklahoma Youth Hunting and Shooting Program is patterned after a similar program in Texas. It's designed for boys and girls 12 to 17 years old from non-hunting homes.

"They'd like to get out the door, but don't know where to begin," Andy Keim:"

Andy Keim started the program to solve that problem. Fred Raschen is in involved too. He has a ranch in South Africa and raffles hunting trips to his ranch to help finance OK Youth Hunting.

"Most hunters down deep would like to make one trip to Africa," Raschen said.

Maybe someday, but these boys are glad for their first hunting trip in Oklahoma.

Joshua Williams: "I got venison from my deer and put it on my pizza."

Rick Wells, News On 6: "Was it good?"

Joshua Williams: "Yes"

Oklahoma Youth Hunting needs volunteers of all kinds. For more information, check out Oklahomayouthhunting.org