Daily Archives: October 6, 2012

Geary County Fish and Game Association Youth Pheasant Hunt

The Geary County Fish and Game Association will conduct a youth pheasant hunt on Saturday, October 27. A limit of 20 youth ages 12-16 has been set for the hunt. All participants must pre-register and have in their possession their Hunter Education card. Registration forms may be picked up at the GCFGA headquarters at Sportsmen’s Acres, 3922 K-244 Spur Junction City, during open hours. Youth may register at[email protected]. For more information, contact Bill Ahlers at 785-238-8163.

Southeast Kansas Fishing Radio Show Lands AGLOW Honors

A Parsons, Kansas based radio show which airs throughout the summer on the local radio station KLKC was recently crowned “Best of Show” at the annual conference of the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW). The Conference, held late last month in Branson, Missouri annually recognizes excellence in outdoor media from across the Midwest including newspaper columns, radio shows, TV shows, magazines and a number of other categories.

The winning show, Catch of the Week, is written by Labette County Kansas Tourism Director Jim Zaleski and co-hosted by long time KLKC morning host Steve Lardy. In this year’s competition the show actually garnered two awards in the Radio-Fishing category taking third place for a show about rattling fishing baits and first place for the show titled, Legislative Fishing.

The first place show was then judged against all other first place entries and chosen as the Best of Show Award for all Written or Electronic Media. The award winning episode discussed Kansas legislation that would affect the 65-year and older exemption from fishing and hunting licenses, explaining the loss of federal excise tax funding for outdoor recreation as the state loses license counts due to the age exemption.

“This was a difficult topic to approach on a radio show,” Zaleski explained during the awards ceremony. “Our hope was that the show would be informative and educational without taking a side on what was a very controversial issue, we could not be happier with the recognition.”

Zaleski has been involved with the outdoor writers group since the early 90’s as a tourism representative and became an active journalist member five years ago after writing and producing a Pittsburg, Kansas based fishing radio show, Fishing the Four States with his tournament fishing partner Zac Udock.

Zaleski currently serves on the Board of Directors for AGLOW as Secretary of the Association. This is the second time Catch of the Week radio has been honored having received a first place in the fishing radio category two years ago.

A column under the same name also appears throughout the summer in the Parsons Sun Newspaper. “This award is humbling and comes as a very pleasant surprise. The media members of AGLOW are some of the best outdoor journalists in the world and it is an honor to be counted among them,” Zaleski said.

Youth Hunting Seasons help Pass It On

Special youth seasons offer great opportunities and lifetime memories

Three young hunters all took their first limits of ducks on Saturday, Sept. 29, and they saw hundreds of ducks. The hunting was great, and they nearly had the pool they were hunting at Jamestown Wildlife Area to themselves. After the evening hunt, they roasted hot dogs on an open fire then crawled into sleeping bags to dream of the morning hunt on Sunday. The three enthusiastic hunters were lucky enough to have an adult mentor take them hunting during the youth waterfowl season in the Low Plains Early Duck Zone.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Pass It On program offers a variety of special youth hunting seasons designed to encourage adult mentors to take kids hunting. The first youth season of the fall was the youth deer season, which was Sept. 8-16. Many young deer hunters also had great success. At the Anthony Youth Deer Hunt, sponsored by the community of Anthony, Harper County landowners and KDWPT, 11 of the 12 youngsters took at least one deer, hunting just an evening and a morning.

All special youth seasons are scheduled before the regular season to give youngsters first chance. Hunting pressure during the special seasons is light, and public lands provide outstanding opportunities for the youth season as mentors and youth often have areas to themselves. The early-fall seasons are usually marked with mild weather and allow adult hunters a chance to mentor youth without giving up their own hunting time.

The youth season for the Low Plains Late Duck Zone is Oct. 18-19, and the youth-only season for the Southeast Duck Zone is Nov. 3-4. During youth waterfowl seasons, youth 15 and younger may hunt with a supervising adult 18 or older. The adult may not hunt. Resident youth do not need licenses or stamps. Ducks and geese may be hunted, and daily bag limits are the same as during the regular duck and goose seasons.

The last youth season of the fall is the youth pheasant and quail season, Nov. 3-4. Youth 16 and younger may hunt with an adult 18 or older. The adult may not hunt. Young hunters are allowed daily bag limits half of that allowed during the regular season, 2 rooster pheasants and 4 quail.

All persons born on or after July 1, 1957 must complete an approved hunter education course before hunting in Kansas, except that youth 15 and younger may hunt without hunter education while under direct adult supervision.

Take advantage of these great opportunities to pass on our hunting heritage. You’ll likely give a young hunter experiences he or she will never forget, and you may spark a flame in them that will burn the rest of their lives. Those three young duck hunters mentioned earlier are still talking nonstop about their hunting experience. Never underestimate the power of passing it on.