By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
Texas youth who are interested in learning how to hunt in a safe and educational environment may now apply for a weekend hunting experience hosted by the Texas Youth Hunting Program (TYHP).
The program teaches Texas youth how to hunt, camp, fish and enjoy the great outdoors under the leadership of a trained hunt master and volunteers.
“The most common hunt we offer in the Texas Youth Hunting Program is a white-tailed deer hunt, but that’s not the only hunt we offer,” TYHP Director Chris Mitchell said. “There are a lot of hog hunts. We do some dove hunts and waterfowl hunts. We incorporated fishing into a lot of these.”
The goal of TYHP is to grow the next generation of hunters.
“We do that by educating them,” Mitchell said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “If the parents are families with hunting, that’s great. If they’re not, that’s not a problem because we have lots of experienced volunteers that mentor the youth, but also kind-of incidentally, the parents, as well.”
While the goal is to educate unexperienced hunters, youth who may have some hunting experience may also apply.
“They may have hunted with someone in their family, which is how most people are introduced to hunting, but some people don’t have that in their family,” Mitchell said. “That’s where we come in. We do give priority to those hunters who have never hunted before or at least have never hunted with us.”
To apply, youth simply need to create a free account on TYHP.org.
“Once they create an account, and they log in, they will then have access to our calendar,” Mitchell said. “We already have over 30 hunts posted for the 2021-2022 season. We recommend that people check back regularly because new hunts are posted every day.”
Eligible youth will need to get a hunting license before the hunt. New year hunting and fishing licenses go on sale Aug. 15.
Mitchell said this year, youth will not necessarily need to have hunters’ education in advance.
“One of the challenges last year was difficulty in finding hunter education. So, what we did was host ‘hunter education hunts,’ where the youth completed the online portion and all they needed to do was the field course portion,” Mitchell said. “They did the field course portion on Friday of a TYHP hunt. They did all the normal requirements and the final exam, and then on Saturday morning, they went on their first hunt.”
Hunter education courses are required for all hunters in Texas born on or after Sept. 2, 1971.
For typical TYHP three-day hunts, where the youth and a parent arrive on Friday, hunt on Saturday and once on Sunday before leaving, cost is $150.
Scholarships are available.
Adults interested in volunteering for a hunt may apply at TYHP.org.
“TYHP is run by volunteers,” Mitchell said. “There’s a small staff that helps train volunteers and get them ready to run hunts, but 99.9 percent of the work is done by just a tremendous group of volunteers who donate their time.”
Volunteers opportunities include: assisting with hunt operations, cooking, firearm instruction and supervising ranges, conducting outdoor education, serving as guides and providing medical expertise.
“We have some new exciting ways for people to get the training necessary to become a volunteer,” Mitchell said. “For example, if you just want to guide and you want to maybe cook, you don’t necessarily want to become a hunt master, that’s fine. We have a monthly online volunteer training session that teaches you the policies and procedures of the Texas Youth Hunting Program.”
Volunteers who are interested in taking the next step and becoming a hunt master may do some coursework on their own and then attend a one-day training workshop or may attend a two-day event with no pre-requisite work.
Texas landowners who are interested in allowing youth to learn to hunt on their property are also needed, especially in East Texas.
“The average size of a TYHP hunt is about seven hunters. We ask landowners if they could host at least four kids, but the average size is about seven,” Mitchell said. “We do have a special category of hunts that we call super hunts. The original super hunt is in the Fredericksburg area. Last year, even during the COVID scare, we had 49 kids on that hunt.”
TYHP provides landowners with liability insurance in return for allowing hunters on the property.
“We have a great safety record because of our volunteers and the training they get,” Mitchell said.
To discuss allowing a TYHP hunt on your property, contact TYHP staff. Details are available at TYHP.org.