Pheasants Forever Youth Hunt

Pheasants Forever Chapter 630 is happy to announce that our Seventh Annual 2008 Youth Hunt, held on October 11, 2008, was another huge success. This year we included drawings for 2 shotguns donated by our club. The luck winners for the Remington 870 20 gauge shot guns were Joe McLaughlin and Tommy Shields.

This event gets bigger and better each year due to help and donations from our partners, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Fox Township Sportsmen, Sheetz (Ridgway and St. Marys), Country Fair of St. Marys, Cenni Beverage of Ridgway, Johnsonburg Beverage, Wal-Mart of St. Marys, and Al and Bonnie Dempsy. Hilltop Seed Company of Ridgway and Shippenville, PA donated all of the chukar birds. For years, the Buhler family has kindly permitted the hunt on their property in Challenge, PA



Each of these 37 youth participated in the Fox Township safety day as well as the hunting experience, harvesting a total of 38 pheasants and 6 chukars; Troy Caskey, Shaun Chiesa, Tyler Cribbs, Quinn Cunningham, Justin Drabant, Dalton Fantechi, Chance Gallagher, Dillon Gallagher, Michell Gerber, Shane Gradl, Ben Herbstritt, Jacob Herbstritt, Cory Huff, Mikayla Jackson, Justin Krishart, Jarrod Lipsey, Colby McCandless, Derek McGrath, Joe McLaughlin, John Mosebarger, Tim MoseBarger, Jeffery Petrochi, Aaron Pistner, Jacob Pistner, Nicholas Quagliani, Scott Richard, Riley Robertson, Zachary Schatz,

Kyle Schneider, Tommy Shields, Mason Stark, George Urmann, Jacob Webster, Melissa Wehler, Thomas Yanak, Zeb Zilcosky, and Shelby Zomcik.

Since the beginning of this annual event, Pheasants Forever Chapter 630 has mentored 330 kids, boys and girls alike.

The biggest thanks of the day go to the dogs and dog handlers. They pulled through even though the heat of the day would have been great for swimming but far from ideal for bird hunting. Many are repeat dog handlers from the past that come back each year because this event is so much fun for everyone. Our special thanks to following dog handlers and their dogs; Jane Bryndel, John Billedeau, Paul Oldland, Rich Wilson, Wally Wilson, Anthony Santiso, Mike Wienzierl, Joe Wienzierl, Bill Zore, Chris Yeager, Jim Olzak, Mike Cesa, Leon Blashock, Randy Gradizzi, Dale Keppel, Lionel Lemery, Tim Rowan, Shawn and Kevin Lynch, Ed Gladysiewski, Ed Gigliotti, Jeff Eckert, Jeff Werner, Jared Kuleck, Jim Degler, Andy Sorg, Mike D’Amore, Robert Esche, Gary Dauber, Dan Schneider, and Brian Zilkosky. Years of breeding, training and experience teaches these dogs to love tracking and retrieving birds and we thank them all.

Isn’t it about time you got involved? Our next meeting is, Monday, November 10, 2007 at 7:00 PM at the Capital City fire hall on Front Street in Ridgway, PA. Visit our web site at http://www.northcentralpa.pheasantsforever.org/. For more information, call Jane at 814-772-4604.