One of the greatest and most rewarding events hosted by Pheasants Forever chapters across the state and nation are youth pheasant hunts. Every fall, many chapters will be found in the fields with young hunters, sharing with them our hunting heritage. This past year, youth hunts turned a new page, when the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Pheasants Forever formed a partnership creating the Iowa Youth Mentor Hunt Program. This program does not begin and end with a trip into the uplands chasing roosters, but truly is a mentored-hunt training session.

Iowa is like many states across the US in the fact that our number of licensed hunters continues to spiral downward. While many factors contribute to this concerning trend, limited access and opportunity continually rise to the top of the list of culprits. Iowa PF and the DNR decided to take action and create a training program that actively targets youth with limited opportunity to go hunting and/or have limited access to hunting ground. Children who have reached the age of twelve years old, and have successfully completed a hunter's education course, are eligible for this program. Young hunters from single-parent families, non-hunting families or urban settings often experience the deterrents of little opportunity or access and are the basis of recruitment for these events.

The Iowa Youth Mentor Hunt Program strives to create an outdoor 'hunting' classroom for participating boys and girls. Through a series of stations, youth are paired with an adult mentor, who will guide them through the activities and share their outdoor experiences. Shotgun safety and shooting instruction, dog training and handling, crossing gates, fences and streams, landowner relations, pheasant hunting strategies and pheasant ecology are just a few of the topics that are covered in these training stations. Following these sessions, youth are escorted to a field with their mentor and one dog handler and participate in an actual pheasant hunt. A well structured, organized and safe event fosters a positive learning environment. Pairing the youth with a trained mentor for the day's activities opens up the opportunity to continue mentored hunts throughout the season.