Dove hunt - Where it all begins

By all accounts, last year's inaugural Clint Curry Junior Dove Hunt was a booming success.

But organizers are expecting this year's version to be even better.

The hunt drew 52 hunters who clocked in at 13 years old and younger, and 55 birds were downed in the free event put on to promote hunter safety and the joys of the sport to today's youth. Almost 100 parents also came out and, like last year, each child will need to be accompanied by an adult with a hunting license.

This year's version, however, will be at a slightly different location on the farmland that Curry donated for the festivities.

"All the kids get a door prize and raffle at the end," said Sprague Sports' George Reiners, who has helped organize the hunt the past two years. "We provide the eye protection and hearing protection and a blaze orange safety vest."

Reiners is hoping to fill up all 54 shooting stations set up at the new spot, which is a little larger than the area hunted last year. Before the hunt begins, the kids will get a good safety briefing by Arizona Game and Fish officer Gary Hovatter.

"Most of the kids last year were around 10 or 12," Reiners said. "There were some younger ones, but I think they were out there mostly for the hot dogs and sodas and to just get a little experience watching other folks."

Hovatter said the goal of the junior hunt is to provide opportunities that are fading away as development in this part of Arizona continues to limit hunter access opportunities. Agricultural tendencies these days that devote thousands of acres to crops that don't necessarily provide the ideal draw for dove populations also have limited available hunting spots, according to Hovatter.

"We think there's probably a lot of kids that grew up 10, 15, 20 years ago with dove hunting being one of the choices of things they wanted to do with their recreational time," Hovatter said. "But now it's a little more limited, so this hunt is a chance for us to give kids a place where the hunting will be monitored, they'll get safety briefings and be provided with the right safety equipment. They'll have the opportunity to try dove hunting and see if that's something they enjoy."

In addition to the Curry Farms hunt, Game and Fish will sponsor a first-year junior hunt for the Frosty Braden Scholarship Fund at Texas Hill on Sept. 2, which is aimed at the kids in the Wellton and Mohawk areas.

There's a $5 charge. For more information on that hunt, contact Game and Fish at 342-0091.

"When hunting is done by people who are properly trained and have the right background and the right safety equipment, it really is an interesting and fun activity for folks," Hovatter said. "We just want everybody to have a safe hunt."

***

IF YOU GO ...

*WHAT: CLINT CURRY JUNIOR DOVE HUNT.

*WHEN: 2-6 P.M. SEPT. 2.

*WHERE: TAKE AVENUE B SOUTH TO 13TH STREET AND HEAD WEST TO BRIDGES AVENUE. TURN RIGHT AND FOLLOW THE MARKED TWO-TRACK.

*THE SKINNY: THE FREE HUNT IS LIMITED TO CHILDREN 13 YEARS OLD AND YOUNGER, WITH A MAXIMUM OF 100 PARTICIPANTS. SAFETY TRAINING WILL BE PROVIDED, AND HOT DOGS AND REFRESHMENTS WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER THE HUNT.

*FOR MORE INFORMATION: CONTACT ARIZONA GAME AND FISH AT 342-0091 OR GEORGE REINERS AT 726-0022.