Raising next generation of bow hunters

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Jillian Delke ,8, let out a huge exhale of air as she rocked her brand new compound bow back to the shooting position. She had her left eye squeezed tightly shut while setting her other eye on a target not much larger than a milk crate. Simultaneously, she let out another gasp of air and let the arrow go towards its target. It landed in the dirt a few feet from the mark.

?Ooh, almost,? said dad Nathan Delke, overseeing every shot in the backyard of his home south of Hawks. ?Good job sweetheart!? Shooting a few arrows at a time, Jillian waits for her dad to give the word to go collect the arrows and another practice round. ?Concentrate and do the best you can?I don?t ask you to do more than that, do I?? Nathan encouraged.

This time the arrow not only hits the small block, but above one of the four circles she had been aiming for. ?There you go, good job,? said dad. NATHAN HAS been working with his daughter and older son Evan, 11, to raise the next generation of bow hunters in Presque Isle County.

Youth ages 10 and 11 are allowed to bow hunt on private property. Evan, a crack shot who has been having dreams of bagging his first whitetail this season, has a tent blind set up a short walking distance from the Delke?s home, and only 12 yards away from an apple tree. He spent time in there last weekend, the first official weekend of the bow season, along with the youth hunt the weekend before. ?Last year we did the apprenticeship hunt,? said Nathan. ?We got him an apprentice tag. It allowed him to go out with me and he could actually hunt. Before he took a hunter safety course. This year, we got him in the summer hunter safety course and got him a license.?

EVAN HAS only seen one doe during his time in the blind. His heart was racing for a brief few minutes. His dad has taught him to have patience, not only in waiting for a bigger animal, but for the best possible shot. ?It has to be on an angle, or broad side,? said Evan. Dad and grandpa Dan also remind Evan to remember rule No. 1 of hunting: be quiet. ?Sit still, be quiet, the usual,? said Nathan. ?Every time you go out you want to learn something new about the animal. Every animal is different.?

When Nathan sat with him in the blind during the youth hunt last month, ?We were able to talk about the things we wer

e hearing and the things that we were seeing. One of the things I want to pass along to him is how to identify different noises you hear in the woods.? Nathan also has been trying to help his son eliminate mistakes he?s made over the years.

Both dad and son shoot in leagues at the Presque Isle County Sportsmen?s Club during the winter. ?He tubed two arrows in competition,? said Nathan. ?I?ve only tubed one, so he gives me a hard time about that.? IN THE MEANTIME, the family continues to practice behind the house. ?Oo, close,? said Nathan to daughter Jillian, who shot continuous for 40 minutes or more.

?Getting tired?? dad asked. ?Kinda,? said Jillian in a soft voice. Dad urges to take a break, but she collects the arrows again and heads back to the shooting line for another round.