QDMA’s Rack Pack to Provide 75 Youth Hunting & Shooting Kits to Branch Volunteers
OutdoorHub 03.24.14
The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) and its youth program, the Rack Pack, will provide 75 youth hunting and shooting kits for QDMA Branch volunteers to use in mentoring future hunters and leaders in conservation, thanks to a $25,000 donation.
The youth hunting and shooting kits will be made available free to QDMA Branches that plan to host qualifying youth hunts, field days and educational events. The kits include items such as air-rifles, pellets, pellet traps, blind bags, grunt calls, a life-sized deer target, safety equipment including blaze orange hats and vests as well as eye and ear protection, and educational materials on gun safety, deer hunting and deer biology.
QDMA and the Rack Pack have set a goal to produce a total of 150 hunting and shooting kits, and the $25,000 donation from a donor wishing to remain anonymous provides half of the necessary funds for the project. Anyone wishing to help promote the outdoors to newcomers and raise the next $25,000 needed for the remaining hunting and shooting kits can contact QDMA’s Youth Education and Outreach Programs Manager Hank Forester by e-mail at hforester@qdma.com or by phone at 800-209-3337 ext. 1014.
“Recently the hunting world has been celebrating a rise in hunter participation due to the spike in license sales from 2006 to 2011,” said Hank “We need to be careful not to confuse this spike with an actual increase in new hunters. In 2011, only 1 percent of all hunting licenses were sold to new hunters. We need to focus on recruiting the next generation of hunter/conservationists, and QDMA is helping do just that.”
QDMA Branch events must meet established criteria in order to be eligible to receive the youth hunting and shooting kits.
