Dear Steve,
Hi. My name is Jared Olson. I am 12 years old and in 7th grade at the Hurley K-12 school. I want to thank you for coming to our school with your deer and for sharing all of the great information about deer hunting, the deer habitat, wildlife, and the importance of managing the wildlife. The reason I am writing to you is to let you know how important the sport of hunting is to me and my family and that we appreciate the chance to hunt every year. To my family, hunting is not just hunting a trophy buck .For us, hunting is spending time with friends and family and enjoying the time together. It is also time to spend outdoors watching the wildlife and learning how they act.
From when I was just a kid, I loved going in the woods with Dad. I would look for birds and deer with him and he explained lots about the land, trees, and some of the wildlife. I was able to sit in a tree when he bow hunted when I was 8 years old. It was great, and I wanted to hunt too. By spending time in the woods, I was able to see how the animals act in the wild and respond to the things around them. I think the best sight I ever saw was while hunting, I could watch a mother doe and its fawn walk out from the brush, and seeing the little fawn walk right beside her mother. My Mom and I would go out to a stand just to watch the deer. My sister will sit with Mom sometimes too, and she got her first deer 3 years ago when she was 13. She shot a 6 pointer
I started hunting when I was 10 years old. The State of Wisconsin started a hunt for kids under 12 years old that is called the ‘mentored hunt’. What this lets us do is start hunting with an older hunter who can teach us how to hunt the correct way, and to teach us about being safe. Hunting with my Dad and Mom when I was 10 years old helped me when I took hunter safety because I already knew lots of things about being safe. We would shoot guns as much as we could so I could get accurate enough to be able to shoot where I aimed. That first year I shot my first deer. It was a doe. Last year I started bow hunting. I started shooting as much as I could to get more accurate because I know it is even more important with a bow to be as accurate as I can so I don’t wound a wild animal. I am getting ready now to go bow hunting again by practicing as much as I can before I go out. My parents bought me a ladder stand for my birthday and I have been shooting from that. I learned that the arrow flies different from a stand than straight on from the ground. I had to adjust my shooting. Bow hunting is great. I really want to get my very first buck this year.
During gun season, I usually hunt with my Dad. I stay at a camp with him and 5 other guys. Before the season we go out to camp to make firewood and to clean it up to be ready for season. I help with chores because I am part of the camp. We tease each other and take turns doing the chores. My Dad says I am learning to be a team player at the same time I am learning to become a responsible sportsman and hunter. I help track when someone in the camp gets a buck. I want to start to go on deer drives with the guys from the camp, but I am a little too young yet and because it is more dangerous than hunting from one spot. During the youth hunt this past weekend, we saw a buck walking while we were going down an old trail. Dad circled around and tried to get him to move towards me, but he moved too fast and I didn’t get a chance to shoot. I walked into the thicker woods to try and get a shot and snuck up closer to it. The only shot I had was at the rear quarter area and I know that wasn’t a good shot. Dad said I am doing good at being a responsible, ethical hunter, but I still felt bad because I did not get him Now I know what it’s like to get ‘buck fever”. I was shaking real hard and my heart was pounding. I never had this much excitement. I remember the time when my mom said she had “buck fever”. I didn’t know what that meant. Now I do. I dream of going out West when I am 15 or 16 years old to hunt Elk or Mule deer. I know that we will be reading and studying the way the animals act out West, because it is a different way to hunt out there and we will need to learn . I know I will need to shoot as much as I can to become a good shot at longer distances.
Besides hunting, I love to fish. We started ice fishing when I was 9 years old. My first year I caught a 27 inch - 8lb walleye through the ice. By knowing the habitat of the fish , where they like to feed, an what they like to feed on helped me get this fish. I read fishing books, so I knew what to do. My Mom and Dad are learning too, because they never ice fished until I wanted to. We made a ice shack for the flowage near my home, and we can go out on weekends together with the snowmobiles. Lots of times I take friends with me. We make forts and ride around.
It is the same as hunting. I read hunting books all the time. There are lots of good hunting shows to watch and learn from too. I have to know how the animal is going to act if I want to be successful. The more time I spend in the woods watching the wildlife the more I learn how they act.
I would love to come to Minnesota and hunt on your game farm. If you read this letter and decide that I could come out to your farm and hunt, I promise you that I would be a responsible and ethical hunter and do my very best. Plus maybe I could get my first buck. I included a picture of me with my first deer when I was 10, and I have a picture of my sister with her first buck because she was so proud of it too.
Thank you
Jared Olson
