A first ever hunting and fishing event for beginner youths and parents!
The idea of launching this project made me smile right from the start. I love spending time with young people—it reminds me of when I was a counsellor at a summer camp by a river. The project came into being following a discussion with the members of Chasse Québec and Josiane Lavallée, the dynamic communications and marketing manager at the Quebec Outfitters Federation. The first challenge was to find a weekend when fishing and small game hunting were permitted at the same time, without compromising our big game guiding schedules. That meant it had to be either early or late in the season. I knew that small game hunting opened on the weekend of September 9th at Pourvoirie du Milieu in Lanaudière, so I gave them a ring:
“—Hi Sébastien, is trout fishing still open on September 9? Do you have a large cabin available, or several small ones close together for a group of beginners?”
After this phone call, we had a location, a date and guides available, and that’s where the adventure began!
A real first!
I lost count a long time ago of the number of times I’ve introduced a young person to hunting and fishing. In most cases, however, there was a father, mother or grandfather who had got them interested in the first place. Often, the young person would arrive with some prior knowledge. For the 2023 edition of the “Week-end initiation de la relève” (youth introduction weekend), our selection criteria were based on curiosity and an interest in hunting and fishing. But the participants—youth and adults alike—had to have no prior experience or knowledge of these activities.
The primary goal of the weekend was to give families with no qualified support in hunting and fishing the chance to develop and then share their new passion. Given these circumstances, the first key lesson of the initiation weekend was safety, particularly in terms of using and handling firearms. Thanks to our main partner, Canadian Tire, the participants had their introductory licence and the necessary gear to get started, including, lures, rods, safety blazes, ammunition and the other essentials needed for our mission.
When my son saw all the stuff that was in my pick-up that day, he remarked: “It’s soon gonna be Christmas for a bunch of kids!” That comment didn’t even take into account the goodies chilling in the cooler to ensure a successful weekend.
Partridge and trout on the menu and much more!
I was aware of the fishing and hunting potential of the location we’d chosen, but since it was very early in the season, I suspected that the thick foliage would be a challenge for our budding young hunters. Sitting around a campfire on the first night, our participants shared their expectations for the trip and what they hoped to learn. What they said brought smiles to the guides’ faces, and very quickly a synergy formed between them and us.
The next morning, the weather was gloomy across Quebec, except over our heads. We kicked off the day with a shooting workshop. When your guide is none other than a former member of the 22nd Regiment, you know there won’t be any fooling around. When we were satisfied that the young participants and their parents were shooting well, we took to the various trails we had scoped out on the maps the day before. I was with Mathilde Patry, a young provincial-level athlete in kayak sprint whose birthday it was that day. As if it was set up for this special day, her gift appeared around the first bend of the trail. On our left, my eyes met those of a magnificent Canada lynx standing under some alders. I quickly pointed out the feline to Mathilde, who was thrilled by this stroke of luck.
By the time we returned to the Chalet des Pins for the FISHING LESSON, Mathilde already had two partridges to her name as a young beginner, one taken down with a smoking shot. Everyone was smiling and some of the young participants had just experienced hunting with a dog. Despite the dense foliage, the kids and their parents managed to harvest a total of 17 partridges in two hunting trips. They also caught several trout and pike. In the end, all the young participants had caught at least one partridge and one trout. With everything we saw and experienced, we can say that the adventure gave us much more than just impressive statistics to declare back at the registration centre.
They’ll all go back to an outfitter
On Saturday evening, the atmosphere was quite festive. We had set up a large prospector tent for the young participants and some of them even slept in it. The guides had a great time prepping dinner directly over the fire. On the menu were flavourful tastings of beaver, lynx, bear, deer—and of course, the day’s catches. Everyone appreciated the connection between the efforts made and the stories and emotions associated with the food on our plates. It fostered a wonderful camaraderie.
The next day, as the participants were leaving, they shared their thoughts and experiences with us, leading to some lively conversations. Mother Nature had taken care of everyone equally, and they all realized that among the many schools on earth, there are also open-air classrooms, where the loon serves as the bell. All of them said with some enthusiasm that they were hooked on hunting and fishing at an outfitter. Since we guides had all experienced that same feeling when we were young, we noticed right away that, among those who didn’t want to leave, the passion had taken root in their hearts. A new generation of eager adventurers was born!
The author would like to sincerely thank Canadian Tire for serving as major partner of the event and for the way they spoiled all our participants. The “Week-end initiation de la relève” was made possible thanks to financial support from the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs through the Relève et mise en valeur de la faune program. The organizing committee would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the Federation des chasseurs et pêcheurs de Lanaudière, SPYPOINT, Vortex and Browning. The Chasse Québec team really impressed me during this activity. We’ll do it again sometime in 2024!
Written by Michel Therrien