Eric Davis

Sun Outdoor Columnist

While it may seem like an oxymoron, the title of the column this week is probably the summation of how I view hunting and fishing trips. You don’t need to harvest an animal for your hunt to be successful, or catch a limit of fish to remember the outing forever. Often, the best hunting stories I hear end up with the hunter missing their target.

This past weekend was the Youth Turkey Hunt Weekend where hunters age 12-15 with turkey hunting privileges can hunt turkeys with an adult and only the youth hunter can carry a firearm (with some exceptions such as fence crossings). For the second year, I was a mentor through the Chenango County Youth Hunt where I was partnered with another mentor and matched with a youth hunter to take hunting. While I am now 0-for-2 in terms of my youth hunter harvesting a turkey, both years I have had what I would call successful hunts.