GILROY
– In September, the California Deer Association will begin
taking kids and young teen-agers on a series of chaperoned junior
hunts on a state land preserve northeast of Gilroy.
GILROY – In September, the California Deer Association will begin taking kids and young teen-agers on a series of chaperoned junior hunts on a state land preserve northeast of Gilroy.
In preparation, they’ll be teaching young people next week how to hunt safely.
The Deer Association, based in Salinas, invites kids up to 16 years of age to sign up for the 10-hour hunter safety class, which will take place on July 30 and 31.
Henry Coletto, a Santa Clara County fish and game warden for 37 years and currently the sheriff’s resident expert on mountain lions, will help teach the class. Coletto sits on the Deer Association’s board of directors.
According to Coletto, 90 percent of the Deer Association’s youth programs are non-hunting outdoor education, such as birdhouse-building, wildlife monitoring and educational hiking. The hunter safety class is the first of its youth hunting programs.
The bulk of the safety class – and all the fall hunting sessions – will take place at the Cañada de los Osos Ecological Reserve.
This 4,200-acre, state-owned parcel in the hills east of Gilroy, near the Gilroy Hot Springs and south of Henry Coe State Park, was formerly known as Stevenson Ranch. It is not open to the general public for hunting and fishing – only for scheduled youth events.
“The property supports a very healthy deer herd which includes numerous bucks,” the Deer Association said in a prepared statement. “In addition, flocks of turkeys and wild pigs roam the hills and valleys of the reserve.”
The class will begin with two hours of education about hunting laws, ethics and first aid, held at the Forest Inn on Leavesley Road, Gilroy.
The class will then adjourn to the Cañada de los Osos Reserve for eight hours of training on safe gun handling, how guns work, wildlife habitat, wildlife management and an overview of the various weapons used in hunting: rifle, shotgun, handgun and bow.
The Sept. 11 and 12 hunt, for deer only, is an overnight affair with lodging in Gilroy. It will include classroom learning, safe gun handling lessons, a shooting test and hunting.
Each participant must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult and have an A-Zone deer tag.
If a young person kills an animal, Coletto said, Deer Association volunteers will help him or her perform a necropsy on the animal, which will then be sent to the state Fish and Game lab to gather information to further the young person’s understanding of biology.
The Deer Association plans to organize fishing programs in the future, Coletto said. To sign up, call Coletto at 847-7504.
