Sportsmen shoot, fish and navigate for a cause

Mother Nature smiled on sprawling Alder Creek Ranch for the first official weekend of spring, providing ideal conditions at the inaugural 4-H Sportsmen's Pentathlon on March 20-21.

The two-day event was a fundraiser for the 4-H Club of Deschutes County and is the first of its kind anywhere in Oregon. The pentathlon headed up a series of events benefitting the program including a Saturday night banquet/auction at Brand 33 restaurant and Sunday golf tournament at Aspen Lakes Golf Course.

But Saturday it was all about the rod, bow and barrel with camouflage and neoprene being the desired choice of fashion. Blue skies and warm temperatures enlivened the spirits of 13 two-man teams competing in five hunting and fishing-themed events spread out in various venues around the Cyrus family's spectacular Alder Creek property.

On the roster of challenges were a flyfishing derby, sporting clays, 3-D archery, GPS orienteering and live chukar hunt. Each team paid a $195 entry fee and rotated around the course according to a pre-set schedule.

It's all the brainchild of David White and Todd Williver of Oregon State University's 4-H Outdoor Education and Recreation program in Redmond.

Williver, the OSU program coordinator, explained how this event came out of a need to bolster the budget of Deschutes County 4-H:

"Dave White and I came up with the idea. We'd both never heard of anything similar. With the suffering economy, we thought it was necessary to find means to help fund our 4-H scholarships and youth programming. 4-H has evolved over the years into areas outside the animals and agriculture and into areas of natural resources as well as science and engineering. We were looking for some kind of event to subsidize the funding outside the traditional parameters of the organization. It should be a great day."

Near the registration table, team "Taylor Made," pairing Taylor Geraths and Corky Wray, just returned from the archery course with tales of success with the artificial game targets.

"I've hunted lots of deer and elk before, but never in a 3-D shoot," said Geraths. "This event is awesome, it's run well and this is a beautiful setting."

The mock hunt consisted of two deer, an antelope, a coyote, and a boar, offering a challenging test of guessing the yardage and weaving your arrow through the trees into the target. Points were awarded by the painted scoring rings on each target with one arrow per target for two shooters with a total of 100 points.

The live chukar hunt down the road required teams to flush and kill three planted birds in fifteen minutes with six shells using a 12-gauge shotgun. Rules allowed for the use of a hunter's own dog, or they could go without. Geraths brought his two-year-old German Shorthair named "Stele."

For the timed GPS orienteering segment, teams are given a set of GPS coordinates and must locate the GPS cache, where they're provided a compass heading leading to a hidden ammo box containing a certified slip of paper. This event helps to refine and improve a hunter's wilderness and survival tracking skills. A total of six boxes must be found.

Over at Alder Creek Pond for the flyfishing portion, calm waters reflected the blue March sky, obscuring schools of ravenous fish lurking below. Participants were given two hours to catch, hook and land the most total inches of fish. They were allowed dry or wet flies and could cast from bank or float tube. Fish killed in the process could not be counted. The 14-acre lake is stocked with a plentiful array of trophy rainbow trout.

Dan Hopper and Mike Nye of the "Keystone Cast & Blast" team, did a last minute gear check and were handed a length of yarn to measure any prospective catches. A tempting green and gold mohair leech was tied to the end of their flyline. Contest judge Jeff Perin, owner of The Fly Fisher's Place in Sisters, logged their time and the team launched out into Alder Creek Pond, cheered on by the happy antics of "Paloma," Perin's pinecone-totting golden retriever.

"These guys are setting the standard," said Perin. "They look good. Good float tubes. Nice waders."

As of 11 a.m., Tom Rheuben and Dustin Kersauga's team, "Two Guys And A Mutt," reigned as Kings of the Pond with 13 fish caught for a grand total of 160 inches.

"Tom caught 12 of them himself," Perin said.

But within 10 minutes, Hopper snagged a healthy 20-inch rainbow to get off on a fine start.

Perin offered a tip to onlookers when reviving a disoriented fish before releasing it: "You can usually revive a trout by softly running a thumbnail along their side. They get jazzed up by that."

Up above the pond, volunteers set up picnic tables while Brand 33's Aaron Leslie prepped the monster outdoor grill for a special catered lunch of hamburgers and hot

dogs.

"We're going to fire up the BBQ here pretty soon," said Williver. "I'm not sure what they're going to cook, it's up to Sykes Mitchell, food and beverage manager at Brand 33. He's over running the chukar hunt right now. We thought we might have fish and chukar."

Shotguns booming in the distance chimed the hour and signaled the start of the sporting clays event. Spencer Tabor, of Central Oregon Sporting Clays and Hunting Preserve in Redmond, ran the venue down in a gravel pit off the main road. Shooters moved from one of four firing stations where Tabor and his crew presented each team member with a complex array of airborne targets. The clay pigeons are flung from manual and remote machines positioned around the

course.

"There's usually five stations, but we only have four, just to move the event along faster," said Tabor.

"We can change up the configurations and angles any way we want. Incoming and outgoing. It truly replicates the flight patterns and all the types of shots you encounter in the field. We can even roll a clay right along the ground, called a 'rabbit,' or pair it with an airborne clay for a double."

"They call that a 'fur and a feather,'" said one veteran hunter reclining in his camp chair. "Those are tough."

Shooters are allowed two shots per target and it can involve any combination of single or double clays with names like the difficult "Springing Teal" or a "Rabbit and a Chondel." Brothers Todd and Bryan Penhollow of "Team Penhollow" scored well in their round, with some smooth shooting from the ground and the

tower.

White, an OSU professor deeply involved with the Deschutes County 4-H legacy, emphasized the uniqueness of this pentathlon.

"We realize there are other athletic events that combine types of outdoor sports like running, skiing, and cycling, but none that gather together activities in the sportsman's realm," he said.

"We are very fortunate to have South Valley Bank & Trust sponsor this important event. We'd also like to thank the entire Cyrus family for letting us use this beautiful spot," said White. "They are a longtime 4-H family and their hospitality and enthusiasm is well appreciated. And without the help of over twenty dedicated volunteers, this thing would not fly."

White and Williver intend to repeat the 4-H Sportsmen's Pentathlon this September, and hope to have an even greater turnout. One thing White would like to add is a center-fire or rim-fire venue in the fall for a .223 or .22 caliber rifle with targets at 50, 100 and 200

yards.

"My goal is to grow the outdoor education and recreation program by 5,000 kids over the next five years," he said. "This pentathlon can evolve into one of our main fundraising outlets. I'd like to see it become a regionalized event with the top competitors convening here at Alder Creek Ranch each year to crown a series

champion."

After the scores were tallied Saturday night, the Grand Prize was won by Tom Rheuben and Dustin Kersavage of "Two Guys And A Mutt." They finished the course with a perfect score of 300 points and were awarded championship jackets and a 14-foot Fishcraft Stillwater lake boat. In true sportsman style, the winning team donated the boat back to the 4-H for the next pentathlon event in September.

For volunteer opportunities and upcoming events contact White or Williver at the OSU 4-H Program office at

541-548-6088.