Sportsmen compete for a cause

Hunters and fishermen converged on the Cyrus family's Alder Creek Ranch last Saturday for the 3rd Annual 4-H Sportsmen's Pentathlon, hosted by Brand 33.

The one-day event is a fundraiser for the 4-H Club of Deschutes County, and the sprawling, wooded site provided the perfect arena for a contest celebrating all aspects of outdoor sporting skills.

Using the necessary tools of the trade: rod, bow, and barrel, two-man teams competed in five separate hunting- and fishing-themed trials spread out in various venues around the scenic property.

In addition to battling winter-like elements, team challenges included a flyfishing derby, sporting clays, 3-D archery course, GPS orienteering, live chukar hunt and rimfire rifle shooting, the first year for this event, hosted by the Deschutes County Sheriff's Posse.

The contest, bringing together many hunting types and abilities, first began in 2010 and was started by David White and Todd Williver of Oregon State University's 4-H Outdoor Education and Recreation program in Redmond.

For the second year in a row, first place went to Team BS, made up of Brenden Baird and Sean Belding, who compiled a composite score of 292.86 and won a handmade wooden rowing pram donated by Fishcraft boats. In their winning effort they took the outright top prize in the archery and GPS events. All of the winners received Cabela's merchandise for wins in their individual venues.

Second place was comprised of members of the Bend Oregon Hunters Association with a combined score of 285.05, just seven points behind the winning team. Third place was Team Libor, Riley and Ryan McHugh of Sisters, with a score of 279.58.

Williver, Deschutes County 4-H program coordinator for OSU, has seen the weekend sport-a-thon continue to grow, and explained how it all arose from a need to fortify the budget of Deschutes County 4-H.

"The event was the largest event yet, with 13 teams, nearly doubling the participation from last year," said Williver. "With three years under our belt we're convinced this event remains a viable competition that everyone involved totally enjoyed. The weather was a little inclement, with snow and rain in the morning, then cleared off with some beautiful weather into the afternoon and evening.

"Dave White and I came up with the original idea. With the state economy still tight, we're always looking for additional ways to generate money to support these programs, from the traditional livestock or animal clubs, to home economics clubs, to science, engineering and technology. We had an excellent crowd of spectators as well with several hundred people out there watching and cheering the teams on throughout the day."

The flyfishing action took place at the 14-acre Alder Creek Pond, and contestants could fish from the bank or use a float tube with either wet or dry flies. Each team was given two hours to hook and land as many trout as they could, with the winners gathering the most total inches of fish caught and released.

On the archery range, the mock hunt used two faux deer, an antelope, a coyote, and a boar, offering a challenging test of guessing the target's yardage and weaving your arrow through the trees into the target's scoring rings.

"For the new .22 rimfire rifle shoot event, it was 20 rounds total - 10 rounds at 50 yards and 10 at 25 yards," Williver said. "It was an optional exhibition event this year but all of the teams participated in it and seemed to enjoy it immensely."

The live chukar hunt required teams to flush and kill three planted birds in an allotted time of 15 minutes with six shells using a 12-gauge shotgun. Rules allowed for the use of a hunter's own dog for flushing and retrieving, or they could go without, instead using their own noses and eyes to spot the birds.

In the timed GPS orienteering portion of the day, teams are shown a random set of GPS coordinates and must calculate and locate the GPS cache, where they're given a compass heading leading to a hidden ammo box containing a certified strip of paper. Demonstrating GPS skills helps to refine and improve a hunter's wilderness and survival tracking expertise.

At the sporting clays event, Spencer Tabor of Central Oregon Sporting Clays and Hunting Preserve in Redmond again kept the shotguns booming smoothly as shooters moved from one of four firing stations where Tabor's crew presented each team with an aggravating array of airborne clay targets.

An awards ceremony and banquet was held at Brand 33 Saturday evening, after the gunsmoke cleared and the final fish was hooked and released. Williver thought it was the best event yet and believes they raised more money this year than the past two years combined.

"It was a really fun day. I want to thank all our venue sponsors: Spencer Tabor, Jeff Perin of The Fly Fisher's Place in Sisters, Dustin Mayfield at Top Pin Archery, Sykes Mitchell with Living Sky Outfitters, Danny Proudfoot from South Valley Bank & Trust and especially our title sponsor, Cabela's, whose strong support really added to the overall quality of the event this year. We look forward to some slight improvements for next year and putting on another great Central Oregon sporting event."

For volunteer opportunities and upcoming events contact Williver at the OSU 4-H Program office at 541-548-6088.