At the end of the school year last year, I received a phone call from Mike Ford, the Northern California Regional Director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He informed me that I had been selected to choose one of three high school age girls for a fully-guided cow elk hunt in Colorado this fall.

The hunt is part of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation High Schools for Habitat Mentors program. This is a celebration of our wildlife and hunting heritage. It honors the tradition of one generation passing on to the next an appreciation for hunting, wildlife and the outdoors.

The RMEF will pay half of the cost of the hunt, plus it will be filmed by ESPN. The hunt will be mentored by three adult women from RMEF.

Needless to say I was fired up about the opportunity. By July, I narrowed the selection down to two candidates. The young lady selected will need some help covering her share of the cost. Below is a description of how I selected the young lady that will go on the hunt.

The Competitors

The Competition

After losing a little bit of sleep thinking about the design of this final competition, here is what I had the two young ladies do to demonstrate their marksmanship and determine who goes to Colorado this fall.

First, they each fired three shots off the bench at a 100 yard target. The maximum score on each shot was 10 points (standard target with concentric circles, 10 point bulls-eye, so 30 points maximum for this round). Next, they each shot three times from a sitting position at 100 yards (same style of target). Then, during round three, they each shot three shots off-hand at a life-size deer target at 50 yards. Each shot in this round that entered the "vital zone" on the deer target earned the shooter 10 points. So, if you followed my description so far, at the end of the third round there is a maximum of 90 points possible for each shooter.

Both girls were aware of what was required of them a week before the competition so they had time to practice effectively. However, I designed a "surprise" fourth round to see how they would react under a more realistic hunting situation. In the fourth round, I had one shooter (and her dad) wait inside a building so that she could not see or hear what the other shooter was doing until it was her turn. The other girl was given a medium day-pack to wear, one bullet, and the following instructions. She was told to walk a short ways down an adjacent range where I had secretly placed a life-size deer target against a safe backstop. When she arrived at a green tarp on the ground she would have 20 seconds to shoot at the target from that tarp in any position she chose. I had strategically placed the green tarp in an area where the shooter could have used a support, or shot in numerous positions, including off the day-pack, if she could think fast enough to get into the best, most stable position to make the kill. A shot in the vital zone during this round, earned the shooter 10 points. So, the total possible for the whole competition was 100 points.

Emilee won the rifle marksmanship competition and will be going on the hunt.

I am so proud of these young ladies. They did extremely well under such pressure. I wish I could send both of them. Emilee is very excited about the hunt. Emilee's dad, John Williamson, is also understandably excited.

Emilee would greatly appreciate any donation that would help her participate on this fantastic opportunity. Please note that donations are tax deductible. Donation checks should be made out to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Mentor Hunt. Mail the donation to: Emilee Williamson, P.O. Box 562, Graeagle, CA, 96103. Any questions, please call Emilee’s dad, John, at (530) 836-0112.