Alexia Severson

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES - While some people may think the sport of hunting is cruel, 17-year-old Josh Austin sees it as a form of conservation.

“There’s a difference between ethical hunters and hunters who like killing things,” Austin said. “…It’s our duty as hunters to conserve what we love doing. We try to harvest one animal a year, depending the species, and we do that to a point where we can keep the population healthy and we can hunt them another year.”

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Austin is a member of the Donald R. Kemp Youth Hunting Club, a nonprofit that teaches youth the skills and techniques of fishing, hunting and marksmanship. But the club offers a little more than that, by getting kids active outdoors and in nature.

“There’s so many life lessons that can be learned from taking the time away from our busy lives and enjoying the peace and quiet of the outdoors and visiting with others — that’s probably as big a part of it as actually hunting,” said DRK Youth Hunting Club founder and president Chase Kemp.

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Kemp started the Hunting Club in 2001 as a way to give kids in Las Cruces the same opportunity to enjoy the outdoors that he was fortunate to experience with his father, Donald R. Kemp, whom the club is named after. Kemp’s father died about a year after the club was formed, he said.

“I saw the need to try to do something for kids and pass it on, like (my father) had done with me,” Kemp said.

The club, which has about 30 members, is open to anyone between the ages of 10 and 18 who has successfully completed the New Mexico Hunter Education Course, offered through the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

Club members attend meetings featuring guest speakers and seminars, the first Wednesday of each month. During the meetings, kids learn a variety of skills.

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“They learn firearm safety, marksmanship, fishing and camping skills,” Kemp said. “We have survival specialists come in to teach them survival training in the outdoors and we also teach them some wild game processing and cooking skills. The biggest part of our club is we teach them hunting skills.”

Members go on hunting trips throughout the year with the opportunity to hunt elk, deer, antelope, oryx, Barbary sheep, ibex, turkeys, pheasants and more. The club works with ranchers and guides throughout New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Club members also go on hunts in places like Missouri and Arkansas, Kemp said.

“We do about 40 to 45 hunts a year with kids,” Kemp said.

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Club officers teach skills and safety with a variety of different weapons, including a rifle, muzzle loader, shotgun and bow and arrow. Guns, ammo and archery equipment for training are provided by the club for those without their own, according to the club website.

Austin, who has been hunting with the club for about a year and fishing with the Kemp Youth Fishing Club for about three years, said he likes to hunt with a bow the best.

“It’s getting a little bit bigger than rifle hunting,” said Austin, who started going hunting with his father when he was about 6 years old.

Austin said he enjoys hunting because of the seclusion it provides.

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“I’ve never really enjoyed big cities,” he said. “I like the quiet and the adrenaline rush that comes with hunting animals.”

Kaitlyn Eschenbrenner, 18, who was part of the club for about five years, said she learned many valuable lessons through the club.

“There’s a different way to shoot every animal, whether it’s a turkey that relies on their eyesight or an elk, which relies on scent,” Eschenbrenner said. “I feel much more confident behind a gun now because I’ve learned so much more about the animals that we are hunting.”

Austin said some of the challenges of hunting is that you must be patient and physically fit for the task.

“You have to be in shape, especially if you’re going on wilderness hunts and you’re six-plus miles into a wilderness area,” he said.

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Hunters also have to be able to pack out 300 or more pounds of meat when harvesting the animal, Austin said.

Eschenbrenner said joining the hunting club was the best decision she’s ever made.

“I have met so many lifelong friends within the organization and all the skills that I’ll take with me throughout adulthood, I’ve learned pretty much all of them within the DRK Hunting Club,” she said.

The Hunting Club is one of the few clubs in the nation, and perhaps the only one of its kind, that takes kids hunting and fishing year-round, Kemp said.

While hunting isn’t for everyone, Austin said he encourages people to get involved in the club and try it, if they’re interested.

“I didn’t know I was going to like it, but then I went on the first hunt and I’ve been in love with it for 10 or 11 years now,” he said.

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The State Game Commission has authorized the DRK Youth Hunting Club to receive donated hunting licenses and provide them to qualified youths to use. This is important because it gives kids more opportunities to hunt in a state where limited spots are available.

“So many kids that we have in our club can’t draw an in-state hunting license because even deer is not over the counter like it used to be for years,” Kemp said. “And if the kids can’t draw or have an opportunity to hunt, we may lose them, so the more we can get them out there, the more they want to continue to be a part of, and be a steward to help preserve our outdoors,” Kemp said.

Hunters can contact the Department of Game and Fish Information Center to make arrangements to donate a hunting license by calling 888-248-6866 or email ispa@state.nm.us.

For information about the DRK Youth Hunting Club, visit kempyouthhuntclub.com.

Alexia Severson may be reached at 575-541-5462, aseverson@lcsun-news.com or @AlexiaMSeverson on Twitter.

If you go

What: Donald R. Kemp Youth Hunting Club

When: 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month

Where: New Mexico Game and Fish Department classroom, 2715 Northrise Drive

Cost: Annual fee is $45 (other costs may be associated)

Info: Call Chase Kemp at 575-642-7417 or visit kempyouthhuntclub.com