MANATEE — For 9-year-old Taylor Vincent of North Port, the idea of getting up in the wee hours Saturday to go on a break-of-dawn hog hunt near Parrish with his grandfather and step-dad is pure heaven.
“He’s been going through his clothing all week picking out all the camouflaged stuff,” said Taylor’s mother, Natasha.
Taylor is one of 24 youths who were accepted by the Southwest Florida Water Management District to go on two youth hunts this month on the private Edward W. Chance Reserve’s Gilley Creek Tract on Oak Knoll Road, off County Road 675, just southwest of Parrish.
The first 12 went out last Saturday and three hogs were harvested, two by girls and one by a boy, said Mike Blanton, the executive officer of American Disability Adventures, the nonprofit organization that is putting on the hunts under the auspices of the state.
Taylor will join 11 other kids and about 20 adults for the final 5:30 am. hunt, which has been put on partially to help control the wild hog population and partially to introduce young people to hunting, said Robyn Felix, a water district spokeswoman.
“The district only allows hogs to be controlled through hunts when the damage they cause is at unacceptable levels,” Felix wrote in a statement on the hunt. “Damage is occurring more frequently and with increasing severity.”
Wild hogs feed by rooting with their broad snouts, which can cause extensive damage to natural habitats.
Another reason for a youth hog hunt is to get kids away from their TV sets and into the open air, Blanton said.
“We want to give kids something to do besides watching their computers,” said Blanton, whose organization usually puts on outdoor events for disabled children. “There’s a lot they can learn. We teach them about edible plants, about wild game and about gun safety.”
Taylor’s mother, Natasha, has heard about the criticism that youth hunts have gotten, specifically should children be exposed to the shooting of an animal and is it safe for them to be around shotguns and other firearms, even with adult supervision.
She said she has no reservations about sending her son out.
“I feel it gives kids a better understanding of life if they get to see game being taken and they later eat it,” Vincent said. “It will help a lot of children if they learn the safety behind guns. Kids are curious and they want to see these things.”
Going hunting at an early age is a positive thing for a child, said long-time Manatee County resident Steven John, who has been hunting since he could walk.
“When I was a little kid, my dad, Mitchell, took me hunting,” John said. “My sister, Tiffany, went sometimes and my brother, Alan. It teaches you to respect the land and respect other creatures.”
Jason McKendree, one of Manatee County’s few remaining cowboys and cattle manager for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, said hunting legally teaches children important lessons.
“I’m a firm believer that it’s a great idea to have adults take kids hunting legally,” McKendree said. “They have to experience it the right way, not poaching on someone’s private party, which is a serious issue.
At SMR, for instance, we don’t mess around with poaching and we treat juveniles caught the same as adults. We don’t cut them any slack.”
McKendree also finds a need to cull hog numbers.
“They tear up the land,” McKendree said. “We harvest bahia grass for sod, and they go and root it up and we can’t harvest it.”
SMR has about a half dozen employees who harvest hogs regularly, McKendree said.
Diana Smith, Manatee County’s 4-H Club coordinator, said she is fine with a youth hunt as long as safety is put first.
“My take on it is that as long as its a safe environment for them to hunt it’s fine,” Smith said. “Safety is the utmost.”
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 6686.
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