Highland Hideaway is site of youth day shoot

    Washington County 4-H and Johnson County 4-H joined forces Saturday to put on the ?Family Youth Day Shoot? at Highland Hideaway Hunting a few miles south of Riverside. The Washington County 4-H club known as ?Bows and Bullets? provided a number of fun activities involving archery and firearms.

    The purpose of the Family Youth Day Shoot was to educate young people about Shooting Sport activities and to recruit members to Bows and Bullets.

    Bow-wielding Brock Schaedler, age 7, took aim at balloons attached to a cardboard wall at one of the booths designed for young kids. His younger brother Aaron, age 4, shot an air rifle at another booth. Their father Josh Schaedler said the boys liked shooting the air rifles and the little BB gun. He said he brought his children to the event last year, and remarked that they have air rifles of their own that they use at home. 

    ?They practice once a week if they?re lucky,? said Josh.   

    Elsewhere on the grounds, a group of about a half-dozen persons took turns firing at clay pigeons. The discs were launched from a number of clay pigeon throwers at various locations on the shooting range, which forced the shooters to hit the discs thrown from different angles and at different distances.

    There was also a section reserved for stationary targets. Gabe Greiner and his friend Spencer Schulty had fun firing 20-gauge shotguns at another shooting range. Also at the Highland Hideaway was a shooting range for muzzle-loaded rifles.

    Apart from the shooting, the Family Youth Day Shoot featured a silent auction and raffle drawings to raise money for the Shooting Sports programs in Washington and Johnson counties.

    Joel Van Zante is a certified hunting instructor who was responsible for starting the Family Youth Day Shoot in 2009. When his son Joseph (now age 11) became old enough to join Bows and Bullets, Van Zante volunteered to be a Shooting Sports instructor as well. He said Saturday?s event was held to raise money for the club so it can purchase guns, shotgun shells, clay pigeons, arrows and bows throughout the year.

    ?We don?t want to make our members pay,? said Van Zante. ?In other counties in Iowa, kids have to pay for that. The club might provide the guns, but the kids have to buy the shotgun shells.?

For the full story, see the Aug. 30 edition of The Washington Evening Journal