WHY, HOW AND WHERE TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO HUNT

More With Rush Cameron

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't ask a youngster to sit still and quiet and like it. As a matter of fact they hate sitting still and quiet. For this reason, young children sometimes don't enjoy hunting deer and turkeys. But, you'll have kids wired if you show them some action. For an all-together different idea, try hunting quail at a shooting preserve. Shooting preserves have horses or mule-drawn wagons kids can ride. At a shooting preserve, you will have non-stop action to occupy the youngsters. They'll enjoy riding the wagons or the horses, watching the dogs, shooting the birds, finding the birds and petting the dogs. You can't find any sport better for wired youngsters than preserve quail hunting. This week let's look at Cameron's Hunting Preserve in Panola, Alabama, in west/central Alabama and learn how to build memories with your family. Bubber Cameron started Cameron's Quail Preserve in the late 60s. John Cameron and his older brother Rush Cameron, Bubber's sons, now operate the preserve.

Question: Rush, why do you like to have families come to the shooting preserve?
Rush Cameron: Today there are so many distractions to keep families from being together and enjoying each other that I really like being able to provide an opportunity that every member of the family can enjoy and more importantly enjoy doing together. I also like for a family to see the outdoors and all the natural things that the Good Lord has provided for them away from the concrete and asphalt world. I think that quail hunting is a great way for families to spend quality time with each other and build memories that will last a lifetime.

Question: You have a lodge here at the preserve too, don't you?
Rush Cameron: Yes, we do. We provide three meals a day, a place to sleep, shower, watch TV and relax together. We have found that many families enjoy coming in the night before the hunt and spending the night in the lodge, talking and visiting with one another. They eat breakfast together. They hunt until about noon together, come back to the lodge to eat a delicious lunch, take a nap if they want to and go back out in the afternoon and hunt again. When the hunt is over and the birds are being cleaned, the family goes back to the lodge for dinner and a time to talk about the hunt, enjoy fellowshipping together and discussing the day they all had. The next morning they get up refreshed. All their quail are cleaned, packaged and put into their coolers, and they are ready to return home.

Question: What time does your hunt start?
Rush Cameron: We usually start hunting about 9:00 a.m. because you don't have to start quail hunting at daylight. Quail are much like we are; they wake up and start feeding about 7:00 a.m., and they will feed until about 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. Then they look for a shady spot to rest in until around 4:00 p.m. when they are ready to feed again. We usually hunt until about 12:30 p.m. and then come back to the lodge for lunch. Then we go back out to hunt around 2:00 p.m., and we generally hunt until about 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

Question: How many quail can a hunter take on a shooting preserve?
Rush Cameron: A hunt is considered 10 quail per hunter per day. However, hunters can shoot as many birds as they want too, but there is an additional charge for every bird over 10. We have had some hunters who have taken 50 or 100 birds in a day. The good news about a shooting preserve is that you can shoot as many birds as your billfold will allow.

Question: If a child doesn't shoot, how much does their being on the hunt cost?
Rush Cameron: We only charge for the transportation for non-hunters. If a party chooses a wagon, the youngster can ride on the wagon at no additional charge. If the youngster rides a horse and doesn't shoot, you are only charged for the use of the horse for a day. We try and bring in children to our shooting preserve as easy and as economical as it can be for the parents.

Question: How did the shooting preserve get started?
Rush Cameron: John's and my dad, Bubber Cameron, was a bird dog trainer. And when he would finish a dog in the dog-training program, he would take the owner and the dog out on our property to find quail. He would let the owner shoot two or three quail so that the owner could see how the dog would find and retrieve as well as point them back. Before long, more and more owners wanted to shoot more and more quail. They would tell their friends about hunting at the Camerons' farm. Hunters would start showing up wanting to hunt quail. So in 1974, our dad went ahead and applied for and received his shooting-preserve license. More folks started coming to our preserve to hunt quail. We still raise and train quite a few bird dogs. The advantage that we offer is that the bird dogs being trained have an opportunity to hunt more because of the shooting preserve than they will if they're were just being trained. The dogs that we train are actually quail hunting often three, four, or even five times a week, which gives the dogs quite a bit of experience not only at finding, pointing, backing and retrieving quail but also being able to be around hunters and guns in a hunting condition. Dog training is still a major part of our business.

Question: Besides families, what kinds of people come to a shooting preserve?
Rush Cameron: We see folks from every walk of life. We have a large number of companies who come to a shooting preserve to entertain their clients. At a shooting preserve, the company knows that the clients are going to be successful. They know if they ride the wagon the client will not have to be in good physical condition or worn-out after the hunt. And when they hunt from the wagon, they have the maximum amount of personal time with that client in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.

Question: Are you seeing more granddads bringing their grandchildren to hunting preserves?
Rush Cameron: Yes, we are. A granddad can really have a great time with his grandchildren at our hunting preserve and not be worn out when the day is over.

For more information on Cameron's Quail Preserve, you can write John Cameron at 1001 Brockway Road #4, Aliceville, Alabama 35442. Or, email John or Rush Cameron at Cameron@froglevel.net or call (205) 455-2420.

TOMORROW: THE CAMERONS ANSWER QUESTIONS