National Hunting and Fishing Day at Rick Evans Grandview Prairie

Yesterday was National Hunting and Fishing Day at Rick Evans Grandview Prairie.  We have never been before, and the boys really wanted to go.  Even though it was opening day of bow season, Art said he come with us and not go hunting (what a great daddy!)  Chelsea was at a friend's house, so the rest of us loaded up Saturday morning and headed out there.

There were several stations that were set up.  After registering, each child was given a score card to keep track of how they did at each station.  They could pick and choose which stations they wanted to go to, and those children that went to at least 5 stations would get a prize.

We started with the laser shot.  It was inside and was very similar to Alex's Big Buck Hunter Game.  The game was on a large screen and you had to try to shoot the deer.  After 3 tries, you added up your score.  I did not get any photos of this because my flash is broken on my camera and does not take good pictures in the dark.

Next we went to archery.  Three children at a time had an opportunity to shoot 5 arrows at a target and were awarded points depending on where the arrow hit.

Next up was BB shooting.  After a quick lesson on safety and how to shoot the gun and load the next BB the children got to shoot 5 BBs at a target.

After that we went to backyard fishing.  The children cast their fishing lines and tried to reel in plastic fish.  Each color was worth a different point value and they had 5 tries to reel some fish in.

Next we split up.  The big boys wanted to do the 3 D archery.  So Art took them to that course (which had 10 different targets.)  While they did that the younger children and I did Angler's Golf and visited the booth on trapping and furs.

We showed our score cards and the children got a little backpack.  We had a short time to eat the lunch that we brought and then head over to the pond for the fishing derby.  The derby went from 12:30-2:00.  Children ages 15 and under could fish for catfish.  Prizes were given for the shortest and longest fish and door prizes were also given out.  All of my children caught at least one catfish and we ended up with 12 total.  Alex caught 2 big catfish that were 17 inches long!  The winning catfish was 18 in.  Nick's catfish was 10 inches and the smallest winning catfish was 9 1/2 inches.

We had a great day and the only thing it cost us was gas and bait.  I will admit that we were worn out by the time we got home.  The boys wanted to go fishing again today!  We didn't, but we did have catfish patties for supper tonight.