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2021 CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION
“THE ONE THING I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each year, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and Oklahoma Station Chapter Safari Club
International join to sponsor a creative writing competition for Oklahoma middle and high school students. A boy and a girl from
two age divisions are selected winners. Students were required to write essays using the theme “Hunting: Sharing the Heritage” or
“Archery: What I Like About Archery in the Schools and Bowhunting.” Winners in the age 15-17 category receive a guided antelope
hunt in the Texas Panhandle, and winners in the 11-14 age category receive a hunting trip with Rack Attack Outfitters of Fairview (or
similar) and a scholarship to the Outdoor Texas Camp. In this issue, Outdoor Oklahoma honors senior category female winner Kira
Hatlestad, 15, a 10th-grader from Bartlesville High School.
HUNTING: thing I had to do was take the hunter safety course. We
SHARING THE HERITAGE signed me up for an online class, and I got to learning
about what proper equipment to bring, what to wear,
By Kira Hatlestad how to communicate properly, how to be safe, and
“Some of the best memories are made in the deer how to be a good steward of our land and resources. I
stand” as my dad likes to say. He tells me stories of his passed the class and got my hunter safety card. Over
friends and him when they were younger and spent the next year, I continued to learn more about hunting
time in the woods with his Dad. My first memory of and proper safety. Through my 4-H public speaking
hunting was when I was about 6 years old. I went hunt- project, I prepared a display board on tree stand safety
ing with my dad, Papa, and Pops. I remember going in as well as a presentation on general hunting safety. The
the early morning, decked out in camo overalls and a presentation included survival tips, tree stand safety,
bright orange beanie. I was not a morning person, and gun safety. I had the opportunity to share this
so my 6-year-old self took a nap in the deer stand. information at 4-H speech contests at the local, county,
I remember being woken up to Pops firing his gun. district, and state levels. My display board was also on
I woke up immediately wondering what happened; display at both our county fair and the Tulsa State Fair.
they brought me out Not only was I able to educate the public about safety
“Some of the best memories in the field to the tips but share the memories and experiences that
deer and told me to can be made and handed down through generations
are made in the deer stand” stand by it and take through the hunting hobby.
as my dad likes to say. a picture. We then The next year I went, it was early but I didn’t
loaded up and head- sleep. I was excited to try and shoot my first deer.
ed home for lunch. While I never got the perfect shot that season, I was
When we pulled into the drive, I ran inside as fast determined to try again the next year. Then next year
my little legs could move to tell Grandma, Mom and hunting, I laid eyes on the perfect buck. I took my first
Gigi that “we” got a deer. Grandma got her camera, shot with my shaky hands and missed.
and everyone ran outside. Pops sat me on Papa’s In the summer of 2019, Papa was diagnosed with
flatbed pickup right next to the deer. I examined the lung cancer. He battled that with surgery and hospi-
buck closely. I looked at his antlers, his nose, then his tal stays. With COVID-19 being a new thing in 2020,
body. But the one thing I distinctly remember is his we didn’t want to risk health issues with Papa so
tongue hanging out of his mouth. While I didn’t say missed the 2020 time in the stand. This year, Pops has
anything that year, from that point forward I always had some heart troubles, so we haven’t been able to
thought when something died, its tongue would hit the deer stands yet, but still have two weeks left,
hang out. Playing cops and robbers with my friends and I’m excited for the opportunity.
or WWE Smackdown with my cousins, when I fell While I haven’t got my own first deer yet, I still
victim, my tongue hung out. look forward to the next hunt spending time with my
The next couple years, I continued to take the best family and making memories in the stand. It would be
naps in the deer stand. When I turned 10, I told my dad funny if I shot my first antelope before my first deer,
I wanted to shoot my own deer. He told me the first and I can bet you its tongue will hang out, too!
8 OFF THE BEATEN PATH
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