Page 10 - May/June 2022 Outdoor Oklahoma
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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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