IN THE HUNT; FAMILY PROGRAM OPENS SPORT TO YOUNGSTERS.

Byline: Rich Hammond

GORMAN - A more unlikely pairing could not have been found than that of a retired aerospace worker and a teen-age boy, complete with the bill of his hat turned at a 45-degree angle.

Their union, however, was a successful one on a brisk morning last Saturday. The duo, although separated by two generations, was able to share a common affection for the outdoors as they participated in last weekend's Department of Fish and Games-sponsored Family Pheasant Hunt.

The event, held over two days on state-owned land just south of Gorman, attracted the maximum 100 people for up to three hours of hunting in a family environment. The birds were provided by the DFG, at no cost to the hunters, and volunteers from the Santa Clarita chapter of Quail Unlimited provided their expertise and their dogs for service.

Fathers, sons and daughters from all over Southern California made the journey north, with some of the children getting their first taste of the wide-open land this largely-unincorporated area has to offer.

``This is just great for new hunters,'' said 15-year-old David Richard of San Pedro, who made the trip with his father and three neighbors. ``They take you out, and give you a practically one-on-one experience in the field. If you have a child who wants to learn, there's nothing better than coming out with these volunteers.''

The Family Pheasant Hunt is the first of two annual events organized by Quail Unlimited and the Department of Fish and Games. The first is a youth hunt, which spawned the family hunt, a chance for parents to get involved with their children's learning experience. Saturday marked the fourth year of the successful event.

``There's a guy out here who brought his son a few years back, and they had a great time,'' said Bruce Kenyon, chairman of the Santa Clarita Valley Quail Unlimited. ``Now he's back out here volunteering, camping out with us and helping to plant birds in the field.''

The event is designed for the success of the children. Hunters were brought out in small groups (four of five maximum) into large fields, marked clearly for safety purposes, and for each hunter, two birds were deposited in the field.

The hunters had almost three hours to shoot all of the birds, and if some were left over, all of the birds were gathered in one field at the end for a youth-only hunt.

All of the children had to pass a hunter safety course, and volunteers had the option to pull the plug on any young hunter who appeared unsafe. Fortunately, that was not necessary, although the nervous energy in the morning among the youngsters was almost palpable.

``Oh yeah, he's a little nervous,'' said Luke Bruiniag of Lakewood, who brought his 13-year-old son Jeff to the hunt. ``Last weekend we went out and did some hunting, and he did just fine, but he still gets a little nervous.''

Jeff, who looked as professional as anyone with his orange cap, admitted that he wasn't as cool and calm as he may have appeared.

``I get kind of a queasy feeling before I come out here, and I'm not sure why, but when I get out there, it's a lot of fun,'' said Jeff Bruiniag, who came out with a school friend and his father.

``My dad bought me this real nice gun a couple years ago, and I wanted to start using it. He's taken me out a couple times, and I have fun, I love hunting.''

While events like the family hunt help entertain and education young people in the ways of the outdoors, they also help the people who organize them, those who are interested in future of the sport.

``A lot of people don't realize it, but hunters pay for a lot of the environmental projects that are done by the state,'' Kenyon said. ``If we don't get young people involved right now, pretty soon all of us old folks are going to be too old to hunt, and there's not going to be a new generation of hunters.''

One of the volunteers, Dwayne Blankenship, is not a member of Quail Unlimited but has offered his time to many youth events in the past. The Burbank resident helped plant birds and led groups into the field with his dogs.

``It's a wonderful educational thing, and a great chance for fathers and sons and fathers and daughters to come out and spend some quality time together,'' Blankenship said. ``They get to enjoy this beautiful environment, which a lot of them probably don't get a chance to do that often.''

As Blankenship said, most of the young hunters are city boys and girls, who might only have the chance to venture into the wilderness a half-dozen times a year at most. The Meadows brothers, 13-year-old Matt and 12-year-old Shaun, usually see their shooting limited to a pistol range near their San Pedro home.

``We get to go up to Alamo Lake with our dad a couple times a year, but other than that we don't get any chance to hunt close to where we live,'' said Matt Meadows, whose father also brought out the family dog for its first hunting experience. ``They make this a lot of fun, and it's really nice for the Quail Unlimited volunteers to come out and help us.''

The volunteers, to a person, seem to be more than happy to provide their services.

``I remember at one of these events, I was out with a little 11-year-old girl who had never held a gun before,'' Blankenship said. ``With her first shot, she got a bird. One shot, one bird. I was looking at her from behind, but I could still see the corners of her mouth in a smile, from ear to ear.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo: (1) Patty the dog does her job, bringing back a quail during the Family Pheasant Hunt

(2 -- color) This is one lucky quail. It escaped the hunters' gunshot.

(3 -- color) Shaun Meadows is tested by Fish and Game officials before he's allowed to hunt.

(4 -- color) Dwayne Blankenship, a volunteer with Quail Unlimited tells novice hunters where to walk and not to scare the quail.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News