November 5, 2009 - TAKING A youngster or an adult novice hunting or target shooting, including archery and bowhunting, is a great way to pass along outdoors traditions. Thanks to the National Shooting Sports Foundation's "Step Outside Sweepstakes," it is also a chance to win one of five $1,000 gift certificates at Bass Pro Shops.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is a premier organization looking out for shooting and hunting traditions, and this is the third year for the sweepstakes.

Enter by taking an online survey describing the experience. Success in harvesting game, actually busting clay pigeons or plinking a bull's-eye is immaterial. Helping others gain exposure to the outdoors is what it's all about.

Virginia is one of a number of states offering apprentice hunting licenses that allow youth or adult novices to join a licensed adult mentor on hunt.

The online survey must be completed by Jan. 1. Winners will be selected in a random drawing Jan. 19.

I took the survey. They do ask for contact information and some background information about your hunting and shooting experiences.

Surveys must be completed online at huntandshoot .org. You can also learn more at stepoutside.org.

YOUTH DEER HUNTING DAY

Speaking of mentoring youngsters, nearly 1,000 deer were checked via the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' telecheck and Internet reporting system on the first special Youth Deer Hunting Day, held Sept. 26.

The initial statistics showed 373 bucks were taken, 496 does and 82 button bucks.

Rifles and shotguns accounted for more than 700 of the deer.

HOTTEST TROPHY AREAS

If targeting the biggest antlers, horns and skulls is part of your hunting priorities, the Boone and Crockett Club has released a list of the states and Canadian provinces where the most record-book trophies have been registered over the last several years.

The club's book-and-trophy scoring system is certainly one of the most recognized, if not the most recognized, means for big game score-keeping. Boone and Crockett trophies include animals taken on free range and in fair-chase hunts. The animals have developed and matured just as nature permitted.

Alaska reigns supreme with nine categories of big game species and subspecies making the record books.

Of course, if you're a nonresident hoping to hunt in Alaska, you better have a bank account to match the ambitions of trying to obtain a record-book entry, since guided hunts (sometimes the only way non-residents are allowed to hunt) seem to be getting increasingly out of reach financially in places such as Alaska and the Yukon.

The reason, of course, is that the biggest critters reside in places such as Alaska and the Yukon, where the country is huge and wild.

While the trophies may be big, wild-game populations don't approach the density of many Lower 48 areas. People are similarly scarce.

Getting in and out can be a challenge, especially when the land is leased (as in the Yukon and British Columbia) to large outfitter concessions. Some destinations have laws and regulations requiring nonresidents to procure services of a guide when hunting some species.

I've been on a number of outfitted hunts, to places like New Mexico, British Columbia, Newfoundland, South America and more. The logistics involved in establishing and maintaining a camp and taking those steps necessary to make hunts as safe and successful as possible are immense. Most people who have been on guided hunts to wilderness destinations know that a quality outfitter is worth the money.

But back to the trophy hotspots, longtime mainstays such as Colorado for mule deer and Montana for bighorn sheep remain top locations.

Other states may surprise some hunters.

Illinois, for example, emerged as the destination for record-class whitetail deer. Judging by the number of Illinois outfitters and booking agents represented at outdoor shows, there is no intent to keep Illinois a best -kept secret.

Utah hunters have been recording the most monster elk, while Nevada is tops for desert sheep and trophy mountain goats, which is somewhat "amazing," as Boone and Crockett reported.