It’s all about the next generation, and NWTF is taking a proactive role in getting youth outside.
NWTF Programs Lead Movement to Get Youth Outdoors
EDGEFIELD, S.C. — Excitement fills the air as numerous children are exposed to a wide variety of outdoor activities like wildlife identification, fishing, archery and BB gun shooting. This is the typical atmosphere at one of the more than 1,000 National Wild Turkey Federation JAKES Day events held each year across the country.
Keeping in line with Every Kid in a Park, the new White House initiative, the NWTF JAKES program, which stands for Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship, was designed to inform, educate and involve youth in wildlife conservation and the wise stewardship of our natural resources, as well as show them the many ways to have fun outside.
The NWTF started the JAKES program in 1981, and as many as 100,000 youth attend JAKES events each year. More recent programs like Xtreme JAKES and JAKES Take Aim have expanded the program with advanced outdoor opportunities and challenges to reach the older youth.
“Children want to explore new things; it is in their nature,” said Teresa Carroll, NWTF hunting heritage program coordinator. “We are just giving them a push to try new things outdoors.”
The latest major JAKES event was during the 39th annual NWTF Convention and Sport Show at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, February 12-15. The convention’s 40,000-square-foot Family Adventure Village, sponsored by Mossy Oak, was free to the pubic and featured live seminars, bait casting, airgun and virtual clay target ranges, a 3D archery competition and many additional hands-on activities for the young or young-at-heart
About the National Wild Turkey Federation
The NWTF is a nonprofit conservation organization that works daily to further its mission of conserving the wild turkey and preserving our hunting heritage. Through dynamic partnerships with state and federal wildlife agencies, the NWTF and its members have helped restore wild turkey populations across the country, improving more than 17 million acres of wildlife habitat and introducing 100,000 people to the outdoors each year. The NWTF was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Edgefield, S.C. According to many state and federal agencies, the restoration of the wild turkey is arguably the greatest conservation success story in North America’s wildlife history. To learn more, visit www.nwtf.org or call (800) THE-NWTF.
About Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt.
The NWTF Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative is a charge that mobilizes science, fundraising and devoted volunteers to give the NWTF more energy and purpose than ever. Through this national initiative, NWTF has committed to raising $1.2 billion to conserve or enhance more than 4 million acres of essential upland wildlife habitat, create at least 1.5 million hunters and open access to 500,000 acres for hunting, shooting and outdoor enjoyment. Without hunters, there will be no wildlife or habitat. The NWTF is determined to Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt.
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Mia Anstine is an outdoor writer, licensed outfitter, hunting guide, life coach, keynote speaker, and range safety officer, firearms instructor, and archery instructor. She is the founder of MAC Outdoors and Host of the MAC Outdoors Podcast.
Mia Anstine strives to encourage others to get outside, hunt, fish, shoot, and survive life with others in a positive way.
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Mia Anstine
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