Member of the Louisiana Youth Hunter Education Challenge Team.

At the July event in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Louisiana Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) Gold Junior Team won the 2022 Central Regional YHEC Championship, with the Gold Senior Team finishing in second place.

Sponsored by the National Rifle Association, YHEC is affiliated with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Service (LDWF) Hunter Education Program. According to the YHEC website, it offers a fun environment for children 18 and under to improve their hunting, shooting and safety skills. Through simulated hunting situations, live fire exercises, educational and responsibility events, YHEC builds on the skills learned in basic hunter education courses and encourages safer, lifelong hunting habits.

The challenge has eight areas, including rifles, shotguns, archery, muzzleloaders, wildlife identification, orienteering (using a compass), safety trails (how to navigate safely while hunting), and hunting responsibility exams. .

Led by Carter Neal, the Louisiana Junior Gold Team won the Safety Trail Event and finished 2nd overall. Evan Dupre finished third overall. In the advanced division, Gavin Naquin won his 1st and 3rd overall in the shotgun division and his brother Gage won the wildlife identification division.

Louisiana coach Scott Dupre finished third overall after finishing second in wildlife identification and shotguns and third in archery and rifles. Seth Montgomery was first in coach archery and Buddy Toups was first in coach wildlife identification.

The Louisiana Gold Junior Team placed first in Shotgun, Wildlife Identification, Archery, Safety Trails, and Responsibility Exams. The Louisiana Gold Senior Team won the shotgun division.

Logan Andrus of the Louisiana Bronze Team won the Sportsmanship of the Year Award at the event.

The Louisiana YHEC State Championship event was held in Houma in June. Gavin Nakin was the senior men’s overall winner and Emily Gaudet was the senior women’s overall winner. Neil was the overall junior men’s winner and Cindy Myhand was the overall women’s junior winner.

The Acadiana YHEC Team won the Senior State Title and Terrebonne Junior Deputies won the Junior State Crown.

Here are the individual state winners in each discipline:

Advanced Division

Rifle: Colbie Reich, Junior Councilor of Terrebonne Parish.

Shotgun: Colby Reich, Junior Senator of Terrebon Parish.

Archery: Casey Malak, Lapides Pioneers Youth Team.

Muzzleloader: Gavin Naquin, Acadiana YHEC.

Wildlife Identification: Casey Mallach, Lapides Pioneers Youth Team.

Orienteering: Gavin Naquin, Acadiana YHEC.

Safety Trails: Gavin Naquin, Acadiana YHEC.

Liability Testing: Nathan Rider, Acadiana YHEC.

junior division

Rifle: Carter Neal, Member of Parliament for Terrebonne Parish.

Shotgun: Ben Stokes, Lapides Pioneers Youth Team.

Archery: Evan Dupre, Acadiana YHEC.

Muzzle loader: Evan Dupre, Acadiana YHEC.

Wildlife identification: Ehren Gros, Terrebonne Parish Junior Deputies.

Orienteering: Carter Neal, Junior Delegate Terrebonne Parish.

Safety Trail: Carter Neal, Jr. Councilor of Terrebonne Parish.

Liability Exam: Kenneth Raines, DeSoto Youth Team.

For more information on YHEC, please visit https://yhec.nra.org/.

For more information about the Louisiana YHEC program, please contact Chad Moore at 318-371-5206 or cmoore@wlf.la.gov. For more information on LDWF’s Hunter Education Program, please visit https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/hunter-and-trapper-education.