(Lander, WY) – The Lander Valley High School (LVHS) 4th annual Hunting Stories day took place last week, the now annual event where students/hunters once again learned the art of storytelling as it pertains to their personal hunts.
LVHS teacher and organizer Zach Even explained that the purpose behind the event is to have students get together to share stories and photos from this season’s hunts while showing appreciation for outdoor culture.
About 10+ students shared stories this year, which were accompanied by their mounts and photos/videos from their hunts.
As an added incentive, students who participated were entered into a raffle for some amazing hunting/outdoor prizes, and all attendees had chances to get some pretty cool door prizes as well.
(Sponsors were responsible for all the cool prizes and giveaways for the event, so a big shout out to: the Muley Fanatics Foundation, Ace Hardware, Murdoch’s, NAPA, Swarovski Optik, MAVEN, the LOR Foundation, Eastman’s, Bowhunters Of Wyoming, Wild Iris, Chris McDonald (who donated a set of traps to a very happy recipient), the Sportsman’s Warehouse, Wind River Outdoor Company, and Wyoming Game and Fish.)
While you could tell students had some nerves about speaking in front of the group, once they got going and answered questions from the crowd their storytelling skills kicked in.
Even’s son Brooks shared a harrowing tale of problem solving after one of their pack llamas unexpectedly died at their camp while elk hunting.
After bagging his bull, Brooks and his dad took what meat they could with the one llama they still had, and ultimately had to drive to the other side of the mountain and hike to the remains, not getting back from that trip until after midnight, resulting in one tired llama.
Sam Fyler was the next hunting storyteller, and told of his family hunting trip on opening day.
Sam shared that at one point on the trip, he and his father each took a shot at a small bull from about 500 yards away and they both missed, but because of that miss, another bigger bull got startled and he was able to bag that one (and quite conveniently, the elk dropped only 30 yards away from their camp!)
Even’s daughter Adlyn then told one of her hunting stories involving a trip with the Muley Fanatics Foundation and Cody Robbins from Live 2 Hunt, who was shooting scenes for his show.
Adlyn had a once in lifetime hunt for her deer (which she was able to take down after a few days of scouting), but did share that hunting with a camera crew can be difficult when there are different types of “shots” that need to be taken.
Jacksen Washburn was another speaker, and told a tale of resilience and tracking, ultimately nabbing his elk from about 300 yards away with spotting assists from family and friends.
Check out some photos of the storytellers below!
