On Saturday, April 7, my father Rick Schell held his very first shed antler hunt. We have all decided to call it, 1st Annual Rick Schell Kicking Bear Shed Antler Hunt! I didn’t know what to expect going into this when I said I would help. I read about another shed antler hunt on kickingbear.org so it seemed like it was going to be a blast! Our Lewiston Sportsmen’s Club has held four Kicking Bear events in the past. We’ll be having our fifth Kicking Bear campout and 3-D shoot on June 15th and 16th this year. We have a lot of great volunteers who help each year. The club is located near Lewiston, Minnesota.

My Dad had been planning this shed antler hunt for awhile and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He started to collect a few antlers to set out in the woods so that every child would be able to find at least one antler. He also lined up all the food and started letting people know about the event in advance so they would know when it would take place.

The day finally arrived and everyone started showing up at my parent’s house. We were all getting really excited to get the kids up to where they would be searching for the sheds. The only way we could get them up to where they would be looking, would either to have them walk up the HUGE hill behind my parent’s house, or else take them up on the 4-wheeler. I wonder which one the kids picked! Yep—the 4-wheeler! It was kind of muddy going up the hill and the kids were riding in the trailer hooked on the back of the 4-wheeler. Needless to say when we got to the top, they where COVERED with mud! Think that would stop them? NOPE—they loved it and they even wanted to have a mud fight rather then a marshmallow fight which is what the kids do at the Kicking Bear events.

Everyone finally got to the top safely, thanks to Bill Kramer and me. When everyone settled down, my Dad explained to them what was going to happen and asked them some questions like “What is a shed?” “Why do bucks drop them?” The kids knew exactly what the answers were. “It’s because they have bigger antlers coming in” a little girl explained.

After my Dad told them what else would be going on, Ray Howell led us in prayer and asked God to keep everyone safe while they were out in the woods. Right before we left to look for the sheds, Ray pulled Chuck Perry and me aside and told us about a surprise that he had planned, that we didn’t know about. He said he had a new bow to give to a kid and that we were supposed to mark an antler and that whoever found that particular antler would win the bow. So Chuck went out and did that.

SO NOW IT WAS TIME! We all took off with most of the kids running ahead of the adults and each one trying to be the first kid to find a shed. It didn’t take long. I was way in the back taking pictures and from about 100 yards away, I could hear a kid scream “I FOUND ONE” and then started giggling. So I caught up and I heard kids all around me yelling, “I found one too!” They were all having so much fun. It was pretty neat!

We walked around the woods for about 2 hours and helped each kid find a shed and when we got back we asked if every kid had found one. There were only four kids that didn’t have any luck, so Rick, Chuck, Doug Johnson and I took them over to my Dad’s “special spot” AKA the spot he planted antlers in case not everyone found one. When we got there, we had a problem! The antlers we put there were missing! Little did we know that David Trester, another helper who had not been there the day before because he had to work, had been walking around and found them and actually thought they where sheds. So we had to take them from him without the kids seeing, and put them in a new area for them to find. Eventually every kid found one.

By this time, all the kids were hungry and it wouldn’t be a Kicking Bear event without some food—RIGHT? We grilled venison hot dogs and venison bologna, and served them along with chips and water and pop. Needless to say, it was all gone in a hurry because the kids were really hungry!

After the meal Ray told the kids that he had some prizes for everyone so I handed out numbers to each kid. One of the numbers was a special number that was given to the kid who found the specially marked antler. It had electrical tap wrapped around it. The kid who found this antler was going to be the winner of the new bow. We began calling numbers and handing out prizes and you could see this kid in the background with his head down playing with a stick because his number was not being called.

After we were done handing out prizes, Ray told us that he had a bow to give away and that the kid with the number 20 was the lucky winner of a brand new Diamond bow! You should have seen this kid look up! His eyes were about as big as the moon, and he had a big smile on his face. As he walked over to Ray, he went from being a bummed out kid to being the proud winner of a brand new Diamond Bow!

This weekend was really a fun weekend. Any weekend with a Kicking Bear event involved is fun. I would like to thank my Dad Rick Schell, Chuck Perry, Doug Johnson, David Trester, Bill Kramer and Ray Howell for making time to help kids. Without people like these guys, we wouldn’t be able to do the things we want to do for at-risk and underprivileged youth. It’s because of them that Kicking Bear is alive and strong! We would also like to thank all the kids and parents who came out to the 1st Annual Rick Schell Kicking Bear Shed Antler Hunt. We look forward to seeing you again next year.

Corey Schell

Kicking Bear 1-on-1