When Samantha Edgell raised her gun and harvested her first wild turkey at the age of 8, the pride her father felt was overwhelming. Tears streamed down his cheeks and in a flash, the man most know as a serious hunter stopped caring about harvesting his own animals.

“I had a tag, but it’s all about her,” said T.J. Edgell, co-owner of the Sportsman’s Barber Shop, which reveres all game species on their walls in the form of shoulder and full-body mounts and memorabilia in the eclectic shop,

Turkey hunting is a big thing in the Edgell family, T.J. explained. His father, Doug, passed the love for hunting gobblers to him and he and his wife, Kim, are now passing on the sport to their children.

“I’ve done it my whole life. It’s very special to me,” he said. “Hunting has always been my sport. And for my girls and my wife to enjoy it with me is just very, very special.”

Now 12, Samantha just had a year most experience-hardened hunters dream about. She began the season by harvesting a Heart Mountain-area pronghorn doe. Not only was her father guiding the trip, her 6-year-old sister, Lucy, was on the trip.

Many hunters are nervous on their first big game hunts, but not Samantha.

“I was pretty confident and excited,” she said of the single shot she took with her long-range 6.5 Creedmoor.

Once again, T.J. was flooded with emotion.

“Seeing her harvest her first big game animal was better than me shooting the moose I got or the big black bear. It was way better than anything I’d ever harvested,” he said.

Samantha followed with a second pronghorn doe near Burlington in the following days. Then she harvested her first antlered deer, taking an impressive 4-by-5 whitetail brute along the Greybull River. She took the shot from a tree stand sitting right next to her father with her uncle, Bo Warner, in a stand a few hundred yards away.

“I was really excited because I knew it was a big one. So I was like, really happy,” she said.

But her season wasn’t over. She had a second whitetail tag and filled it on her very next hunt, felling another beautiful buck.

Her season was almost over, but she had also drawn a cow elk tag. The duo scoured Hunt Area 54 for the herd for several weeks, but the herd managed to avoid the huntress on every attempt. She’s also an athlete, participating in volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter. With a busy activities schedule, Samantha failed to connect with her cow, although T.J. was able to harvest a nice bull in the same area while his daughter was busy. Lucy was also able to harvest her first rabbit during the season.

Regardless of the missed elk, Samantha had quite a presence on the Powell Middle School “brag board.” But schoolmate Russell Goolsbey, 12, made sure there was an elk on the board featuring photos of students and their harvests.

Like Sam, as her father calls her, Russell was on his first big game hunt after passing his Hunters Safety course. Children can hunt small game at a younger age, but must be 12 to hunt big game.

And like Sam, Russell comes from a family with a heritage of hunting.

“As a family, we’re pretty outdoorsy,” said his father, rancher Bill Goolsbey. “We all like to hunt and fish and spend time in the mountains.”

They headed out on a multi-day elk hunt on horseback in Hunt Area 51 with “Grandpa Lee” Craig. The area in the Absaroka Mountain Range just east of Yellowstone National Park is not for the faint of heart.

They were having a hard time finding elk the first two days despite riding hard. Then, after leaving their cabin two hours before sunrise on day three, they found hopeful signs.

“All of a sudden we just started finding fresh tracks and beds,” Russell said. “We came over this little hill and there were at least 30 head of elk running around. So my dad and I jumped off our horses, I grabbed my gun and dad grabbed his and we started after them.”

Stalking is Russell’s favorite part of hunting and he was excited to be with his dad and grandfather on the ground with elk all around them.

Soon a young bull stepped out at about 150 yards. Russell lifted his rifle and quickly shot the beast off hand.

“I dropped him dead where he was standing,” he said.

He had already hunted small game including waterfowl, upland game birds and rabbits. He was a confident hunter before chasing his first big game, thanks to his father, grandfather, mother Kalee and extended family.

Bill and Kalee have their hands full with six sons, all of whom can’t wait for their turn in the field. Even the youngest, 19-month old Ryatt, is excited to join in the fun.

“He already runs around with a toy gun,” Bill said.

Both families understand the importance of instilling an appreciation for nature and outdoor sports. Unlike many states, Wyoming still has a growing level of young adult recruitment, ensuring our hunting heritage continues into the future. On average, over 4,000 students annually earn a Wyoming Hunter Education certification, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Recruitment is important to conservation, said Tara Hodges, Cody Region information and education specialist.

“Recruitment of young or new hunters promotes conservation. For many, outdoor experiences like hunting help forge a connection and an appreciation for wildlife and wild places. These experiences can cultivate a lifelong love of the outdoors and help individuals become advocates for conservation, ultimately benefiting our state’s deeply valued wildlife populations and their habitats,” Hodges said.

The department encourages parents to enroll their children in a hunter education class well before the fall they plan to hunt. Late winter and early spring is a great time to take a hunter ed class and many classes are available during this time frame. Wyoming Hunter Ed curriculum is designed for a fourth or fifth grade reading level, so enrolling kids ages 10-12 is ideal, Hodges said. She also encourages parents to join in the class. 

“Attending a class with your child is a great opportunity for parents to share the experience,” she said. 

Families can encourage success by promoting safe, ethical and responsible behavior in their new hunters. Hodges, who teaches Hunter Safety, said practice at the range ahead of time to build confidence and proficiency in marksmanship skills to reinforce safe gun handling practices is important, as are understanding the rules and regulations of their species and hunt areas.

T.J. Edgell said it’s also important to make sure hunting is fun while introducing children to the sport. He encourages parents to start with doe tags and to make sure the first hunts aren’t too taxing on the children. He said he wants his daughters to have success early in the process.

For Samantha, just being with her dad makes the adventure fun, whether she gets a shot off or not.

“I like to make memories with him. It’s quite fun to go along with him and it makes me happy when he’s there when I harvest animals,” she said.

Each year, Game and Fish partners with Wyoming Outdoorsmen and First Hunt Foundation to offer a local program called the Wood River Deer Hunt. This program offers kids and their families new to hunting an opportunity to hunt deer under the guidance of an experienced mentor. 

Applications will be available this spring on the First Hunt Foundation’s website and due in late April or early May. These organizations also offer similar experiences to new hunters interested in turkey hunting, fishing and pheasant hunting. 

New this year, Game and Fish will offer a hunter education camp in July and a fishing camp in late June at the Whiskey Mountain Conservation Camp facility near Dubois. These camps are geared towards families new to hunting or fishing. Registration is now open at wgfd.wyo.gov/Education/Conservation-Education/Summer-Camps