Kiera’s Journey In The Outdoors
By Brittany French
In October of 2020, Kiera went from longing to hunt like her late grandfather used to do to fulfilling that dream on her first deer hunt at Markel Ranch with mentor, Michael Pearce. Kiera had successfully completed her Kansas Hunter Education class and spent some time shooting 22’s to get comfortable squeezing the trigger and acquiring a target in her scope. Even though she was nervous about her first hunt, she didn't let those nerves throw her off her game. She said it helped that he had a mentor that kept her occupied in the blind by talking about deer behavior and going over a plan for the hunt. Later in the day the scream “I GOT IT” was heard around the world as Kiera successfully harvested her first deer and animal ever. Kiera told me that “when I shot her and went to put my tag on her, it’s like a whole new world and a new side of me opened up.”
Kiera’s world quickly became consumed with the outdoors. Any hunt she could do, she was signing up for it! She was going on waterfowl hunts, upland hunts, turkey hunts, dove hunts, squirrel hunts, and even prairie dog hunts. Kiera once attended a waterfowl hunt where her and the other youth hunters harvested 9 banded geese! She attended a different waterfowl hunt where she shot her first ring-neck duck. She can even say she has hunted out of state after she successfully harvested an antelope in Wyoming.
To date, Kiera has gone on over 30 events with our organization and we can’t get enough of it. Kiera will be graduating from high school soon and she has aspirations to go to culinary school. She has always loved to cook and entertain others and the outdoors has encouraged those aspirations that much more. Kiera said that “the outdoors has influenced my future because I want to own my own restaurant one day and in that restaurant I want to harvest my own food and grow my own food to cook it for people to enjoy. I love that I have all of this experience now.” I love that Kiera has found a passion that multiplies her aspirations.
Kiera said, “Without Outdoor Mentors, I would not have gotten a lot of the opportunities that I have had today. I don't have access or enough knowledge to even begin to hunt on my own.” Our program is rooted in the passion of our volunteer mentors. Our volunteer mentors are part of our Outdoor Mentors family. They provide a wide range of mentorship like game identification, animal behavior education, training and running hunting dogs, and so much more. It is because of these passionate mentors young hunters like Kiera have the opportunity to grow in the outdoors. Kiera said, “most of my mentors have been very knowledgeable, very fun to work with, and very understanding of the frustrations that come with hunting. I am thankful for that!” Kiera has learned a lot of valuable lessons from hunting. Even though we all love it when our hunt comes together and is successful, we all know that isn’t always the reality!
As you can imagine, Kiera does not have any plans to stop hunting anytime soon. She said, “after 2 years of experience, I have a big bucket list. I want to hunt moose, elk hunt, black bear hunt, and I want to shoot a big whitetail buck. If everything was lined up perfectly, I feel like I could go out and hunt on my own because I feel like I have been taught how to make good decisions while out hunting, know when to ask for help, and even do some calling even though I am not very good at it.” I don’t know about you, but I foresee Kiera being a future mentor in the Outdoor Mentors Program!
From mentor to mentee: Kiera, I want to know how inspired I am by you. I am proud to call you a hunting buddy and friend. Please keep being authentic and your true self. You are breaking barriers and advocating for yourself through the outdoors. Your future is so bright and I can’t wait to see you flourish. You are inspiring so many of your peers and reminding many of us like myself why we love the outdoors. I can’t thank you enough! -Brittany French
