4-H Extension Corner

Investing in Tomorrow

In 2019, the Alabama 4-H Foundation Board established a scholarship program to honor 4-H students for both their exceptional accomplishments and their hard work. In 2021, the 4-H Foundation has continued its investment in tomorrow by awarding $1,000 scholarships to 36 outstanding 4-H seniors and one $1500 scholarship to Auburn University. To qualify, applicants submitted their 4-H story, resume and a recommendation letter. No scholastic GPA or standardized testing scores were considered in the selections. Instead, the selection committee chose 4-H’ers based on their 4-H involvement and previous participation.

The 2021 recipients for the 4-H Foundation Scholarships are as follows:

Matthew Hughes (Baldwin); Tyler Hrabovsky (Baldwin); Warren Williams (Barbour); Tanner Nolen (Blount); Douglas McWhorter III (Calhoun); Sammi Parker (Cherokee); Shalyn Merida (Clarke); Alyssa Hurst (Clay); Stella McWhorter (Cleburne); Olivia Hay (Coosa); Kloe McCurley (Etowah); Abigail Taylor (Henry); Dawson Williams (Houston); Megann Wilcoxon (Houston); Trevor Woodham (Houston); LeAnne Pace (Lawrence); Carson Alexander (Lee); Ethan Keeton (Limestone); Hannah Enskat (Limestone); Daraja Maye (Lowndes); Silas Wilson (Marengo); Taylor Kirkham (Marengo); Karlee Hardin (Marion); Samuel Sutton (Marion); Suzanna Traynor (Marshall); Gabriella Stagner (Mobile); Sophia Robinson (Mobile); Mattie Poland (Pickens); Cameron Dix (Russell); Christie Miller (Shelby); Marion Bell (Shelby); Heather Gladney (Tuscaloosa); Kenlee West (Tuscaloosa); Garrett Lomoro (Walker); Morgan Humphries (Walker); Brayden Ferguson (Washington).

Ann Barr 4-H Scholarship to Auburn Universi-

ty ($1500): Abigail Luster (Elmore)

To showcase the variety and diversity of the 4-H experiences among these scholarship recipients, we will spotlight seven outstanding seniors:

Marian Bell:

Shelby County

Marian Bell graduated from Hope Christian School and plans to attend the University of South Alabama, majoring in Marketing. She has served as the president of the 2021 Alabama 4-H Ambassadors. During Marian’s nine-year 4-H career, she has been an Alabama 4-H Ambassador, 4-H Citizenship Washington Focus delegate, 4-H Achievement Winner and a participant in a wide variety of competitive projects.

In her school, Marian has held a variety of Student Government offices and been involved in sports and church events and activities. Marian explained, “4-H has taught me that leading isn’t dominating, but it is listening, understanding, encouraging and respecting.”

Heather Gladney:

Tuscaloosa County

Heather Gladney graduated from Sipsey Valley High School. She plans to attend Mississippi State University and major in Agribusiness Management. Heather has been active in the Tuscaloosa County 4-H Livestock Club, where she has shown livestock nine years. She has participated in livestock judging, Quiz Bowl, Skill-A-Thon, Chick Chain and archery. Heather has represented Alabama 4-H in national competitions in Kentucky and Nebraska. At school, Heather is a member of FBLA, Mu Alpha Theta and National Honor Society. “Alabama 4-H prepared me for the real world,” Heather said. “It influenced my college and career plans and changed my life for good.”

Matthew Hughes:

Baldwin County

Matthew Hughes graduated from Fairhope High School and plans to attend Auburn University to major in Poultry Science. Matthew has been active in 4-H poultry projects, such as Chick Chain, Poultry Judging, Egg Cookery end Avian Bowl, where he was team captain for three years. He is a member of the Central Baldwin Livestock and Fairhope Community 4-H Clubs. At school, Matthew is also a member of the National Honor Society and National Art, Math and Spanish Honor Societies. “Through 4-H, I have developed a passion for poultry, and I want to pursue that as a career,” Mathew declared. “4-H has also given me amazing life-long friends and life skills, like leadership and responsibility.”

Morgan Humphries:

Walker County

Morgan Humphries graduated from Jasper High School and plans to attend Auburn University to major in Nursing. Morgan has been a member of the Walker County 4-H Youth Council and participated in the Alabama 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program (WHEP) – where she has won multiple state awards – and 4-H Chick Chain. She has also attended Mid-Winter Retreat, 4-H Summer Camp and 4-H Football

Day. Morgan shared, “The people, education, and skills I have gained through 4-H have helped mold me into the young woman I am today: a young woman who knows that there are no limits to what she can accomplish.”

Abigail Taylor:

Henry County

Abigail Taylor graduated from Headland High School and plans to attend Auburn University, majoring in Computer Science. Abigail is an Alabama 4-H State Ambassador, President of the 4-H Wiregrass Ambassadors and President of the Henry County 4-H Youth Council. Abigail has completed many 4-H activities, such as Chick Chain, Henry/Houston Poultry Quiz Bowl, $15 Challenge, Have I Got a Story and Freestyle Demonstration. “Throughout my years in 4-H, I have learned to work as a team with my 4-H peers,” Abigail mused. “Through my various experiences, I have also learned amazing leadership skills and had exposure to wonderful adult mentors.”

Silas Wilson:

Marengo County

Silas Wilson graduated from Grace Christian, and he plans to become an Electrical Lineman after training at the Southeast Lineman Training Center. Silas has been a member of the Marengo County 4-H Youth Council and the Marengo Ranger 4-H Club, where he has been a club officer numerous years. He attended Alabama 4-H Mid-Winter and Southern Region Teen Leadership Conferences. Silas completed numerous 4-H projects, including Blocks Rock, Cooking, Archery, Robotics, Freestyle and Christmas Ornament Challenge. A volunteer firefighter, he is very active in his local church and community theater. “The lessons and skills 4-H has taught me, the opportunities to learn the value of serving, and the connections I have made throughout the years, have helped shape my life into one of service, honor and respect,” Silas explained. “I will continue to practice these qualities as I advance into adulthood.”

Warren Williams:

Barbour County

Warren Williams graduated from Eufaula High School and plans to attend Tuskegee University to major in Business Administration. Warren has been serving as an Alabama 4-H Ambassador for two years and is a member of the 4-H Adventures and 4-H Eufaula High School Clubs in Barbour County. Warren has attended multiple Alabama 4-H Mid-Winter Retreats and was a delegate to Southern Region 4-H Teen Leadership Retreat in Tennessee. Warren is also a member of his school’s marching band, where he served as a section leader this year. Warren is also a Junior Ambassador for the Eufaula/Barbour County Chamber of Commerce. Warren stated, “If you keep calm and focus on your short-term goals, then it will be easier to achieve or fulfill long-term goals.”

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Following the Crimson Trail

Keys to Recovering Your Trophy

Think like a crime scene investigator. Remember that blood drops or splatters aren’t going to be only directly on the ground. Whitetails brush up against many objects like trees, brush, tall grass or corn stalks. (Photo Credit: Todd Amenrud)

Here he comes – flaunting a set of antlers so big it looks like a rocking chair atop his head. Your legs shake and your heart is pounding so hard you wonder if he can hear it. You can’t look at the antlers because that just makes the nervous excitement worse. Your dream buck is closing the distance fast! He’s about to cross one of your shooting windows – antlers, head, neck, shoulder … pick a spot. Release! Where did you hit? Did your arrow pass through? Now what?

A good pass-through hit in the vitals is what every bowhunter wants. If you achieve it, oftentimes you can witness your quarry topple over after a short distance or at the very least you’ll have a very easy-to-follow trail. However, what happens when your hit is not immediately fatal? How you act and what you do next will have a huge influence over whether or not you recover the animal. After a good double-lung hit, tracking a deer is usually very easy. After a less-conclusive shot, you’ll need to master the skill of “blood-trailing” and finely hone your talents of observation and deduction if you hope to recover your reward.

After you “drop the string,” “follow through” with your shot and then watch and listen intently. Seeing your arrow in flight and where you hit is valuable. With the fast arrow speeds these days, it can make that difficult. Lighted arrow nocks and bright-colored fletchings tend to help. I like to fletch my own arrows and will always use two white feathers and one brightly-colored cock-feather. A white or bright yellow “arrow dip” can also help.

Make several reference points to where the animal was standing when you shot and where you last saw

it. Watch the reaction and listen carefully as your quarry bolts – if he runs off at all. Pay close attention to sounds that might reveal the direction or heading. Listen for general sounds, but also for specific noises like water splashing, dry leaves crunching, branches snapping, or rocks clinking that might lead you to a unique spot. Keep listening for several minutes after the shot. Often you’ll hear the animal change direction, crash or kick as it expires. Make reference points to where you heard the last sounds. Every now and again, you’ll shoot a deer that just stands there as if nothing has happened even though they’ve been shot. With surgically sharp broadheads and if you don’t hit a bone, an arrow can slice through your target like a hot knife through butter and he may not react at all –until he topples over from blood loss. Mark the exact spot that the animal was standing when you took the shot. If you can’t find “first blood,” use it as a reference point and line it up with the last spot that you saw the animal. This can save loads of time when you’re trying to pick up the trail. Next, try to recover your arrow. If you can locate the arrow, examine it carefully. The color of the blood, hair samples, or the smell on the arrow can often tell you exactly where you hit. Dark-red blood typically means a liver hit. Pink frothy blood usually means a lung hit. Bright-red blood may be heart, arteries, or muscle — in this case, the volume of blood you see is a good indication of which it is. If you suspect a gut shot, you’ll easily detect a foul smell on the arrow. If the arrow is still in the animal this could lead to other important clues down the trail. Unless you saw the animal expire, I suggest leaving it for at least an hour. In fact, unless I’m far from my vehicle or someone else has dropped me off, I purposefully don’t bring my camera or field-dressing equipment with me so I have to return to my vehicle to get it. This helps me avoid the temptation to get on the trail immediately, which usually isn’t wise. Many other places on a whitetail’s anatomy offer lethal hits. It’s not humane to try for those shots, but sometimes it happens. With a

gut shot, back out and give the animal at least six hours. It’s a lethal hit, but if you push the animal your odds of recovery decline precipitously. A liver hit, characterized by its dark-red blood, is also lethal, but again, you need to give the animal time – I suggest at least three hours.

If you give the animal that time, more than likely you’ll find it dead in its first bed, which should be less than 200 yards from the hit. The blood on a muscle hit often resembles heart or artery blood but there will be much less of it. You’ll know if you hit a major artery or vessel. The occasional drop of blood can also resemble a gut shot where fat or intestines can plug the exit hole.

My theory on a muscle hit differs from some. Normally, you would want to let the animal bed down and bleed to death. With a muscle hit, if the animal beds down, chances are the wound will start to heal. With this hit, I suggest hitting the trail to pursue the animal right away. Don’t let up, be steady and ruthless. Keep pushing until you can either finish off the animal or you know it will survive.

Another exception to the “give the animal time” rule is in cases of inclement weather. If rain or snow is moving in, I’ll scratch my usual wait time and take to the trail immediately. Only if I bump the animal out of a bed do I retreat and wait longer. Fresh sign is so much easier to track than that which has been diluted and wet or covered by snow.

On tough trails, examine every tiny clue carefully. If a track is not evident, inspect blood splatters for the direction of travel. Remember that blood sign may not only be on the ground, whitetails brush up against many objects like trees, brush, and tall grass while they travel. Think like a CSI (Crime Scene Investigator).

One thing I have learned after being on hundreds of wounded-deer trails in my day – they almost always head “home” after being wounded. If an animal suffers a wound that’s not immediately fatal, he’ll almost always head toward his primary bedding area. Scouting, trail cameras and knowing the buck you’re hunting obviously helps here.

While on the trail, make sure to scan the area in front of you with binoculars. Enlisting a tracking buddy is a great help. The first person on the trail should be scanning the ground in front of them often.

While some tracking help is great and will help

Use any sign available to find the valuable prize at the end of the trail. Obviously, blood is the main clue we’re following, but sometimes blood can be sparse so you’ll have to rely on tracks, broken branches, or subtle differences like no dew on a trail through a meadow of otherwise dewdrenched grass. (Photo Credit: Todd Amenrud) immensely, too many people can have the opposite results. Everyone wants to be the first person down the trail, after all – it’s very exciting! But in that rush of scrambling for the front of the pack you’re probably destroying valuable clues. The rule we use is the hunter who made the shot is always first on the trail or gets to choose who goes first. Just like a CSI detective that tells the rookie to get out of the area so they don’t destroy evidence, the same goes for a blood trail. Especially on afternoon hits that you’re tracking at night, you’re often destroying more signs than you’re seeing. Three, maybe four people tops is perfect for a blood trail. Go slow! If you get to the point where you’ve lost the deer and you’re going to search a grid pattern, then

We owe it to the animal, ourselves and every other ethical hunter in our country to pursue a wounded animal until all possibilities are exhausted. Here’s the author with a nice 4x4 with some unique white, piebald spots. (Photo Credit: Todd Amenrud)

the more people the better – the more “eyes” you have the better your odds.

If you’re on a difficult-to-follow trail, carry small pieces of ribbon, toilet paper, or something else you can use to mark new signs and keep you on line. If you lose the blood trail, lining up those markers and following the same heading will usually put you back on track. It all depends on how easy the trail is to follow – if you can go at a constant walking speed, you can simply have your tracking buddy stand by the last sign. When the sign is harder to come by, marking the trail with ribbon or paper can be helpful.

If you’re on an afternoon hunt and dark is approaching, you’ll have to be the judge of how good of a hit you made. Unless you’re confident in a lethal hit, it’s almost always a good idea to back out and come back at sunup, especially if you’re on a tough trail.

I’m confident that a whitetail, especially a mature buck, knows when it’s being pursued and trailed. I’ve seen them accomplish some amazing feats that I swear were done specifically to throw me off the trail. I’ve seen them walk down a creek or through extended areas of water, backtracking down the same trail and then heading off 90 degrees, circling multiple times in a small area, or lying tight to the ground and waiting for me to pass by.

When you’re on the trail of a wounded animal, remain unrelenting and open-minded. If the trail doesn’t lead you to the animal, you can always search a grid pattern in a last-ditch attempt to find it. Persistence and effort will lead you to just as many downed animals as a blood trail will.

Grilled Quail with Caramelized Peaches and Figs

Ingredients

4 semi-boneless quail 1/4 cup melted butter Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 ripe peaches, seeded and halved 8 ripe figs, halved 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar 1 Tablespoon fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Heat grill or grill pan. Brush melted butter on both sides of the quail. Liberally salt and pepper the quail on both sides. When the grill is smoking hot, place quail on the the grill for 3 minutes, then turn alternately for about 2 minutes more, or until golden brown. Remove to a plate to rest.

Pack brown sugar into the cavity of the halved peaches and sprinkle on the flesh of the halved figs. Place the fruit skin side down on the grill for about 5 minutes. Turn fruit over and cook until the brown sugar is caramelized, about 3 to 4 minutes for the peaches and 2 for the figs. Remove the fruit from the grill and top with chopped basil. Divide the quail, peaches, and figs among 4 plates. Serve with a wild rice salad.

About Stacy Lyn Harris

Stacy Lyn Harris is a best-selling cookbook author, blogger, TV personality, public speaker, wife and mother of seven children. She currently lives in Pike Road, Alabama, with her husband Scott and their children. Stacy Lyn regularly appears on cable and broadcast television as a guest chef and sustainable living expert. Her critically-acclaimed “Harvest Cookbook” was published in 2017 and contains many of her family’s favorite recipes, along with stories from her life growing up in the Black Belt and tips she’s learned along the way.