One Youth s S tory
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T
"
here were 75 turkeys in this field the
other day," said father Jim Tubbs of
Lincoln to his 13-year-old daughter,
Jaci, during a recent turkey hunt near
Denton. However, while there were
turkeys seen early the morning of the
hunt, not a single one came within
bow range while Jaci and her dad were
hunting. But no worries – with a $5
turkey permit in one pocket and a
lifetime small game hunting permit in
her other, that morning was just the
beginning of a life in the outdoors for
this young lady.
"She drew her own name during a
raffle with the Prairie Bowmen in 2007
for the half-priced lifetime small game
permit," said Jim, also a volunteer mentor
with the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission. However, it wasn't until she
was 11 that she wanted to start hunting
with dad. "When she asked me if she
could go I told her it was time to buy her
a shotgun – but she declined," he said.
"If I can't bow hunt with you I'm
not hunting," Jaci told him. "I don't like
loud noises."
From that point forward, Jim had a
new hunting partner – the same person
who had been his shooting partner since
she was 5. "She started with a Brave
recurve bow at that young age," Jim said,
"then I got her a Stacy compound." By the
time she was officially able to start
3
shooting in the Natonal Archery in
the Schools Program (NASP) in fourth
grade, Jaci had been shooting with her
dad for several years. Her experience
quickly showed.
As a sixth grader she was the NASP
state runner-up in the elementary division,
which she followed up with a state title in
the 2013 junior high division as a seventh
grader. In May, she took this title on the
road and competed against 10,000 other
shooters at the NASP national tournament
in Louisville, Ky.
But as much as she likes competition
shooting, the mornings in a hunting blind
keep pulling her back. "I get more excited
hunting than shooting targets," she said,
"probably because my targets move when
I'm hunting. I've even been shaky."
Ironically, she wasn't shaky at all when
shooting for an additional $1,000 scholarship during a NASP shoot-off at the state
competition in March, a contest she won
for all female age brackets.
Yet hunting remains different.
Although she has been going with dad
for years, she's still waiting for her first
archery kill of any kind. And while it's
probably not the right time for her to be
thinking about shooting small game with
her bow yet – perhaps there's a rabbit hunt
in her future – that day may soon come.
If so, she'll have the lifetime permit
to do it.
