By Becky Polaski

The Bucktail Archers Association will hold a benefit shoot Saturday, September 6 and Sunday, September 7 at the Sportsmen's Club in St. Marys. All proceeds from the event will benefit Hunt of a Lifetime. A chicken barbecue will also be held both days in an attempt to raise additional funds for Hunt of a Lifetime.

According to Hunt Of A Lifetime's website, " "Hunt Of A Lifetime" is a nonprofit organization with a mission to grant hunting & fishing adventures and dreams for children age 21 and under, who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. We are doing what we can to make a difference in their life, a dream come true."

Hunt of a Lifetime spawned off of the Make a Wish program several years ago. Clausen explained that Make A Wish used to sponsor hunting and fishing trips along with trips to Disney world and other locations. However ran into problems with animal activists and decided to no longer grant any type of kill activities.

"A lady in northeast Pennsylvania, her son was terminally ill and she went to Make a Wish several times and they refused her," said Bucktail Archers Association Director Rich Clausen. "A place up in Alaska heard about her request and they got together with some sportsmen's clubs and actually brought this child and his father to Alaska for a hunt. Donations kept coming and she and a lawyer got together and decided to form Hunt of a Lifetime."

Registration will be held from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. both days and participants will complete a 3D course of animal targets set up a various yardages.

The animal targets will include turkeys, bears, elk, moose, cougars, and deer.

The Bucktail Archers Association was founded in 1942 and is a local archery, hunting, and practice facility group.

"We've never had a benefit shoot like this in the history of the organization," said Clausen.

The group first got the idea for the shoot at last year's Elk Expo when they spoke with Rusty Davis, the Hunt of a Lifetime Ambassador for this part of the State.

"He explained to us what Hunt of a Lifetime is and I just got with the fellows here and asked them if they would be interested in having a benefit shoot and if they would help me out," explained Clausen. "We've been working at this since last January making plans."

Davis, a native of Punxsutawney, became involved with the organization because his son had a terminal illness. Following his son's death, he wanted to keep giving back to the organization and honor his son's memory.

"We sat down with Davis in January and got an overview of Hunt of a Lifetime was because none of us really understood what Hunt of a Lifetime was about," explained Bucktail Archers Association President Ed Greenawalt. "At that point we decided that we were going to try to do a fundraiser from our organization to give somebody an opportunity to fulfill their dream. That's how this weekend came about."

The Bucktail Archers Association plans to present Davis with a check at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Davis will be present at the event throughout the day on Sunday showing videos about Hunt of a Lifetime and answering any questions that participants might have.

There will be signs providing directions to the event beginning from the south in downtown Saint Marys and from the north at the intersection of Route 255 and Taft Road.

For more information on the benefit shoot, contact Rich Clausen at 834-6841 or Ed Greenawalt at 834-7849.