Tennessee Volunteer Leaders Mentor Youth, Help Raise Funds for St. Jude
EDGEFIELD, S.C. — Recently, Tennessee NWTF State Chapter President Marcus Darnell and NWTF National Board of Directors member Joe Shults partnered with Hunting the Cure to help guide in a benefit turkey hunt for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Each year, they guide a youth hunter who has helped raise the most money for the event.
This year’s first place winner was Carson Crider, a 14-year-old young man with Down Syndrome who has experienced the life-changing power of the outdoors. Carson had always been shy until he was introduced to hunting and the outdoors. He harvested his first deer and his first turkey last year, and he has been hooked on outdoor pursuits ever since. His parents have seen how the outdoors have brought him out of his shell.
Mike Maddox, the owner of White Oak Falls, provided lodging and donated his property for the hunt. Early on a Saturday morning, Darnell, Shults, Carson and Carson’s father, Clint Crider, placed their decoys and set up in a blind.
While no turkeys were harvested in the morning, by the afternoon and in a new location, a tom showed up, attacking the decoys 15 yards in front of the hunters. With a little help from his father, Carson successfully harvested the bird, which weighed in at 21.6 lbs., with an 11-inch beard and 1.5-inch spurs.
Clint said that in his son’s 14 years, he had never seen Carson as excited as he was in that moment. He thanked Darnell and Shults for everything they had done for his son.
“But Shults and I got the better end of the deal,” said Darnell. “I remember a much older hunter telling me early on in my hunting career that he enjoyed calling in a bird for a kid or a first-time hunter much more than for himself. I didn’t understand it then, but I do now.”
Darnell’s advice to seasoned hunters is simple.
“Whatever you’re doing in life, giving and helping others is more rewarding than you can possibly know,” he said. “I hope you get to experience what I did that Saturday afternoon with a special young man, his father, one of my best friends and God’s majestic outdoors.”
The Tennessee NWTF State Chapter has supported this event since its inception, donating a gun to be auctioned off every single year they have had the event.