When Rachael Baker decided to enter a national essay contest designed for youths with parents in the military, she admits that she kept her expectations low.
“I thought I probably wouldn’t have won it,” the 12-year-old LaGrange girl said on Friday. “I thought there’d be a lot of kids that would have a better essay than I did.”
As it turns out, Baker was wrong.
And her essay on the assigned topic — “What hunting means to me and my family” — earned her a phone call from contest organizers in early August.
“I was actually out at one of my aunts’ camps. My mom called me and I was jumping up and down, screaming,” Baker said.
Her prize: A guided three-day Colorado antelope hunt, with accommodations and meals.
The seventh-grader at Penquis Valley Middle School was originally scheduled to take the trip to Elkhorn Outfitters in Craig, Colo., on Oct. 19. About a week after being notified that she’d won, however, she learned that she’d be allowed to change her plans.
Contest organizers said they were so impressed with her essay they would allow Baker to defer her trip until next fall so that her father, Joseph, who is serving with the Maine Air National Guard in Iraq, will be able to accompany her on the hunt.
Rachael Baker said life without her dad at home has been tough. One day a week, it has been tougher than others.
“Usually he doesn’t go to work on Saturdays and it’s really weird not having him here,” she said.
The contest was staged by Dick Dodds, the owner of Elkhorn Outfitters, with the cooperation of outdoor TV host Jim Zumbo. Contest winners were to have their hunts featured on Zumbo’s Outdoor Channel show, but because Rachael’s hunt won’t take place until 2010, her mom says she’ll miss out on filming.
Youths from 12 to 17 — all of whom had to have a parent deployed on active military duty or wounded in combat or honorably discharged — were invited to share essays of 1,000 words or less that explained what hunting meant to them and their families.
Rachael enjoys hunting, but also takes part in plenty of other activities. On Friday, she was unavailable for an interview until her soccer practice let out. In other seasons, she plays basketball and baseball. She also takes horse-riding lessons and participates in taekwondo.With those other activities vying for her time, it would seem that she’d struggle to find time to hunt.
That hasn’t been the case.
“My dad used to be the coach for my basketball team and I had him usually schedule practices around my hunting time,” Rachael Baker said.
Rachael’s guidance counselor at her elementary school, who serves with Joseph Baker in the Maine Air National Guard, passed along information about the essay contest, and Rachael decided to give the competition a try, with some help from her mom.
“We did work on it together,” said Jen Baker, Rachael’s mom. “She did most of it. She asked a lot of questions and I helped edit it with her. And we couldn’t believe it when we got the call [from contest organizers].
Jen Baker said it’s not uncommon for all four Bakers — 8-year-old son Jacob is also an aspiring hunter — to head into the woods together. The practice began as a matter of necessity, she said.
“[Rachael] has always deer hunted with us, even from the time when she was basically old enough to walk,” Jen Baker said. “I couldn’t afford a babysitter and my husband and I loved to [hunt].”
Even though Rachael and Jacob seemed to like being in the woods, Jen Baker said she wasn’t sure Rachael was going to become a hunter.
“I didn’t know if she’d even want to carry a gun. She’s kind of prissy,” Jen Baker said with a laugh. “She’ll probably kill me for saying that, but it is the truth.”
As it turns out, Rachael did want to carry a gun, and though she has yet to tag a deer, she’s hoping this will be her year.
Last fall, as an 11-year-old, she shot at a doe but missed her target.
In her winning essay, Rachael wrote that she hopes to be able to send word to her father after a successful hunt this fall.
“I hope to get a deer this year so I can make my dad proud,” she wrote. “I am told he is proud of me no matter what, but it would be sweet to send him a picture of me with my first deer.”
If Rachael does bag her first deer, she knows that she’s going to have a bit of a problem to deal with.
“I told [my dad] I will have to find someone to gut it for me, though, because my mom won’t and neither will I,” she wrote in her essay. “That is just gross.”
Belfast group plans outings
The Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition is planning a couple of upcoming events that outdoors enthusiasts may want to consider.
On Sept. 11 the group will hold an all-day gathering at Knight’s Pond in Northport. Hikers will want to show up at 10 a.m. for a trek up Ducktrap Mountain. Others can join the festivities at noon at the beach and boat launch for swimming, boating, picnicking and socializing.
Attendees should bring their own lawn chairs and lunch. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 338-1147.
For those seeking an educational outlet, the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition will team with the Waldo County YMCA to hold an all-day excursion to Acadia National Park on Sept. 15. The rain date for the event is Sept. 16.
Bird expert Seth Benz will lead the group on the trip, which will last from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Participants are advised to bring a lunch, sunscreen, water and binoculars. The cost of the trip is $25 and reservations should be made in advance by calling 338-4598.
