Overfield wins cow elk hunt

At the Wyoming State Shoot in Douglas July 6-9, the last award given out was the 4-H Forever Wild Award, provided by the Skyler Gabel Group and won by Lexi Overfield, daughter of Heath and Bobbi Overfield.

The award comes with it one of two guided cow elk hunts on a private ranch. Heath further noted Lexi filled out an application to get an elk tag, and will be hunting in Hunt Area 49. The season opens in August and closes in December, and the group is working with the Overfields to determine a good weekend for the hunt.

Heath said they didn’t know Lexi had won the award until the announcement at the State Shoot. The event has various shoots, including air rifle, air pistol, .22 rifle, archery, muzzleloader and shot gun. There is also an outdoor skills competition.

Heath explained the outdoor skills event has different sections. There is a written test, an animal identification course during which participants have to identify animal pelts, feathers, skulls and prints, an outside distance competition where they have to estimate their distance from various targets, and a way finding and orientating exercise in which they’re given directions and must find their way to a stake.

The Forever Wild Award is given to the intermediate competitor who scores the highest in the outdoor skills event, and who also competes in at least two of three shooting events out of muzzleloader, shotgun and archery. Lexi placed third in the outdoor skills competition with an 85, and competed in archery, shotgun and muzzleloader.

The Skyler Gabel Group is a non-profit, (501(c)(3)) corporation that was founded in 2016 in memory of Skyler August Gabel, a young hunting guide who was killed in a truck accident while checking his trapline on the Chief Joseph highway in 2013. Described as an “old soul”, Skyler cherished the older generation of mountain men who frequented coffee shops and trailheads throughout the state. He worked to learn their stories, trades, and ethics as he pursued the life of a 21st century mountain man.