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Hunting News Latest Hunting News Houston Safari Club Youth Hunter of the Year
Hunting News Latest Hunting News Houston Safari Club Youth Hunter of the Year 
| Houston Safari Club Youth Hunter of the Year |
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| Written by Craig Nyhus | |
| Thursday, 24 April 2008 | |
 Nick Hopmann of League City took this SCI Gold Metal Southern Impala in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in June, 2007. Photo by Mark Hopmann. Nick, 17, is a junior at Clear Creek High School, but started hunting at age five. “I went duck hunting with my dad,” he said. “I remember getting up real early and going to the duck blind. I had a single-shot .410. I think I got real lucky but I got a teal. It’s mounted. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on it.” Nick hunts with his father, grandpa Hofmann and Uncle Don at least every other weekend. “And we do something else at the ranch if all the seasons are closed,” he said. “We’ve always hunted as a family,” said Mark Hopmann, Nick’s father. “And growing up, I hunted with my father and grandfather out in West Texas.” Hopmann owns the Rafter H Ranch in Zavala County. “It’s a 1,000-acre, low-fence, open-range ranch. It’s big enough for our family,” he said. Maintaining the ranch requires work, and Nick does his part. “In the off-season, we fill feeders, fix tractors, seed food plots and dig wells,” Nick said. “There’s always something broken out there.” The pair is always looking for an unusual hunting activity. When the family was in Hawaii one summer, they booked an axis hunt while Nick’s sister and mother went shopping and to the beach. The youth award recognizes more than just hunting accomplishments. Applicants submit essays detailing their conservation efforts, the reasons for their love of hunting and its importance to wildlife. “I tried to explain what hunters do,” Nick said. “It’s not just about going out to kill animals. It’s also conserving them.” Nick is a member of several other conservation organizations, including the Dallas Safari Club, SCI and Texas Trophy Hunters. His best whitetail won the 2007 Los Cazadores Best Youth Whitetail Buck and Texas Whitetail Classic Best Buck, and TTHA Best 17 and Under Buck for the second year in a row. But his favorite hunting accomplishment isn’t personal. “I’ve taken several guys from school to the ranch who had never hunted before,” he said. “They loved it. I taught them gun safety and guided them. We had a nice management buck and one of my friends got to hunt it. After three days, we finally saw him and my friend nailed it — a perfect shot.” And what do the other schoolmates think? “Most think I’m pretty lucky to get off from school and go around the world,” he said. “Even the girls think it’s pretty cool, although some will say they think it’s wrong. Usually when I explain what we are doing and the purpose for it they understand.” The father-son hunting team has made two trips to Africa, and Nick has taken more than 30 species, including three of the Big Five, a lion, a leopard, and a rhino. And the pair left Wednesday for another trip, this time to Zimbabwe, South Africa and New Zealand. “I’m hoping to finish the Big Five and the Big Seven before I turn 18,” Nick said. “I lack the elephant and buffalo for the Big Five, and the crocodile and hippo for the Big Seven. And in December, we’re going to Utah to hunt cougar — that would finish the Dangerous Cats of the World for me.” Nick knows the expense involved and that he is a lucky young man. “I need to get them before I get out on my own,” he said. |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 26 April 2008 ) |
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