Twelve-year-old Dalton Penrod eased the rifle up to his shoulder and peered through the scope.
About half an hour earlier, Greg Flores, the adult leader of the hunt, had told Penrod and his 13-year-old hunting buddy to ask God for a deer. Now, the answer to their prayers - a whitetail buck with a seven-point rack - stood in the fading daylight about 69m away from their blind, grazing nonchalantly on corn that had been tossed by a feeder.
"Take one deep breath and let it out," Flores whispered to Penrod as he helped him steady the gun. "OK, hold it right in the middle of the shoulder."
With the muzzle of the .25-06 single-shot rifle pointing straight at the deer's "kill zone," the boy gently placed his finger on the trigger.
"Squeeze, Dalton," Flores said.
Dalton pulled the trigger, unleashing a 100-grain bullet powered by a deafening thunderclap that pounded eardrums in the tiny blind and echoed off the surrounding hills.
There are hunting clubs for kids and there are fishing clubs for kids. But Cross Trail Outfitters, a nonprofit organization based in San Antonio, might be the first and only one to combine youth hunting and fishing opportunities with Christian outreach and fellowship.
Mike Arnold, the charismatic founder and president of Cross Trail Outfitters - he prefers the title "Chief Outfitter" - says his organization's goal is summed up in its mission statement.
"Building men, preserving our heritage and sharing our faith," Arnold says. "That's what we're about."
On its face, the way the organization works seems like simplicity itself.
Get small groups of boys together with adult leaders for an outdoors experience. Create an environment where the kids feel comfortable talking about their lives, their problems and their faith.
It's not that easy. Most of the boys are at-risk kids. Some are the sons of single moms, with no father figures or other male role models. Others have lived with alcoholics, drug abusers or worse.
Arnold created CTO after a personal journey that included stops in politics, television production and business.
Arnold's last "real" job as an administrator at the Texas Trophy Hunters Association, a for-profit hunting organization, paid him a six-figure income in salary and benefits.
Besides giving him a thorough grounding in hunting and camp craft, his experiences in the field also taught him about the power of nature in human emotions and spirituality.
Love in the outdoors
"I had learned that the outdoors is the way to really reach people," he says. "You find them where they love, you find them where they live and find them in their passions.
"Instead of trying to hook them and drag them and sit them in a pew, get them around a campfire."
Arnold had found a temple, but it didn't have a minister. A devout Christian, he often takes his inspiration from the Bible.
God, the Bible and Christianity are the bedrocks upon which Arnold has built Cross Trail Outfitters. All participants pray before every hunt and every meal.
At night, after dinner, they typically gather and reflect on a "question of the day," such as "what kind of man do you want to be?"
"We don't accept Sunday school answers," Arnold says. "It's so easy to spit out an answer just like that. But, do you really know what kind of man you want to be? We really dig."
With the exception of the club's summer camps - where Arnold says the leaders frequently bring their wives and children in part "to show the kids what functional families look like" - the organization's outings are 99.9 percent male.
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