Deanna Lee had never fired a gun before. She was handed a shotgun one morning last week in Whitehorse and told how to use it.

She was doubtful at first but proceeded to knock 16 out of 25 clay targets out of the sky during a skeet shoot.

Lee, of Carmacks, was one of 84 Junior Canadian Rangers who travelled to Whitehorse from across northern Canada last week to take part in Exercise Skookum Ptarmigan III, a nine-day summer camp held at the Boyle Barracks Cadet Camp and around town.

'I thought I wasn't going to shoot any,' said Lee. 'I got nothing at first.'

She had sprained her wrist the day before when she'd flipped her raft on the Tatshenshini River. Despite her wrist being in a brace and her thumb being swollen and hurting, she persevered.

'I was scared of the kick,' said Lee.

But when she realized it didn't hurt to shoot one of these imposing-looking guns, she lightened up.

'I loved it,' said Lee with a look of satisfaction on her face.

Firearms instructor Chuck Gregerson said several of the girls who took part in the training didn't even know the difference between a rifle and a shotgun when they arrived at the range in the morning.

'Some of the girls were scared to go up and shoot, but then we couldn't take them off the line once they found out how fun and easy it was,' said Gregerson.

'It was awesome watching these kids, they're such instinctive shooters.'

One girl had only ever shot an air rifle in her life and she ended up shooting a 21/25. Her only comment: 'It was fun.'

Gregerson always emphasizes two main points in the way he runs his range: to be safe, and to have fun.

The youth are instructed in proper firearms handling practices and range conduct. As a result, they learn to show proper respect for firearms and enjoy themselves all the more, knowing that everything and everybody is safe.

The same sentiments were expressed at the whitewater rescue site on the Yukon River. Instructor Kevin Daffe, of Tatshenshini Expediting, said he started out the morning with a bunch of non-swimmers.

'This little guy said he couldn't swim. So I grabbed hold of him and jumped off the dock and then let go of him. He was floating (in his life-jacket) so he relaxed and I showed him how to doggie-paddle.

'Now you can't get him out of the water,' said Daffe, gesturing to a young lad from Clyde River, Nunavut. He was clad in a wetsuit, life-jacket, and rafting helmet, wearing a huge grin and jumping off a raft into the churning water below the breakwater of large boulders.

He floated downstream a ways while paddling like a dog desperate for the shore. His peers on land, ready with rescue ropes in hand, cheered him on.

He gained solid ground and, without a moment's hesitaton, climbed back into the raft tethered to the shore, made his way to the front of the boat jutting out into the river, and jumped back into the water.

'The water is fun but you just gotta be safe,' said Canadian Forces instructor Sgt. Jerry van Hantsaeme, standing on the bank keeping a watchful eye on the 14 youth in the water.

'This is a confidence-builder.'

During the camp, the youth took part in rappelling, zip-lining, archery, 0.22-calibre range, canoeing, horseback riding, rafting, ATV safety and other activities they may not get the chance to be exposed to in their small communities.

The Junior Canadian Ranger (JCR) program was designed in the mid-'90s as a way of offering a structured youth program to kids in northern and remote regions of Canada who don't have the same opportunities that youth have in urban centres.

The program is open to all kids between 12 and 18 who live in communities where there isn't a cadet program.

The program promotes pride in communities and in traditional values. Through participation in new and challenging activities, it aims to improve self-esteem, leadership skills and personal health and welfare.

Different than cadets, the JCR Program does not teach any military skills.

The JCRs have a three-fold teaching mandate: bush skills, traditional skills and life skills.

The mandate is broad so that each community can interpret it and teach it as it suits their land and their customs best.

Though administered through Ottawa and Yellowknife, the program relies upon the communities to take ownership and make it work for them and their youth.

As part of the life skills component during the camp, the youth went on museum and cultural tours.

During the evenings, they were busy making bannock and beading and playing some traditional games.

But most of all, for these teenagers, the camp was about socializing. These youth represented 31 small communities from Resolute Bay in the north, to Qikiqtarjuaq off Baffin Island in the east, to Haines Junction in the west.

The youth made new friends with kids from the other end of the country with different first languages and different cultural traditions.

One girl from Sachs Harbour, N.W.T., took out her pen and paper and, from the top of her head, listed all the people in her community. She counted it up. It came to 112 people fewer people than here at the camp!

'At first, the kids were walking around with their heads down,' said Warrant Officer Paul Williams. He was referring to the shyness and worry that comes with travelling thousands of kilometres to a new land and living in close quarters with 140 strangers they may never see again.

After the first day of activities and the experience of working together as a large group, he said the expression of the youth changed dramatically.

'Now that they've got something in common with each other, they're walking around with permanent smiles.'

Stephen Badhwar is a Canadian Ranger and a writer living in Atlin, B.C.