Ill children star in this special hunting story TOM VENESKY OUTDOORS

Forget about deer management, extended bear seasons and a hunting license fee increase.

Put improving wildlife habitat, improving relations with hunters and legislators and new seasons and bag limits on the back burner.

Instead, let’s focus on a group that I feel doesn’t get enough attention and a gesture the Pennsylvania Game Commission can make to help their cause.

I’ve heard brief mentions of the group Hunt of a Lifetime through the years, but never really bothered to look into what they are about.

That changed when I walked up to the group’s table last week at a rural fair. Overpowered by the elaborate displays put on by various state agencies, the Hunt of a Lifetime table sat somewhat unnoticed.

The organization’s display was simple – a few brochures, pictures and free pens sat on the table manned by a single representative, but their accomplishments are significant.

Hunt of a Lifetime is a nonprofit charity based in Erie that arranges and pays for children ages 21 and under, who have been diagnosed with life threatening, critical or terminal illnesses, to go on the hunting or fishing trip of their dreams.

Started in 1999, the organization has fulfilled well over 100 dream hunts and fishing trips.

These are not your typical dream hunts that one may take if they can get time off from work or can save enough money to afford the trip.

These are dream hunts that will provide a bright spot, memories and even hope to a youth whose childhood has revolved around fighting for his or her life.

The Hunt of a Lifetime Web site lists the dreams that have been fulfilled. As I read through them, it reinforced just how much hunting, fishing and just being outdoors can serve as a temporary respite from darker times.

I am willing to bet that thoughts of hospitals, surgeries, illnesses and chemotherapy disappear when a Hunt of a Lifetime youth has a New Mexico elk in their sites or a 200-pound marlin on the end of their line.

But such dream trips don’t have to be in faraway locales, and that’s where the game commission comes in.

We have a small, but healthy elk population in the state, and the agency has awarded a limited number of elk licenses annually since 2000. Considering they haven’t been hunted before then, there are some large bull elk roaming the state.

This year the game commission will award 40 elk hunting licenses (15 for antlered elk, 25 for antlerless) to applicants through a random drawing.

I’d like to see the agency add another bull elk license to the pot and donate it to Hunt of a Lifetime so another young hunter can have a chance to temporarily forget about the grim times while they try to harvest a Pennsylvania trophy.

It would be a commendable gesture by the agency, which in 1999 donated $2,500 to the organization.

I called PGC spokesman Jerry Feaser to see if such a donation was possible and was told there may be a statutory prohibition on the license. If there is, our state legislators would have to amend the Game Code to allow for the donation of an elk license. I can’t see any legislator voting against such a move, and it would be nice to see someone propose it.