Pheasants, prayer, and supporting seminarian education

For Fr. Max Vetch pheasant hunting has been part of his life since childhood. His father grew up on a farm, and the two returned there each fall. Eight years of seminary made that impossible until last year’s Bishop’s Hunt for Seminarians. Then he got back into the field at an event created to help pay for men like him to become priests.

The Hunt for Seminarians is an annual gathering that supports the education of the diocese’s future priests. It is open to seasoned hunters and novices alike. “Anyone with an interest in being a part of a community that enjoys a taste of nature, crisp fall mornings, the whir of bird wings, love for the Church and her ministers, and the presence of Christ in his people gathered together would derive value from this hunt,” said Father Tyler Dennis, director of the Office of Vocations. “With great food and drink, comfortable accommodations, sporting clays, and good company, it is a day well-spent.”

“To get to hunt with my dad again was a really nice occurrence,” he said. “I was just happy to go pheasant hunting with my dad.” The two roomed together and shared meals. “It’s always a good time just to get together with him on top of everything else that was going on.”

As a seminarian, Vetch said, he wasn’t able to take part in the hunt because it didn’t fit the seminary’s academic calendar. He attended last year as a newly ordained priest and was able to speak at the event about his gratitude for his seminary education and for those who funded it.

“I’ve been on the receiving end for so long,” he said. “It is nice to be able to say, ‘This is something that I also want to put some support behind.’”

He said the events serve more than one purpose. Praying for vocations and giving financial support are both necessary, he said. The hunts also offer something like the fraternity seminarians need in formation. “I’m glad to see that people appreciate them,” Vetch said, “and that guys get together and they want to spend time together.”

His dad, David Vetch, a former director of the Catholic Foundation in Aberdeen, understands the importance of supporting seminarians while they are in school, especially when his son Max was in formation. Over the years, while attending hunts — both east and west river — he was able to get to know several of the young men in seminary, and the hunt gives others the same chance.

“It can be inspiring, and an awakening for a lot of us,” Vetch said. He noted that younger parents can bring their other children along. “It’s a great opportunity in a very social setting. A very South Dakota setting.”

For Vetch, the event also meant time with his son. “As your sons get older, you kind of cherish those times that you can mix in things that you love to do, like hunting, with things that you love to do with your son,” he said. 

At the first gathering he attended, Father McCormick asked him to say a few words as the parent of a seminarian. Vetch said he saw it as a way of paying it forward, a way of thanking those in the room and, prayerfully, the many donors he never met. “To be around all these other good-hearted men and women that show up to support the seminarians, that added a whole different element that just warms the dad’s heart.”

“Our support of events like the Hunt for Seminarians not only builds up the burse from which the funds to educate seminarians are derived, it builds up the Kingdom of God,” said Fr. Dennis. “Every time we gather for Mass, for prayer, to play golf, or to hunt for pheasants, Christ is made present.”

The Bishop’s Dinner and Hunt is held each year to support our seminarians and help prepare these young men to serve the Church in our diocese. This year’s event is October 1-2. Thursday night features dinner, social hour, and a program which can be registered for without attending the hunt. Friday includes morning Mass and hunt. The deadline to register for the hunt or dinner is September 28. 

Want to participate but don’t hunt? Raffle tickets to support seminarian education and enter for a chance to win one of two firearms in our 2026 Gun Raffle are also available.