Teen Outdoorsman Named To AGFC Student Council

Trestyn Smith became an outdoorsman as soon as he could walk, trailing through the woods with his dad, Derek, and/or uncle, Ryan Lee. He harvested his first deer and his first turkey as soon as he was legal to do so, at 6 years old.

Now age 16, he has been selected as a member of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission’s Student Leadership Council. He will attend his first event next month, just before he begins his junior year at Timbo High School. The program is designed to enable students from around the state to work alongside AGFC Education staff and gain access to learning experiences that they can take back to their classrooms.

The goals of the council are to further leadership skills and conservation knowledge, engage with peers through immersive learning and leadership experiences in outdoor recreation and conservation, learn alongside AGFC experts and explore best practices in conservation, and to embed conservation knowledge and outdoor education into the schools.

This is something of interest to Trestyn, who believes everyone should experience the outdoors and understand the importance that modern hunting practices have on managing game populations. He and his family dine on wild game regularly, and his mom, Amber, is happy to do the cooking.

“We eat whatever he kills – except the varmints,” she says.

Trestyn says hunting is an adrenaline-filled sport that borders on an addiction, and it enables him to provide meat options that are more healthy than what is found at grocery stores.

He will pursue just about any game, but is not into duck hunting. His favorite is turkey.

“There’s no other animal you can hunt that you can basically talk to,” he says.

He lures the birds with a mouth call, which is a latex disk that he manipulates with his tongue and air flow to mimic at least six different sounds as needed, though the “purr, yelp and cut” are most commonly used.

Amber says her son is modest about how accomplished he is with the call.

Trestyn also enjoys using pot calls created by Tommy Adams of Jack’s Custom Calls in Melbourne.

Within the past two years, Trestyn got serious about producing hunting videos as he hunted game with modern gun or bow, and he created his own YouTube channel and branding – Painted Fletchings Outdoors. The name is derived from the fin-shaped aerodynamic device (traditionally made of feathers) at the rear of an arrow. When an arrow pierces an animal, the fletching will often emerge with blood smears, thus is “painted.”

“It’s just a nicer way of saying it,” Trestyn commented.

He designed his logo using Canva, and has since designed logos for other YouTube creators. He edits videos using the CapCut program, where he also adds captions and music.

His enjoyment of producing and editing the videos inspires him to try and make a living at it, but he has a back-up plan of pursuing a career in forestry or in a trade such as HVAC.

He has surpassed his initial goal of 500 YouTube subscribers, and now is shooting for 1,000.

A video captured his intense excitement last September after he harvested a bear in the national forest. Trestyn was deer hunting during bow season and he had gotten bored and pulled up the Bible app on his phone. He soon heard something he suspected was a hog. He saw that it was a bear, but it was too far away. When it came toward his stand he decided to take advantage of the opportunity, knowing that bear was also in season.

Trestyn often hunts with his best friend Casen Cowell, as well as family members, including his 12-year-old brother Westyn. Trestyn also has a little sister, Tatum, who at nearly 2 years old is not quite ready for a deer stand.

Last week he organized his first predator hunt, inviting a group of friends to go out at night in pursuit of varmints that tend to wipe out turkey nests and pursue deer fawns. The group of 10 hunters amassed a pile of armadillos, possums, raccoons, and wild hogs, along with a couple coyotes and a bobcat.

As much fun as he has with the sport, one of his primary goals is simply the enjoyment of nature.

“It’s a good opportunity to get close to God,” he said.

Having her son out in the woods at all hours of the day and night used to scare his mother, but that has changed.
“It used to scare me to death,” Amber says. “But I’ve gone with him a few times and I’m pretty confident in his abilities. Literally since the day he could walk he’s been in the woods or on a pond bank.”

CLASS ACT youth features are sponsored by RE/MAX EDGE REALTY. This feature appeared in the July 22, 2026, issue.