IHEIA NEWSLETTER
IHEIA NEWSLETTER
A Note from Bill Sterner - President
Are there defining moments in our past that determine the path our lives follow
today? A friend recently asked me how I became involved as a hunter education
instructor. I actually got involved when my son expressed an interest in
shooting. He wasn't old enough at the time to take the hunter education class,
but there was a local 4-H club that ran a SESS (Safety and Education in Shooting
Sports) program. As my son matured his interest shifted form target shooting to
hunting, and if he was going to be handling and shooting firearms I wanted to be
involved. My desire to be involved stems form one of those defining moments in
my life.
As a boy I
had, at one time, been given a single shot bolt action .22 rifle. My Dad wasn't
a hunter or shooter, and felt unprepared enough to teach me about handling
firearms that he insisted I take the hunter Ed course. This all happened more
years ago than I like to admit, but I still remember going to a local firehouse
for the classroom portion of the course, and an Isaac Walton Club for the day of
practical gun handling and shooting.
After the
classroom session and the test was out of the way on our day at the range, we
broke up into smaller groups to experience several different types of shooting.
On the trap range we were given an opportunity to fire several shots with a 20
ga. pump action shotgun. We stood around in a semi-circle as the first student
was instructed in the proper method of loading the shotgun. After the instructor
dropped the first live round into the chamber the student slid the action
closed, and that's when things really got exciting.
The
instructor had failed to point out two very important things to the student. The
muzzle needed to be pointed in a safe direction, and the student needed to have
his finger off the trigger. Disaster was averted that day, and the only physical
damage was a sizeable hole blown in the dirt about 2 inches ahead of the toes of
the student’s right foot.
I don't know
if this incident was a wake up call to anyone else present, but all these years
later I have a vivid memory of the near disaster. We all know better than to
teach our students to load and unload with live ammo, but this wasn't the case
at that time.
I hope the
instructor involved was as impressed by the incident as I was, and that he used
it as a teaching moment in subsequent classes. I also hope he changed his
teaching method, and learned to be more safety conscious.
I was glad a
few years ago when the curriculum changed to make the gun handling portion of
the hunter Ed course mandatory, and it's probably one of the areas where I allow
the least slack to the students. I still see too many students at that stage of
the course that are reluctant to pick up and handle a firearm, or demonstrate
even basic knowledge of firearms.
I'm sure many
instructors have memories of incidents in their own lives that led them to
pursue teaching safety skills to young shooters. It might be an incident such as
the one I have cited or maybe something more pleasant such as an adult mentoring
them when they began hunting, and their desire to share that mentoring
experience. Whatever the reason, please know that hundreds of students each year
benefit form your desire to be a hunter education instructor. If you haven't
heard it before...THANKS.
Notes from the 2010 IHEA Conference June 3-5, held at Estes Park, Co, by
John Sears, IHEIA Past President
The theme of the conference was “Today’s Youth Is Tomorrow’s Legacy” and
was supported by sessions that addressed different learning styles, presentation
skills, field day skills and hands on activities with archery, rifle, shotgun,
air rifle and orienteering.
It was noted that Hunter Safety is analogous to a guard rail on a dangerous
curve; once the guard rail is in place there are no more cars going off the road
and after a period of time one might ask if it is worth maintaining the guard
rail since there are no more accidents. Hunter Safety is similar in that hunter
education was put in place to correct the bad habits of the 1940’s when
hunting season fatalities were high; today there are few incidents and almost no
fatalities. Hunting is safer than playing ping pong; the question is how to
sustain the success in a political climate that may forget how the need
occurred. The answer is somewhat complex, it involves education the public,
upgrading the training of instructors, developing programs to introduce new
participants both young and old to hunting, providing facilities for
participants to try out hunting skills, providing shooting ranges and marketing
the hunter as a conservationists.
This years conference included a field day that provided the opportunity to
experience the mountains and trails of Rocky Mountain National Park, to learn
about Colorado Elk management in the park, Estes Park history including the
flood of 1982 and the finding and tracking of a Wolverine in Rocky mountain
national park, .During our field day
visit to the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch we heard the eye witness account of an 8
year olds survival story of the Big Thompson canyon flood of 1976, we had the
opportunity to learn about and shoot crossbows, how to set up a quick compass
learning activity and how to use the new active air gun targets. We experienced
shooting clay targets from the Promatic and Atlas target throwers with the
wobblier attachment, we fired non toxic 22 ammo at moving auto resetting targets
and we encountered a rattle snake.
During the Saturday rendezvous we learned techniques for setting up
a field day with shoot don’t shoot situations, important factors in tree stand
safety and how to use the Remington non functional firearm set. There were also
sessions on survival and volunteer Instructor Organizations. From the Dave Oakes
presentation on generational management and presentation skills, we listened to
several ideas to improve our teaching skills and techniques, such as outlining
the presentation and printing out
notes in large type, not reading the material from the manual, creating and
planning strategic points of interest in your presentation, providing critical
breaks at least once an hour, rehearsing your presentation prior to presenting
it, using stories or appropriate humor , use of visual aids and providing a
memorable close.
If you have the opportunity to attend one of these conferences please do not
pass it up, it is one of the best learning and networking opportunities for a
Hunter Education Instructor
Greetings:
My name is Jim Bosier.
I am a new District 2 (
At my first opportunity, I joined IHEIA. I looked at the opportunity as a $10.00
annual cost that would allow me not only to attend meetings, but to get
publications from people that I think have some of the same goals I do: to
protect, preserve and pass on to young guys and gals the tradition of hunting
and of learning how to hunt in a safe and ethical way.
I believe my job as a director is to carry any comments, concerns or issues
other instructors of district 2 may have, to our board meetings. I welcome any
impute anyone would like me to carry to the board meetings. If possible
please send me an email and introduce yourself, and be sure to let me know any
issues you would like me to take to the board meetings.
Thank you for your time.
Jim Bosier
jbosier@hughes.net
319-596-1112 (office)
319-269-0591 (cell)
DNR Corner
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