bradymsu
06-16-2009, 02:24 PM
I would like to express my thanks to hunter safety education volunteers across the state for the often overlooked effort they make in promoting hunting in Michigan.
It's been over a quarter century since I last took the class as a little kid. Since then, I've majored in natural resource management at MSU and have spent 15 years in the Legislature working on natural resource issues. I thought it was about time I took the course again to get a fresh perspective on our hunter safety education program.
The class was very well attend by both adults and children including many young girls. The instructors spent two whole days going over the various facets of hunting, including the new crossbow laws and hunter orange laws, in depth. All of Sunday morning was spent on the range shooting .22 rifle and shotguns. I came away with a new perspective and appreciation of both historic muzzleloaders and traditional archery enough to re-consider my planned purchase of a crossbow and purchase a recurve instead. The course cost only $5, which is probably less than the cost of the ammunition we each fired, let alone the educational materials passed out to us.
The four instructors for our course in Bath each gave up an entire weekend at no personal profit to themselves to provide this class. In return, they produced a couple dozen plus new hunters. Their charity is repeated around the state by hundreds of other instructors. Michigan's hunter safety training program is one of the less visible but most successful programs the DNR runs. I was very impressed.
It's been over a quarter century since I last took the class as a little kid. Since then, I've majored in natural resource management at MSU and have spent 15 years in the Legislature working on natural resource issues. I thought it was about time I took the course again to get a fresh perspective on our hunter safety education program.
The class was very well attend by both adults and children including many young girls. The instructors spent two whole days going over the various facets of hunting, including the new crossbow laws and hunter orange laws, in depth. All of Sunday morning was spent on the range shooting .22 rifle and shotguns. I came away with a new perspective and appreciation of both historic muzzleloaders and traditional archery enough to re-consider my planned purchase of a crossbow and purchase a recurve instead. The course cost only $5, which is probably less than the cost of the ammunition we each fired, let alone the educational materials passed out to us.
The four instructors for our course in Bath each gave up an entire weekend at no personal profit to themselves to provide this class. In return, they produced a couple dozen plus new hunters. Their charity is repeated around the state by hundreds of other instructors. Michigan's hunter safety training program is one of the less visible but most successful programs the DNR runs. I was very impressed.