Hunter Ed instructors tally hundreds of years of volunteer service
A group of veteran northeast Montana Hunter Education instructors was recently recognized for their collective 325 years of service to the program that teaches first-time hunters about gun safety, bowhunting, hunting ethics and outdoors survival.
The instructors hail from nearly every community in north-central and northeast Montana and work as mechanics and farmers, bank officers, insurance adjusters and just about every other vocation imaginable. What they have in common is their commitment to making hunting safe, enjoyable and productive.
Graduation from a free 12-hour Hunter Education course, administered by Fish, Wildlife & Parks but delivered by a corps of hundreds of volunteer instructors, is required of all first-time hunters born after Jan. 1, 1985. Graduation from the state’s free Bowhunter Education program is required of all first-time Montana bowhunters, regardless of age.
In FWP’s Region 6, about 150 volunteer instructors deliver the courses in church basements, school classrooms and city offices. FWP provides course materials, but the instructors donate their time and talent. Hunter Education has been a requirement in Montana since 1957; Bowhunter Education has been a requirement for just over 20 years.
Veteran Hunter Education instructor Bob McDonald from Circle has donated 50 years to McCone County’s program. He started just a year after the state’s program was born and has certified more than 1,000 first-time hunters in his tenure with the program. Bob joins an exclusive club of fewer than a dozen instructors statewide in the Hunter Education Hall of Fame. His is the first name on a Region 6 Hall of Fame plaque that will reside at FWP’s office in Glasgow and a large plaque was presented to McDonald this week in Circle.
Instructors are recognized in 5-year intervals for their contributions to the program. Here are Region 6 instructors who received plaques for their service this year:
2008 Region Six Bowhunter/Hunter Education Service Awards
50-year Hunter 3 5-year Hunter 25-year Hunter
Robert McDonald, Circle Roger Wimmer, Wolf Point Bruce Hill, Whitewater
20-year Hunter 15-year Hunter 10-year Hunter
Jon Forbes, Saco Miles Hutton, Turner Rick Fisher, Chinook
Ken Wiederrick, Malta Mike Carr, Havre Charles “Bing” Coe, Havre
Ronald Holden, Havre Marlene Hannah, Havre
Darwin Anderson, Rudyard Kenneth Hannah, Havre
Fred Lowder, Havre
Mark Stolen, Havre
5-year Hunter 15-year Bowhunter 10-year Bowhunter
Thornton Lindsay, Havre Charles Young, Froid Cory Fox, Chinook
Andrew McKean, Glasgow
Elmer Whitten, Nashua 5-year Bowhunter
Nick Siebrasse, Havre
Mark Weber, Chinook
James Barron, Scobey
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