The former Pre-Service Training (PST) program will be discontinued in 2009.
Although the PST program was well-received by both staff and prospective instructors, the program's costs, the time involved and its effectiveness (only 1/3 of candidates actually completed the instructor certification process in an average year) mean that it's now time for a change and a new approach.
Our new instructor certification process places a much greater premium on mentoring as new candidates prepare to become fully certified instructors. The basic instructor certification process in 2009 will involve the following steps:
(1) Application - Unchanged from previous years
(2) Mentoring - Working with a mentor approved in advance by Dan Boes or Chuck Ray, the new candidate will complete a series of items on a checklist. The approved mentor will guide the new applicant and review candidate performance, and the applicant will benefit from the close involvement provided by an existing teaching team. Successful candidates are nominated by their mentor to participate in the third and final step. Unsuccessful candidates may require additional time or be denied the opportunity to become certified hunter education instructors.
(3) Full Class Participation / Evaluation - All new applicants will join other prospective instructor applicants in conducting a class in an underserved area of the state. Held five or six times per year, the applicant teaching session will allow the applicants to demonstrate their skills and abilities while Dan Boes and Chuck Ray provide evaluation and feedback. Applicants will receive per diem and mileage reimbursement for participating in the mandatory weekend training program.
The obvious emphasis in this new approach is on local instructor support as we develop new instructor talent. Printed material will soon be available (by the first week in November) from Dan Boes and Chuck Ray, to whom you should direct questions.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Instructor Suggestion Will Lead To Better Communications
Instructor Brian Peters, Vancouver, offered an excellent suggestion for staff to implement: Why not send an e-mail confirming that student and course records have been received in the Olympia office?
It's a great suggestion and one that the Olympia office will implement. Obviously, to make it work we need e-mail addresses from all chief instructors who want to participate. Right now, for example, the Olympia office has e-mail addresses for less than 50% of instructors. We cannot provide confirming e-mails unless we have the correct e-mail address, so interested instructors should be sure to check with Jan, Mik or Tracy to make sure we have e-mail addresses on file.
Great suggestion, Brian! Keep 'yer thinkin' cap on!
It's a great suggestion and one that the Olympia office will implement. Obviously, to make it work we need e-mail addresses from all chief instructors who want to participate. Right now, for example, the Olympia office has e-mail addresses for less than 50% of instructors. We cannot provide confirming e-mails unless we have the correct e-mail address, so interested instructors should be sure to check with Jan, Mik or Tracy to make sure we have e-mail addresses on file.
Great suggestion, Brian! Keep 'yer thinkin' cap on!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Instructor Offers Compiled Online
For the latest offers available to hunter education instructors nationwide, please go to the IHEA web site below.
http://www.ihea.com/instructors/special-offers-for-instructors.php
http://www.ihea.com/instructors/special-offers-for-instructors.php
Read This: Reprinted With Permission
Written in stone
by Larry Simoneaux
Do you know what a "hunting accident" is?
A hunting accident is when you're hunting and a volcano blows up behind you. Poof. You're gone. Nothing to be done. An accident pure and simple.
A hunting accident is when you're under a tree and a branch chooses that moment to snap and level you.
Again, just one of those times when the stars align against you. Those, and similar events, are hunting accidents.
It isn't, however, an accident when one individual shoots another while hunting.
Sorry, but when that happens, some very basic rule was broken and what you're now dealing with is a completely preventable tragedy.
Last week, Pamela Almli was out hiking. As she bent over to put something into her pack, a young teenage boy mistook her for a bear and shot her. Pamela Almli died and two families have now been permanently harmed. One through the needless loss of a loved one and the other because a 14-year-old boy - no matter the legal fallout - will, for the rest of his life, endure the pain of knowing that through some combination of inattention, inexperience, excitement, negligence, or what have you, he killed another human being.
Want to know how long it takes to positively identify a target when you're hunting? Simple. It takes every bit as long as you need to answer every darned question that had better be in your mind before you bring that firearm to your shoulder. In other words, you can never, ever shoot at "I'm pretty sure it's this." Nor, for that matter, can you even consider shooting at movement or sound.
As a good friend has said to me on many occasions, "I don't quite know the sound or movement that identifies something as a game animal, but I'm sure I've made that noise or movement while I've been out there."
So to be safe, here's a suggestion that I borrowed from another hunter more than 30 years ago: When you see something, hear something, or notice movement while hunting, train your mind so that your first thought is that what you see, the noise you hear,
or the movement you notice is the one person that you love the most coming out to be with you. Do this and your first instinct will never be to aim a firearm at something you haven't positively identified.
The bottom line in hunting is always this: If you've made up your mind to shoot, then you need to be somewhere well beyond certain that what you're about to shoot at is precisely what you think it is. And here, a point needs to be made. The scope that sits atop many rifles and shotguns is not an identification tool. It is an aiming tool.
When you use that scope to look at something, you are also pointing your muzzle at that same thing. And if you justify this particular type of foolishness by
saying that you have the safety on, then you could be hanging another person's life on a mechanical device that's been known to fail. So, if you're going to take up this sport, spend the money to buy a set of binoculars. When you buy those binoculars, make it a rule to use them
religiously because you can never - absolutely never - aim a firearm at anything that you do not intend to kill.
If you can't make this kind of commitment to identifying your target, then forget about hunting. You aren't mature enough for this sport and we don't need you out there.
Ms. Almli didn't die because of an accident. She died because someone didn't take the time to properly identify her. Further, no matter how much time was taken, it wasn't anywhere near enough because someone is now dead - and if that sounds harsh, it's because it's meant to.
There are no "do-overs" once you pull a trigger. That bullet that you fired is now on a ballistic path and it will hit whatever it was pointed at no matter how badly you wish to call it back. That one, very simple point has been set in stone more times than I care to count.
Unfortunately, too many of those stones are found in cemeteries where they're used to mark the graves of those needlessly gone.
by Larry Simoneaux
Do you know what a "hunting accident" is?
A hunting accident is when you're hunting and a volcano blows up behind you. Poof. You're gone. Nothing to be done. An accident pure and simple.
A hunting accident is when you're under a tree and a branch chooses that moment to snap and level you.
Again, just one of those times when the stars align against you. Those, and similar events, are hunting accidents.
It isn't, however, an accident when one individual shoots another while hunting.
Sorry, but when that happens, some very basic rule was broken and what you're now dealing with is a completely preventable tragedy.
Last week, Pamela Almli was out hiking. As she bent over to put something into her pack, a young teenage boy mistook her for a bear and shot her. Pamela Almli died and two families have now been permanently harmed. One through the needless loss of a loved one and the other because a 14-year-old boy - no matter the legal fallout - will, for the rest of his life, endure the pain of knowing that through some combination of inattention, inexperience, excitement, negligence, or what have you, he killed another human being.
Want to know how long it takes to positively identify a target when you're hunting? Simple. It takes every bit as long as you need to answer every darned question that had better be in your mind before you bring that firearm to your shoulder. In other words, you can never, ever shoot at "I'm pretty sure it's this." Nor, for that matter, can you even consider shooting at movement or sound.
As a good friend has said to me on many occasions, "I don't quite know the sound or movement that identifies something as a game animal, but I'm sure I've made that noise or movement while I've been out there."
So to be safe, here's a suggestion that I borrowed from another hunter more than 30 years ago: When you see something, hear something, or notice movement while hunting, train your mind so that your first thought is that what you see, the noise you hear,
or the movement you notice is the one person that you love the most coming out to be with you. Do this and your first instinct will never be to aim a firearm at something you haven't positively identified.
The bottom line in hunting is always this: If you've made up your mind to shoot, then you need to be somewhere well beyond certain that what you're about to shoot at is precisely what you think it is. And here, a point needs to be made. The scope that sits atop many rifles and shotguns is not an identification tool. It is an aiming tool.
When you use that scope to look at something, you are also pointing your muzzle at that same thing. And if you justify this particular type of foolishness by
saying that you have the safety on, then you could be hanging another person's life on a mechanical device that's been known to fail. So, if you're going to take up this sport, spend the money to buy a set of binoculars. When you buy those binoculars, make it a rule to use them
religiously because you can never - absolutely never - aim a firearm at anything that you do not intend to kill.
If you can't make this kind of commitment to identifying your target, then forget about hunting. You aren't mature enough for this sport and we don't need you out there.
Ms. Almli didn't die because of an accident. She died because someone didn't take the time to properly identify her. Further, no matter how much time was taken, it wasn't anywhere near enough because someone is now dead - and if that sounds harsh, it's because it's meant to.
There are no "do-overs" once you pull a trigger. That bullet that you fired is now on a ballistic path and it will hit whatever it was pointed at no matter how badly you wish to call it back. That one, very simple point has been set in stone more times than I care to count.
Unfortunately, too many of those stones are found in cemeteries where they're used to mark the graves of those needlessly gone.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Bear Hunting Incident Generates Many Questions
The recent fatal incident in Skagit County has raised questions from both the general public and the media. Some were surprised that hunting seasons have already begun while hikers and families were afield, while others wondered aloud how juvenile hunters could legally hunt alone. (NOTE: Bear season in western Washington historically starts on August 1. A 14 year-old shooter shot and killed a female hiker at a distance of approximately 120 yards, mistaking her for a bear. The youth successfully completed hunter education and had all necessary license documents--making him completely legal afield despite his age and the fact that he was not being supervised by an adult hunter.)
We all know that every hunting incident is a terrible tragedy, regardless of the underlying facts. We also know that strict adherence to basic hunting safety rules could have prevented the incident. The official investigation in this hunting incident continues and we will provide additional details as they become available.
Youth under 15 years of age have been responsible for roughly 12 per cent of hunting incidents here in Washington since 1980. During that time 61 individuals 15 or younger have been involved as shooters in hunting incidents (NOTE: This 61 figure includes about 20 self-inflicted injuries.).
We all know that every hunting incident is a terrible tragedy, regardless of the underlying facts. We also know that strict adherence to basic hunting safety rules could have prevented the incident. The official investigation in this hunting incident continues and we will provide additional details as they become available.
Youth under 15 years of age have been responsible for roughly 12 per cent of hunting incidents here in Washington since 1980. During that time 61 individuals 15 or younger have been involved as shooters in hunting incidents (NOTE: This 61 figure includes about 20 self-inflicted injuries.).
Thursday, August 07, 2008
News Flash: Licenses Soon To Require Middle Initial
Beginning August 12th all new hunting license buyers will be asked to provide a middle initial before they may purchase a license. For hunter education instructors, this means a polite reminder for all students (and parents filling out bubble forms for students) to include the middle initial on our registration form.
How big a deal is this? Well, a quick review of 149,689 hunter education records earlier today revealed that a staggering 25,192 individuals did not provide us with a middle initial. (NOTE: The middle initial is very helpful in distinguishing individuals with similar first/last names.)
The obvious question from instructors is, "What about students who do not legally have a middle name/initial?" Rather than leave a blank field (and leave Olympia staff wondering whether or not the field was simply bypassed), please direct students without middle initials to use an asterisk (*). Currently the scanner cannot read an asterisk character, but at least we will know that the student does not have the required field. (NOTE: The license document will contain an asterisk (*) field for students without legal middle names.
How big a deal is this? Well, a quick review of 149,689 hunter education records earlier today revealed that a staggering 25,192 individuals did not provide us with a middle initial. (NOTE: The middle initial is very helpful in distinguishing individuals with similar first/last names.)
The obvious question from instructors is, "What about students who do not legally have a middle name/initial?" Rather than leave a blank field (and leave Olympia staff wondering whether or not the field was simply bypassed), please direct students without middle initials to use an asterisk (*). Currently the scanner cannot read an asterisk character, but at least we will know that the student does not have the required field. (NOTE: The license document will contain an asterisk (*) field for students without legal middle names.
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