In case you missed it, Wisconsin found more than 10,000 new hunters this past season.

And they were all between 10 and 11 years old.

These hunters entered the woods as a result of the state’s new youth-mentored hunting law. Such laws, which NRA has backed in more than 25 states, generally allow a youngster to go hunting prior to taking a hunter education class. The laws don’t eliminate the requirement for hunter education—which some anti-hunting groups claim--they allow it to be postponed for a year or two. Typically, the kids involved have already had some training or at least exposure to hunter safety from their parents. The advantage is that the kids and parents don’t have to start buying tons of gear or devote time traveling to a hunter ed class, when a youngster may not even be certain he wants to hunt. The mentored experience allows him or her to try hunting and see if the interest is there to continue.

While the state laws can vary a bit, special restrictions generally apply: A qualified, licensed adult hunter must be within sight or arm’s reach of the youngster while hunting and only one firearm may be present. The whole idea is to make it as safe an experience as possible, and since not a single one of Wisconsin’s mentors and kids was involved in a shooting accident last season, it’s apparently working. Some states are even expanding the program so that adults new to hunting can try the mentored route.

 While some preliminary data from Southwick Associates show that hunting license sales in 12 states are on the increase again, the overall number of hunters is probably still declining. Any safe step a state can take that makes it easier for kids, or for new adults, to get out and hunt is good for hunter recruitment. Beyond that, anything that gets a kid outside, particularly with a parent, is perhaps even more important. Despite many youth hunting programs run by NRA and other groups, there is virtually nationwide acknowledgement that kids today are simply not getting outdoors enough.

Maybe it’s just my opinion, but I don’t think there is a better way for kids and parents to spend time together than to go hunting. And there’s no law that says you have to be a parent, either. If your state offers youth-mentored hunting and you know any youngster who is not getting the chance to hunt, think about becoming a mentor. Your game and fish department can tell you if it’s allowed where you live. Read more about Wisconsin’s experience here.

This following letter appeared Dec. 14 in the online version of the Missoulian. It’s a witty, sarcastic and sad commentary on the impact wolves are having on the ecological and social landscape in the northern Rocky Mountains. Urban-dwelling anti-hunters can romanticize about wolves, but, as this letter shows, the people who live in the backcountry of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming actually have to deal with them.

For sale: One elk-hunting cabin in the East Fork of the Bitterroots. Cabin has been used successfully during hunting seasons for over 50 years by scores of Montana families. Cabin includes large meat-hanging crossbeam which has served well in the past years. This beam hasn’t been used for several years.

This rustic cabin is situated in the Billie Springer Memorial Park, which is a community comprised of Armed Service veterans. Until recently, this area was prime for big game hunting and was very popular during the fall months, September through December. While the number of huntable animals has dropped off, the cabin would be an ideal base for those interested in observing wolves (Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Defenders of Wildlife; tribal moose harvesters; the U.S. Forest Service et al). Proceeds from sale will go to local food banks.

Mark Stergios,

Missoula

Fairfax County, Va., recently began working with two organized bowhunting groups to manage a far too-high population of deer in a couple of the county’s parks.

The move is a representative example of what happens in many states when suburban whitetail populations exceed their carrying capacity.

What happens is that people lose touch with reality.

In some cases, like Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral, maybe they had already lost touch. Commenting on Fairfax County’s cooperation with bowhunters, Feral said, “Bowhunting is a repulsive, violent assault on animals who should be left alone. A deeper question is whether we should be in control of the deer population at all.”

Kimberly Sisco, a board member with a local Wildlife Rescue League, told the Fairfax Times, “The fact is, once the arrow leaves the bow, there is no way to predict what will happen next. The bottom line is that there is no safe place for bowhunting in a suburban area.”

Since neither of these people mentioned anything resembling a fact, let’s look at some.

A healthy deer density in Fairfax County is considered to be about 20-30 deer per square mile.  That can vary, of course, depending on site-specific conditions. In Colvin Run Stream Valley, site of one of the county’s managed bowhunts, there are 60-100 deer per square mile. A place called Riverbend Park has 213 deer per square mile, and Bull Run Regional Park has 419 deer per square mile. The figures are from the 2009 Annual Report on the Environment, Fairfax, County, VA, which also stated: “It is apparent that Fairfax County has a serious overabundance of deer.”

Deer compete for food and space. When an overabundance of deer intensifies that competition, deer eat up everything in sight, causing ecological damage to forests and eventually facing malnutrition, disease and/or starvation. And if even one deer gets a disease it can spread much faster in areas of high deer density.

Moreover, an overabundance of deer can increase the potential for Lyme disease and result in massive loss of residential shrubbery and vegetable gardens. Finally, the number of deer-automobile collisions inevitably rises. Fairfax County alone averages between 4,000 and 5,000 such collisions a year. About 150 people a year die from such accidents nationwide, and repair costs average $3,050.  

So, in answer to Feral’s question—to put it mildly—yes, we do need to be in control of the deer population. The fact that she fails or refuses to see this proves what a “friend of animals” she and her group really are.

As for the inevitable safety issues raised over suburban hunts, Fairfax is again a good example. Eric Huppert is president of Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia (SWMNV), the group handling the hunt at Colvin Run. (Belvoir Bow Hunters is conducting the other county hunt, at Laurel Run.) 

“We’ve worked with Fairfax County since1998, and no one has ever shot anything other than a deer,” Huppert said.

SWMNV hunters fully recognize that hunting in Fairfax County parkland is not like hunting in a national forest, and there are a number of rules they follow to ensure safety. Anyone who wants to join the club must prove completion of the International Bowhunting Education Course, and pass a marksmanship test where you shoot broadheads at a six-inch circle from 20 and 30 yards.  All hunters use tree stands placed at least 15 feet high; there is no ground hunting. And no shots are to be taken beyond 20 yards. Not only does the range restriction help ensure safety, it shows some sensitivity to the neighbors, too. “We don’t want to have to trail a deer through the community,” Huppert said.  SWMNV hunters use compound bows and crossbows only. They also carry one million dollars of insurance, which is required by Fairfax County.

None of the people who oppose Fairfax County’s hunts has cited even one actual accident or incident of property damage caused by a bowhunter.

Huppert and his group also go above and beyond in trying to be good citizens. While hunter harassment is not as common as it used to be, thanks to laws NRA helped pass, SWMNV hunters have had to deal with it. One hunter had his tires slashed. Another was surprised to hear a resident setting off firecrackers to scare away deer. And there has been verbal abuse, too.

“We don’t even engage these people,” Huppert said. The tire slashing was reported to police, and the verbal abuse is not allowed to escalate into anything dramatic.

The bowhunting groups work for free, actually generating revenue for the state through the license fees they pay. The “sharpshooters” that local governments sometimes bring in to cope with too many deer are usually paid.

“We don’t charge. We never will,” Huppert said. The group also routinely donates between 60 and 70 percent of the deer they shoot to Hunters for the Hungry programs.

Mild winters, high reproduction rates, a lack of predators, local laws against discharging a firearm and anti-hunting sentiment all contribute to the suburban deer problem in Fairfax and many other cities and towns throughout the country.  And whether it’s bows or firearms where legal, a controlled, regulated hunting season continues to be the single most effective answer to it.  Even beyond what’s happening in Fairfax County, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries instituted an urban archery season in 2002. Made available to every incorporated city and town in the state, and to Fairfax and York counties, the generous split season ran from Sept. 5 to Oct. 2, 2009, and will go from Jan. 4 to March 27, 2010. 

While that’s a lot of days to hunt, we are facing a lot of opposition to hunting. Every time an issue like this makes the papers—and this one has made the Washington Post, the Fairfax Times and the Reston Connection that I know of—hunters should be burying editors with letters and online comments filled with facts that support suburban hunting.

Fairfax held a couple of public meetings to address the hunts, and some of the animal rights’ advocates who showed up don’t even reside in the state, according to Huppert. Misguided as these people are, they are passionate.

It would be a mistake to let them be more passionate, or more active, than we are.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Note: SWMNV has 90-100 members but, “We are always looking for action-oriented people,” said President Eric Huppert. “While everyone wants to hunt, people willing to work the phones, pitch in with the administrative work, etc. are needed, too.”  Visit http://www.deerdamage.org for information on joining.

NRA often gets calls this time of year from people who want to hunt, but are unable to find a hunter education course. Or else they tried to get into a course earlier in the year, but could not find one close enough to home, or that fit their schedule.

Hunter education is a good thing, obviously. NRA actually helped get it off the ground in 1949, working with the state of New York. Since then, our proven hunter education principles have been adopted by one state and province after another, and our hunter safety materials are used in many classes. The value of hunter safety training can be easily seen in the decline of hunting accidents. Between 1997 and 2007, hunting accidents declined nearly 77 percent, from 1,038 to 239, according to the International Hunter Education Association ( IHEA).

But it’s a problem when well-intentioned people, simply trying to fulfill a state’s regulations, can’t get into the course they need to do so.

More and more, this seems to be a particular problem for young people who are trying to balance school, weekend jobs, sports, extracurricular activities, and sending 400 text messages a day. But it’s a problem for adults, too, who might have to take a course to satisfy an out-of-state license requirement. In Colorado, for example, anyone (resident or non-resident) born on or after Jan. 1, 1949, must have a hunter safety card to get a license. (Cards from other states are accepted.)

It is thus disturbing to hear Wayne East, executive director of IHEA, say, “Like the overall number of hunters, the number of hunter ed instructors is dropping, too. Part of the problem is aging,” he said. “And there is a need to recruit instructor teams, not just individual instructors.” 

And even in states like Virginia, where the number of hunters is actually increasing gradually, “There are still local shortages, especially in some localities,” said Virginia Hunter Ed Coordinator David Dodson.

While suggesting to hunters, “Don’t wait until the week before the season to find a course,” East also said that states recognize the problem and are taking steps to address it.  Many states now allow NRA-backed youth-mentored hunts, which, contrary to what anti-hunting groups claim, do not eliminate hunter education requirements, but defer them for a year or two. While exact rules vary, youth mentored hunts typically require that an experienced, licensed hunter, over 21, have immediate control of the youth throughout the hunt, and only one firearm be present. Essentially, the responsibility to ensure the youth acts safely is accepted by the mentor. The hunter education course is still required, but can come later. (Check your state’s regulations on youth-mentored hunts before embarking on one.)

More and more states are also starting online hunter ed classes. Students might still have to spend two to six hours of class in the field in front of an instructor, but the rest can be done online.

Last year, West Virginia found a really good solution by mandating that elective hunter education courses be offered in the schools for students in eighth through the 12th grades. This decision made it a lot easier for kids to schedule hunter education and relieved parents of yet another chauffeuring responsibility. Other schools systems need to be looking at this option.

While states have paid staff to coordinate hunter education programs, the vast majority of instructors are volunteers, and the requirements to become certified vary by state. Virginia, for example, requires an 18-hour training program and a background check.

That’s not a bad investment for any experienced hunter who wants to do something to help bring more people into the tradition we love. If you’ve never considered becoming a hunter education instructor, give it some thought. At least contact your state’s hunter education coordinator to see what it takes. Or contact IHEA for help at 303-434-7233 or visit www.ihea.com.

Of course, you can also get involved in training youngsters by serving as a volunteer or coach in NRA’s Youth Hunter Education Challenge. Call 703-267-1508 to learn about starting a YHEC program in your area, or send an e-mail to maguilar@nrahq.org.