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Many people in small communities on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska rely on hunting for subsistence. And staff at one school district want to make sure they do it safely – by making hunter education a part of the curriculum.
KRBD’s Sydney Dauphinais went to the student’s end of year field test and has this story.
It is a cloudy morning at the Prince of Wales Shooting Club.
Emma Garrison, a ninth grader from Thorne Bay, is trying to keep her gun steady.
“Ohhh my gosh.”
She and eight other students, all armed with rifles and safety gear, line up on yoga mats under a three sided shelter. She has been taking the Hunter Ed class all semester.
Today, she’s putting her studying to the test.
“I was really nervous. Yesterday was the first day I’d ever shot a gun, so.”
There are over 30 students from the Southeast Island School District taking their hunters ed certification field test today. If the students pass, they get Hunter Ed certified.
This was the first year the district incorporated Hunter Education into the curriculum, with a goal to get every student from sixth to twelfth grades certified.
The certification, which is through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, is required for most Alaskans to legally hunt. And in many smaller Prince of Wales Island communities, hunting is a key part of the lifestyle.
The Southeast Island School district is spread out with under 150 students in seven remote schools across Prince of Wales and Baranof Islands, but all the students at the shooting club today have spent the last semester taking the course.
Ellen Hannan is a retired teacher and a volunteer with Fish and Game. She has been teaching Hunter Ed in Southeast for 25 years.
“Raise your hand, how many people have shot before? Anytime, anywhere, anything?”
Most of the students raise their hands.
Hannan says that is why the class is so important. She knows many of these students are around guns from a young age and she wants them to be safe.
The number one rule: always treat guns as if they are loaded, to help keep yourself and others safe.
Hannan helps the students hold and load their guns, shooting targets in four positions: laying down, kneeling, sitting, and standing.
“So what you’ve gotta do is get four outta five shots in a 2 inch circle. That means it touches it anywhere.”
Down towards the clubhouse, students are taking a walk through the forest.
It is part of the field test to identify cardboard animals and discern when, how, and if it is ethical to shoot them.
One of the students is Wyatt Farr, an eighth grader from Coffman Cove. He has been hunting with his family for years.
“It’s fun. I just like, yeah, I like being outdoors, and like actually doing things, instead of like sitting there playing video games.”
Farr likes to hunt deer and grouse – and wants to hunt bears soon. He says his favorite part is enjoying the meat he has processed, but he also likes how calm and quiet it is in the outdoors
The course also includes basic survival skills, wildlife conservation and respect for other hunters. That’s part of what he likes about it.
“So there’s not like just like clueless people going out walking in the woods and like getting hurt and stuff, and it’s also like teaching the generations to come how to like properly do things.”
Every teacher teaches the class a little differently.
Melissa Dougherty, a teacher at Thorne Bay with a background in biology, designed the curriculum so it blends with broader outdoor education. She knows the outdoors are a big part of her students’ lives and she wants them to be aware of their surroundings.
She says killing an animal is a serious thing – and she wants her students to be thoughtful and observant when they are out in nature.
“I think it’s really important to spend time thinking about how you fit into your environment and gaining an appreciation for the world around you.”
At the end of the day, every student passed their hunter’s ed field test and received their signed certificate – which is valid for life.
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