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Working with the Vermont Hunter Education Program and the Putney Fish and Game Club, Orion helped coordinate the State's first, "Successful Hunting" program. It was modeled on the IHEA/NWTF Successful Turkey Hunting curriculum. Recent Hunter Education students were invited to attend the training and learn how to be successful and responsible turkey hunters. Each student was given a copy of Beyond Fair Chase and Inherit the Hunt along with a mouth call and the NWTF turkey hunting DVD and CD. Students practiced calling, set up a blind in the woods, patterned their shotguns and practiced shooting. Woven through the training was the history of the hunt, hunter responsibility and ethical decision making.
Ninety percent of the students went turkey hunting, even though many did not have an experienced turkey hunter to take them. All reported having a great time, hearing and seeing turkeys. Twenty percent harvested a turkey, including this young hunter and his equally young turkey.
Vermont "Successful Hunting" Proposal
DRAFT 7/9/2007
A JOINT VENTURE OF: Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Orion the Hunter's Institute
Rebuilding the Base While Raising the Ethical Bar
Eric C Nuse and Associates proposes to design and lead 4 pilots of advanced hunter education workshops for successfully hunting goose and squirrel in Vermont. The focus audience will be new and beginning hunters and their mentors who are looking for more training and coaching before heading a field.
The primary purpose of the project is to fill in the gap between the basic hunter education training and becoming a successful and long-term hunter. Other important goals this project will address include improved ethical fitness, greater awareness and support for the hunting heritage, building bonds with shooting and conservation organizations, and helping to reduce Vermont's over abundant resident goose population.
Agreements:
The contractor agrees to develop curriculum and learning stations that meet the learning objectives for the workshops and fit the Hunter Education Programs goals and objectives. Delivery and teaching methods will be flexible but in all cases will conform with the HE program instructor's guidelines and procedures manual.
The contractor will develop curriculum and suggested delivery of the course material. Knowledge based material will be primarily conveyed through home study and homework materials distributed prior to a one-day interactive workshop. The workshops will emphasis hands-on skill building and ethical fitness work.
- Safe firearms handling - students will demonstrate the following skills while maintaining muzzle control and keeping their fingers off the trigger during range and simulated hunting conditions.
- Loading and unloading firearms they intend to hunt with
- Field carries
- Removing and storing firearms in a vehicle
- Checking and clearing obstacles from barrels
- Moving in and out of common squirrel hunting positions
- Preparation for the hunt - demonstrate and understand the following:
- Firearms selection
- Shot and caliber selection
- Choke selection
- Patterning
- Live fire - sight in and point of impact
- Locating places to hunt and scouting
- Know and be able to identify prime squirrel habitat
- Know top food sources and ID mast trees by nuts, bark and leaves
- Reading sign - chewed mast, summer nests, cavities, & digging
- Getting permission to hunt - knowledge of how to locate landowners including use of town tax maps and demonstrate proper way to ask permission
- The role of hunters in conservation and stewards of the land
- Discuss material in "Inherit the Hunt"
- Understand the principles of the North American Hunting Model
- Know the VT Laws and regulations as they relate to squirrel hunting
- Habitat improvement
- Hunter Ethics
- Understand what it is (5 pillars) and why it is important to follow in the field
- Understand fair chase issues and the difference between hunter preference and ethics
- Participate in "Why I Hunt" active listening exercise
- Knowledge of different Hunter Codes of conduct and develop personal code
- Decision making frameworks - Demonstrate ability to think through situations by participating in dilemma discussions
- Equipment for successful squirrel hunting - knowledge of:
- Clothing and Camouflage
- Calls
- Map and compass
- The hunt
- Demonstrate hunting skills through simulated stalking games, using eyes and ears
- Demonstrate and practice calling
- Demonstrate proper way to alerting hunters to your presence
- Demonstrate range estimating
- Marking and retrieving animals
- Knowledge of how to humanly finishing off down animals
- After the kill-knowledge of:
- Field dressing
- Dealing with fleas and ticks
- Skinning
- Preserving the meat and tails
- Preparation for the table
- Personal safety
- Demonstrate safe hunting with a partner
- Hunter orange
- Field of fire
- Hunting plan/coordination
- Tick protection and removal
- West Nile protection
- Hunter orange
- Get involved-knowledgeable of how to and value of:
- Joining local, state and national hunting/conservation organizations
- Where to shoot
- Being an ambassador for hunting
Advances Hunter Education - Successful Goose Hunting (focus on the resident goose hunt)
Core learning Objectives for Knowledge and Skill
- Safe firearms handling - students will demonstrate the following skills while maintaining muzzle control and keeping their fingers off the trigger in range and simulated hunting conditions.
- Loading and unloading firearms they intend to hunt with
- Field carries
- Removing and storing firearms in a vehicle
- Checking and clearing obstacles from barrels
- Safely moving in and out of common goose hunting positions
- Preparation for the hunt - understand and demonstrate:
- Firearms selection
- Steel and non-toxic shot and shell selection
- Choke selection
- Patterning
- Point of impact
- Pattern density for different shot sizes and distances
- The hunt - have a working knowledge of:
- Setting up where the birds want to be
- Role of wind and light conditions on set up
- Cover and blind placement
- Demonstrate decoy set up, including bird fall zones and distances
- Blind protocol (who shoots, spotting, shooting zones, etc.)
- Calling strategies
- Pre-hunt Preparations- knowledge of:
- Gear (guns, shells, calls, decoys…)
- Laws and regulations
- Blinds and pits
- Contacting landowners and getting permission
- Scouting
- Calling techniques - demonstrate basic goose calls and understand when they are most effective
- Shooting proficiency - Use NSCA/IHEA Wing Shooting training techniques to
- Reduce wounding loss
- Learn personal limitations for each student's skill level, shot type and distances
- Understand how to apply CONSEP lethality table
- Understand how to swat cripples and proper loads
- Find personal limitations as related to distance, type of shot and shooting position to ensure a 90% kill rate
- Gun safety in blinds-demonstrate the following
- Unloaded except when actively hunting
- Moving guns in and out of blinds and boats safely
- Defining safe zones of fire
- Knowledge of protocol for limiting the number of
- Shooting positions - demonstrate standing only in blinds, sitting in layout blinds
- Demonstrate secure safe rests for all guns
- Gun safety in boats
- Gun open, cased and unloaded when traveling
- When chasing cripples only one gun loaded at a time
- Retrieving down birds- knowledge of:
- Planning for the retrieve
- Finishing off cripples safely and humanely
- Post Hunt - working knowledge of:
- Proper game care
- Cooking
- HIP survey and reporting bands
- Follow up with landowner
- Give back/Contribute
- Conservation
- Volunteer efforts
- Mentoring
- Hunter Ethics - knowledge of and ability to put into practice:
- Understanding of what hunter ethics is and why it is important
- Safe
- Legal
- Clean kill
- Full utilization
- Fair chase
- Decision making frameworks and demonstrate ability to work through situations and dilemmas
- Tradition of the hunt and North American Model- understanding of:
- Why I hunt?
- History of the hunt and why it is important ("Inherit the Hunt" discussion)
- Where to go from here- knowledge of and importance of:
- Supporting conservation and sporting organizations
- Where to shoot
- Becoming a regular season duck and goose hunter
- Missisquoi youth hunt and youth waterfowl season
- Become a hunting ambassador
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