GUNS/BARMS

[Matey]

Safety first, last and always
State requires hunter education for one and all

By DOUG COOK
The Daily Courier
PRESCOTT VALLEY — Arizona owns the best hunter safety record of any state in America, and that fact from the International Hunter Education Association is partly attributable to an in-depth educational program here.

Since 1955 the Arizona Game & Fish Department has offered Hunter Education classes that qualified, state-certified volunteer experts teach and emphasize the importance of firearm and bow safety.

Arizona Game and Fish Department Hunter Education Coordinator Mark Quigley teaches a young woman how to use a .22-caliber rifle during the Field Day portion of a class at the Usery Mountain Shooting Range in Maricopa County.



All Photos courtesy of George Andrejko/Arizona Game and Fish Department



This Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Prescott Fire Center (2400 Melville Drive) will play host to the first of three required-attendance sessions of a local, officially sanctioned Game & Fish Hunter Education Class.

For a nominal $7 fee the 35-student class, which continues Jan. 24-28 from 6 to 9 p.m. and Jan. 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a Field Day at the Prescott Valley Police Department Shooting Range, stresses the safe handling of firearms and ammunition in the home and field, safe hunting habits, outdoor ethics, conservation and survival and wildlife management techniques.

Eight to 12 hunter education classes are available annually in the tri-city area. Prescott Valley resident Steve Sams, an avid outdoorsman and hunter of 40-plus years, is one of the local class’s lead instructors. He’s retired from the U.S. Forest Service after spending a 37-year career, primarily in Arizona and New Mexico, with the federal government agency.

Sams, a veteran certified hunter education instructor, has taught the subject in Prescott for the past couple of years. He said volunteers provide all of the class’s updated materials, including books, videos, CDs and other visual aids.

In Arizona, each hunter education student in a combination class such as this must demonstrate the skill to fire both a fixed number of rounds from a .22-caliber rifle and a select amount of arrows from a bow.

The classes use only .22s, and no students can bring a firearm or ammunition to a session.

However, instructors will show five different kinds of shotguns, four different kinds of rifles, and three different kinds of primitive black-powder firearms as well as bows to students so that they know what weapons are out there.

“The guiding principle is safety,” Sams said of the class, which also preaches a hunter’s responsibility to the land, animals and other people. “I want to see the future of hunting and fishing sports continue by educating kids and adults to behave in a way that’s acceptable to society.”

Although hunter education isn’t required in the state of Arizona for those age 14 and older, children 10-13 who want to hunt big game here must, under law, complete an Arizona Game & Fish-sponsored hunter education course to get a permit.

Instructors encourage parents to attend the class alongside their children. Other states that require hunter education will recognize their eventual certification.

“If you wanted to go hunt in Minnesota or Texas or Connecticut, your certificate issued by the state of Arizona would be accepted as having fulfilled the basic requirements of a hunter education program in that state,” Sams said. “The core information is the same.”

Part of what makes the course unique is Arizona’s 28-hour requirement, which is a much greater amount of time than the typical U.S. state’s 10-hour mandate.

Sams said he allows for just 35 students per class so that he can provide more quality, hands-on instruction for pupils.

“Typically, we’ll max out,” Sams said. “I’ll have to turn students away. There’s always a demand for each class.”

For more information about Prescott’s Hunter Education Class or to inquire about registration and possible vacancies locally, call Sams at 928-772-8767.



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