Take The Pledge
One hunt can be all it takes to create a new hunter for life. With your help, we can recruit the next generation of hunters and shooters and grow America’s hunting heritage like never before. Join the +ONE Movement and invite a friend on your next hunt. Share your passion with posts on social media with #PlusOneMovement and #LetsGoHunting.
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Always Keep the Muzzle Pointed in a Safe Direction
Simply put: Never point a gun at anything you don’t intend to shoot—even when dry firing.
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Keep Firearms Unloaded When Not in Use
Never load a gun until you are ready to shoot. When not in use, store firearms and ammo separately.
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Don’t Rely on a Gun’s Safety
Treat every gun as though it can fire at any time. Safeties are mechanical devices that can become inoperable without your knowing.
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Be Sure of Your Target and What’s Beyond It
No target is so important that you can’t take the time before pulling the trigger to be certain of where your shot will stop.
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Use the Correct Ammunition
Using improper or incorrect ammunition can destroy a gun and cause serious personal injury. Always double-check your ammo.
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If the Gun Fails to Fire, Handle with Care
If nothing happens when you pull the trigger, keep the muzzle pointed downrange, unload the gun, and dispose of the faulty cartridge.
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Always Wear Eye and Ear Protection
Exposure to a firearm’s report can damage hearing; adequate vision protection is essential at all times while shooting.
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Be Sure the Barrel is Clear of Obstructions
Before loading a firearm, open the action, check that there’s no ammo in the chamber or magazine, and make sure the barrel is clear.
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Don’t Alter or Modify a Gun, and Service Regularly
Any alteration or change made to a firearm after manufacture can make the gun dangerous. Also, follow the manufacturer’s service recommendations.
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Learn the Mechanical and Handling Characteristics of the Gun
Every firearm is different. Never handle a gun without first familiarizing yourself with it and the way it works.
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By Mark Demko
Seventeen-year-old Elisbeth Tejada-Moya walks into the classroom, shaking the water off her coat. She’s just taken a 15-minute bus ride from her school, followed by a 15-minute walk in the rain, to get to an afterschool program where she learns about foxes, firearms safety and forestry, all in the same afternoon.
While many kids might opt to skip a voluntary program like this on a day when the weather is so bad, one after another the students file into the room eager to learn their next lesson. The reason? They’re part of Camp Compass Academy, one of the most innovative outdoor mentoring programs in the nation.
“When I come here, I feel safe. It’s like home,” Tejada-Moya says. “I started coming to this program last year, and as soon as I did, everybody was so fun and so nice. For people to do that when you come in, you feel loved. So, I said, ‘Why not continue coming and learn?’”
A Challenging Start
Growing up in a housing project in Allentown, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania, John Annoni needed an escape from troubles at home and in the projects. He found it in an adjacent woodlot, where he would marvel at the birds and squirrels while dreaming of far-off destinations he’d read about in magazines like Boys’ Life.
“I allowed Mother Nature—the squirrels, the starlings and the rat—to consume me by me chasing them,” Annoni says. “What I found was that when I was doing that, there was an absence of worry. Mother Nature, her critters and that pursuit saved me.
“One day I saw a ringnecked pheasant in a dump. It was the most beautiful bird I’d ever seen. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but I went back weekend after weekend after weekend to see if I could find it again. That’s where the passion first came from.”
From those humble beginnings, Annoni developed a rich fascination with the outdoors, learning to fish and hunt and ultimately deciding to pay it all back while serving as a teacher in the Allentown School District. He started Camp Compass in 1994. But rather than setting up shop at a local rod-and-gun club, he opted to stay in inner city Allentown and make a difference in the lives of the students who might need it most.
“I was sitting in the classroom, working with the kids, the same kids I’m working with now, thinking that the books aren’t cutting it,” he says. “I was coaching basketball, and I just really wanted to do something I thought could change lives.
“In the city, there are enough [afterschool] programs, but there was nothing here that was based on what helped me as a kid. I looked around and started working with kids, using an outdoor curriculum.”
Today, Camp Compass is widely recognized as one of the most unique outdoors education models in the country. The nonprofit organization is geared towards introducing inner-city youth to hunting and the shooting sports. While Annoni is reluctant to put a figure on how many individuals he’s impacted, he says thousands of students have been exposed to the outdoors via Camp Compass, while well over 200 have gone through every level of the program.
Growing Kids Through the Outdoors
Through Camp Compass Academy, students are introduced to firearms safety, hunting and shooting over an extended period of time, something that’s especially important since most come from families that have little to no exposure to the outdoors pursuits. Visit the classroom and you’ll see individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, both male and female, soaking up everything Annoni and the other academy instructors have to share.
Students at Camp Compass Academy spend two years learning in the classroom as they earn the opportunity to go afield.
The curriculum is broken into five levels called “The 5Es”—Exposure, Exploration, Extension, Effective Application and Example Mentoring—and students work their way through the stages over a period of years. Annoni says the most important level is Extension, where the kids participate in the academy weekly.
“Growing kids into [hunters] in a place that’s nontraditional (like downtown Allentown) is not only high-risk, it’s high reward,” he says. “It has to be very strategic, and that’s what we’ve built here. We are as diverse as it comes and that is the beauty of us.”
Image Courtesy of Amanda Snyder.
When students enter Camp Compass, they must first prove their dedication to learning and their classmates before they head afield. In fact, an individual has to complete two years before he’s even able to go on a hunt. The reason: Annoni’s goal is not to just take them hunting, but to help make them hunters. That’s why the most dedicated students end up heading afield on multiple occasions, sometimes traveling to destinations as far away as North Carolina, Texas and North Dakota to pursue big and small game.
Petersen’s Bowhunting Editor Christian Berg says Annoni has been successful with his students because he’s authentic.
“He came out of the Allentown projects and faced many of the same struggles as today’s teens,” says Berg, who’s known Annoni for two decades. “The outdoors was instrumental in shaping his life and helping him achieve personal success. Now, as an educator and passionate outdoorsman, he is pouring his life back into the lives of others.
“There are many, many great things about the Camp Compass program, but, at its essence, I believe one of the big reasons it succeeds is because John sees himself in his students and his students see themselves in him.”
Talk to the students and it’s easy to see the passion they have for the program and their mentor. Sixteen-year-old Hector Buxo, who comes from a family that doesn’t hunt, says his parents were surprised when he told them he wanted to join Camp Compass. Now, five years in, he has pursued whitetail deer, Canada goose, pheasant, turkey and more.
“I liked how different this was from the other programs there were,” Buxo says. “It was something totally new. I really liked how we all work together, and we all talk together.”
Shane Reznick, 14, who has been in Camp Compass for two years, agrees the comradery between students is what makes the program work.
“It’s a community of people as well as hunters,” he says. “We learn a lot about the environment, protecting the environment and making sure you respect the animals.”
Beyond the Classroom
As a result of Camp Compass and his work introducing others to the outdoors, Annoni has been featured on outdoor television shows and national news like CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2008, Outdoor Life named him one of the 25 most influential people in hunting and fishing, and two years ago he was one of the first non-faculty members selected as a co-principal investigator for a Cornell Lab of Ornithology National Science Foundation study. Not surprisingly, he receives high praise from others in the industry.
“John has quietly gone about his mission of reaching inner-city youth for decades,” says Mossy Oak’s Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland. “He does it with little money, little support from the hunting industry, little exposure—but big passion. He reaches kids we cannot because he was one of them. His story is amazing, and he makes me humble.”
After a quarter-century leading Camp Compass, Annoni is as committed as ever to his students, but he is also looking for other ways he can help grow hunting and shooting sports. As a person of color, one area he feels he can lend his expertise is in broadening diversity and inclusion efforts. He also wants to share the Camp Compass philosophy with others from coast to coast, as well as start teaching adults who want to learn about mentoring in the hunting and the shooting sports. While acknowledging it would be hard to start other Camp Compass-type programs due to the time required, he says he’s proud of the work he, his assistants and Camp Compass supporters have done over the past quarter-century.
“I did not think I would be doing this program this many years later because of the stamina that it takes,” he says. “I knew that somewhere along the journey, whether it was five or eight years in, that we were going to impact kids and families who would not have been impacted otherwise.
“Is it practical to say Camp Compass will be celebrating a 50-year anniversary? No, that’s not practical. But, while I’m still breathing and able to help, the Camp Compass philosophy can be shared across the country and what people do with it is their choice.”
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John Anonni and Camp Compass clearly demonstrate that mentoring is key to growing hunting and the shooting sports. NSSF’s +ONESM Movement, which encourages all active hunters and target shooters to extend an invitation to someone new and show them how safe and enjoyable these pastimes are, works to achieve the same goal, but on a nationwide basis. Annoni says the National Shooting Sports Foundation is a keystone when it comes to recruiting and retention in the hunting and shooting sports.
“Its +ONE Movement is a critical initiative. It is really needed and it is able to move the needle with the long arms it has. NSSF is positioned like no one else to impact the future of hunting.
“While my focus has been primarily youth, lately adults have been reaching out to me about hunting,” Anonni added. “The +ONE Movement has the ability to be a spectrum of support for people of all ages.”
For more information and to learn how you can help introduce someone to hunting and the shooting sports, visit LetsGoHunting.org and LetsGoShooting.org.
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Gun safety is top priority when introducing anyone to hunting.[/caption]
My first gun was a BB gun. With this gun, I was able to learn how to properly handle a weapon. It’s still a great tool for teaching new hunters safe firearms handling (even adults). Start by treating the BB gun exactly as you would a rifle or shotgun — all the safety rules apply. Allow the new hunter to carry it alongside you in the woods, at first unloaded, and correct their hold, carry or aiming as needed so that the good habits become ingrained.
When your charge is becoming reliable in their handling and demonstrating good safety, introduce BBs into the picture and head to the range for the lessons on aiming, breathing and trigger control. Allow one round in the weapon at a time initially. When both of you are comfortable, move on to a centerfire rifle or shotgun appropriate to the hunt you’ll be participating in.
This is the time to talk about game anatomy and the importance of making a lethal hit. Stress that, in hunting, there is nothing worse than wounding an animal and not being able to recover it. Emphasize that a hunter should exhaust all efforts in the recovery process in the case that an animal is wounded — and explain that at one point in every hunter’s time afield, an animal will be wounded and not found. It’s unfortunate and tragic, but ethical hunters minimize the chances of it happening by practicing with their firearms and understanding how to place a proper, quick-killing hit on the vitals of the game they’re pursuing.
Whether it is hunting deer, squirrels or anything in between, it is vital to be a positive role model.[/caption]
Sadness isn’t the only reaction you’ll get from a hunter who has successfully taken their first game animal. Some will rejoice at a kill, others will be sad, and some will be scared to death. Whatever their reaction is should be acceptable, so long as they show respect for the animal.
Understand that some will not be able to wait for their next hunt while others will not want to go hunting again. When the latter happens with a child, particularly younger kids, leave it at that. Do not pressure him or her to hunt again, as it will only drive them further away. Sometimes people, kids included, need time to digest the totality of hunting and will return to participate again whenever the “I’m ready” strikes them — but undue pressure is a sure way to make sure that “ready” never happens.
There is no age limit on introducing someone to the outdoors.[/caption]
Certainly, the actual hunting was a big part of the whole experience, but Dad took care of the details, and that’s critical to successful mentoring. When mentoring, there is much a mentor needs to instill in a future hunter before that person ever picks up a firearm or bow and heads off to the woods. Things like gun safety, hunting ethics and dealing with the death of an animal are all things we as mentors and experienced hunters need to help new sportsmen and -women understand, especially if those new hunters are youths. Covering these details — presenting the wider picture of hunting — is even more critical when you consider that many people who want to get involved in hunting don’t have a father, grandfather, mother or aunt to teach them what they need to know. They don’t know anyone who hunts — and that’s where you come in.
Time on the range is vital to learn proper gun handling and safety.[/caption]
Of course, not everyone who wants to try hunting is sure they’re going to stick with it. Thankfully, there are many states that have apprentice hunting license programs. These programs match mentors with those interested in hunting, but because the mentor stays with their charge throughout the entirety of their first experiences in the field, it is not required that the person being mentored first complete a hunter ed course. The approach is “try before you buy,” and it’s one many states are finding to be a success at improving hunter numbers. If you’re reading this, you’re already interested in being a mentor, and if your state offers an apprentice license program, you’ll have a natural entry point to introducing someone new to hunting.
A great way to get someone interested in hunting is to have them help you track a downed animal and help you pack it out.[/caption]
I’ve found a great way to get kids interested in hunting, even if they don’t want to sit through a hunt with you, is to allow them to help in the recovery process of big-game animals. Once I have an animal down and located, for instance, I’ll go back to the house for the young one. Point out to them the blood trail and hair that was left on the ground. Explain to them which way the deer went after the shot and let them follow the blood trail. Allow the child to find the deer as if you had not already found it — it will bring their enthusiasm to a whole new level, promise.
Downed animals bring us to the next step, processing. You will know better than anyone if a child is ready for that part of the hunt. Regardless, and with both youths and adults, you want to have the conversation about not wasting the animal and demonstrate the pride you have in putting meat on the table that you harvested yourself.
Educating a new hunter properly includes discussions and demonstrations of field dressing, butchering and dinner prep.[/caption]
This is also the perfect time to talk about charities such as 
“For years we tried the shotgun approach, with large group outings for both adults and young hunters. That style is hard to sustain and track. New adult hunters sometimes felt uncomfortable or lost in the large group setting, and youth hunters from non-hunting families didn’t always have the resources they needed to continue hunting,” said Forester.
While QDMA still holds several large-scale youth hunts across the nation each year, it is placing more emphasis on a one-on-one style of hunter recruitment.
“We’ve had tremendous success with our Field to Fork Program,” said Forester. “What we’re finding is that we need to go places where non-hunters are, like farmer’s markets and universities. We set up at these locations with cooked venison and invite people over to give it a try. Studies show that over 70 percent of the population approves of hunting for food, and the venison samples the perfect way to break the ice get a conversation about hunting started.”
The approach is working. Hank reports that participation slots in the college clubs and farmer’s market programs fill quickly. Once participants sign up, they meet over several nights to learn about hunting techniques, safety, processing and wild game cooking. From there, they attend a range day where to gain hands-on experience with either the crossbows or firearms they’ll use to hunt. The programs culminate in a hunt weekend, where participants go on mentored hunts with QDMA members and local volunteers. After the hunt, everyone reconvenes to get a hands-on lesson in game processing, and the weekend ends as a social event with wild game as the menu centerpiece.
The program makes waves. “We’ve found that adults who attend these programs together form their own hunting communities. We try to encourage that by offering follow-up events and hunts to the entire group even after the program is completed. What we are seeing is that the members of these groups form bonds that extend well past the program itself, and they come to rely on each other when they have questions or need a hand in the field,” Hank said.
Not only do the participants in the QDMA programs learn to hunt, they pay it forward by introducing others to the sport. “This is where we see the NSSF +ONE in action. We have one graduate of the program who has now taken several new hunters out on his own. He also butchers his extra venison and donates it to those interested in trying venison for the first time at the university where he works. We have started calling it ‘Venison Diplomacy,’ and it is working to attract new hunters,” says Forester.
Like QDMA, NWTF is targeting young adults, college students and families with an extended-learning program designed to not only teach newcomers how to hunt but to form a hunting community and social network that, hopefully, will last for years to come. Pete Muller, Public Relations Manager for NWTF, says they are doing that by hosting several events for each group over a year’s time.
“We start with classroom sessions, but also get the participants out in the field for range time and hunts for a variety of species like turkey, dove and deer,” said Muller. “With help from industry partners like Yeti and TriStar Arms, we are able to host and outfit group hunts on both our property and that of local landowners who volunteer their time and lands to our programs. Many of the college students have come from the nearby Clemson University Ag Department, where programs from South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources have allowed us to offer opportunities to these students,” Pete said.
Once a new program has been refined, it is then distributed to local and state chapters, as well as R3 (recruitment, reactivation, retainment) coordinators, for implementation. This past season, for example NWTF chapters in Arizona held three turkey camps that welcomed more than 500 people, many from the metro-Phoenix area who had no past hunting experience at all. Volunteers like Tim Denny of the Mingus Mountain NWTF Chapter — NWTF encourages its chapter members to volunteer through its Mentored Hunt Challenge, in which every member who mentors a new hunter is entered into a drawing for a new Yeti 65-quart cooler — organize the hunts and work to pair new hunters with more experienced mentors so that everyone has an enjoyable time at camp.
On still another front, NWTF’s Hunting Heritage program partners new hunters with outfitters who volunteer to take them on high success-rate guided hunts. The hope for this program is that new hunters learn tips and techniques from professional guides, eliminating a lot of the frustrating trial and error they would go through if learning to hunt on their own — trial and error that can leave one looking for a different pastime.
Like QDMA and NWTF, Delta Waterfowl has found great success in targeting young adults around universities in their search for interested new hunters, something that Brice says there’s a real need for.
“In working with various universities, we’ve discovered a troubling trend,” says Brice. “Over half the current wildlife degree majors at many schools not only don’t hunt actively, they’ve never hunted at all! These are the students who, upon completion of their degree, will be helping to craft wildlife laws for years to come.”
“We’ve targeted these non-hunting wildlife majors to not only teach them to hunt but to show them the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation in action. That way, even if they don’t continue hunting in the future, they will have a much better understanding of it in their future careers.”
Participants are teamed with professors and volunteers and meet several times over a semester to discuss varying aspects of waterfowl hunting and get hands-on experience in the field. The program concludes in an end-of-semester hunt where they get to put their new skills to work in real-world conditions.
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These groups and others like them are working hard to ensure that not only will future generations have game to hunt, there will be hunters to pursue that game. As hard as these groups are working, their efforts will only be effective if their rank-and-file memberships embrace NSSF’s 
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Blaze Orange
Safety first. Plus, an orange hat and vest makes a great welcoming gift to hunting.
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Binocular
Bring an extra bino so the newcomer can stay engaged even during the slow periods.
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Wind Checker
Helps drive home the importance of always knowing what the wind is doing.
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Hand Warmers
As every hunter knows, no matter how good the gloves, hands will get cold.
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Large Thermos
Nothing helps pass the time like a warming cup of coffee or hot cocoa.
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