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Wingshooting USA focuses on the FUN of this great sport and honors the dogs that make it all possible. This dog-centric series follows Scott Linden as he travels across the Upland Nation, hunting with pro dog trainers, hunting guides and lodge owners and is loaded with tips, advice, fun and plenty of dogs! Watch it on NBC Sports, AMG-TV, TUFF-TV, Legacy TV and Pursuit Channel.

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One way Scott Linden Outdoors and CZ-USA are helping to support the mission of NSSF is by getting behind the +ONE^SM Movement that encourages people to introduce someone new to hunting. Join the +ONE^SM Movement!

By Bill Miller For a long time, far too long, hunting has been “a man’s world.” However, a glimpse at social media today will reveal more and more women trying—and liking—hunting. Successful hunting and fishing writer Kristine J. Houtman’s new book, “Why Women Hunt,” tells the stories of a wide range of women who have come to hunting and learned to treasure it. We recently interviewed K.J. to see what she learned from the extensive interviews it took to tell this story. BM: Your previous hunting and fishing books were very different from this one. What made you choose “Why Women Hunt” as your next creative outlet? KJH: The publisher wanted a book about women hunting, but neither of us wanted celebrity profiles. My hope was to write something where every woman could find herself in the stories; getting deep was integral for me. I asked each woman to tell me about a hunt that changed her, one that provided growth, empowerment and adventure. The goal was never a how-to manual, but rather exciting and endearing stories of lives changed. BM: How did you select the women the book is about? KJH: Many were women I’d met in my time in the outdoor industry and had a glimpse into their lives. Some were new and recommended by Brenda Valentine, who wrote the foreword for the book. The goal was a diverse group in age, hunting experience, types of hunting and geography. BM: What was your favorite part of researching and writing “Why Women Hunt?” KJH: Hearing their stories, digging deep at times into the memories and unlocking the emotion and the details. I was inspired by their bravery: some of them fearless and others simply meeting fear head-on. I enjoyed seeing the world through their eyes and discovering the joys and the pains that are a part of life—and hunting. It didn’t start out to be a coffee table book—but it is one! Once the publisher saw the quality of the stories, he wanted to invest more and make it a beautiful book. Getting the photography to elevate it was a challenge, but so worth it. BM: Based on what you learned from these women, what is the greatest barrier for hunting today? KJH: For women who weren’t raised in a family that hunted, the biggest need is for mentorship, and almost all mentors were men in these ladies’ lives. Life partners, coworkers, acquaintances through hunting initiatives like Camp Compass Academy or Becoming an Outdoor Woman or just a good circle of friends or family can open the doors. Honestly,  many times they didn’t know they would love it until they hunted for the first time. Invitation, encouragement and assistance with skill-building are key. BM: Did you discover any commonalities, anything universally experienced or believed, among women who hunt? KJH: Nearly all shared threads of disappointment regarding anti-hunter sentiment and social-media challenges. Most felt we could do a lot better job in how we talk about hunting where non-hunters and even anti-hunters are listening. More thumbs-up on encouragement and thumbs-down on keyboard warriors and judgment. BM: What impact do you hope the book will have? KJH: I hope it will open doors to hunting. I hope women will see themselves in the pages and become inspired for who they will be years from now. BM: You weren’t a lifelong hunter. What was your journey to hunting? KJH: Well, my story is in the book, too. I didn’t begin until I was in my 50s. I mean, no excuses ladies, if I can do this, you can, too. It’s hard work for sure, but incredibly rewarding. I’m a better person for it because hunting challenges me to get outside my comfort zone and tackle things that are hard. BM: With what you’ve experienced in your own hunting journey and what you now know after researching “Why Women Hunt,” what is the most important advice you can offer? KJH: Don’t wait—go. Find someone you trust who wants you to succeed and ask all the questions. How do I use this scope on my rifle? What’s it like to walk into the woods at oh-dark-thirty? How do I climb a tree stand? How do I field dress an animal I harvest? Sure, there’s a YouTube video for absolutely everything, not to mention all the resources at NSSF’s LetsGoHunting.org, but a mentor—and this is why NSSF’s +ONE mentoring initiative is so important—is really what is needed. And it may take several people for the job. BM: What would you say to the faction of women who are biased against hunting, either passively or pro-actively? KJH: I’ve been hopeful that some anti-hunters will read “Why Women Hunt” and see a different side as they meet the women and hear their stories. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but what a great gift it would be for an anti-hunting family member this holiday season. I think if more women knew how a growing number of women are empowered and gain confidence through hunting, they’d see it in a different light. BM: Do you think there’s a best way for women to experience hunting and determine if it’s for them? KJH: First, it’s probably not sitting in a treestand for eight straight hours in the cold the first time out. Consider turkey hunting or wingshooting instead. Second, don’t set her up for failure and don’t laugh when she can’t hack it. Women don’t have to hunt every species on the continent to be authentic, either. Let a woman you’re introducing pick what she wants to pursue and how much she wants to do herself. She may be all over that big-game hunt—or maybe not. She might want to learn every detail of gutting it and caring for the meat, or she may prefer to watch the first time out. BM: What’s the right or best role for men to play in creating hunting opportunities and a welcoming atmosphere for women in hunting? KJH:  Most mentors are men. Inviting, setting new hunters up for success, advising, skill-building and helping with gear and opportunity. As one of the gals, an inner-city Chicago resident, said, “You don’t just decide to go hunting one day like you’d decide to go to the grocery store.” Simplify and be patient, because no one can learn it all in one dose. BM: For whom will this book make an appreciated gift and an interesting read? KJH: I think any man who would like a daughter, partner or coworker to try hunting should consider reading this book and then sharing it with them. It will be a springboard for conversation. Of course, any woman who hunts or has questions about getting started in hunting would surely appreciate this volume. BM: Best question for last: Where can people buy the book? KJH: It’s available exclusively from the publisher Wild River Press at www.whywomenhunt.com. Enjoy it. I know how much I enjoyed putting it together.  

By Michael Pendley The crowd surrounding the Quality Deer Management Association’s Hank Forester and his grill had been attracted by the enticing scent of grilled venison wafting across the farmers market. Few if any of the urban locavore crowd were hunters, but they were all there that morning to procure locally grown (and preferably organic) food for themselves and their families. As the market’s customers began to gather around the grill, Hank and his coworkers from QDMA took the time to explain that hunting had never really been about trophy measurements. Since the time records were kept as paintings on a cave wall, hunting has always been, at its core, about food. The thought of sustainable, local, additive-, antibiotic- and hormone-free protein appealed to the mostly metropolitan group, and Forester took advantage of the interest to introduce the QDMA’s Field to Fork program to anyone interested in learning to hunt to supply their own meat.

Gathering Food Drives Interest

That scene has been repeated countless thousands of times across the country. Groups like the National Wild Turkey Federation and fish- and- game agencies from just about every state are implementing this same approach. Interested non-hunters attend one or more classes with an emphasis on how to hunt a particular species, how to process the animal into edible portions and how to prepare their game for the table. Once participants go through the classroom portion of the class, they get teamed with mentor volunteers to take part in an actual hunt. The pairing of new hunters with experienced mentors—the cornerstone of NSSF’s +ONE^SM Movement—is the most crucial part of the program. Unlike traditional hunter recruitment where young or new hunters tag along with more experienced friends or family members to learn the sport, many of the Field to Fork participants don’t have anyone in their circle to teach them the ropes. Mentors fill that role by being there to answer questions on planning and gear before the hunt and offer guidance in the field as the hunt unfolds. The approach of QDMA’s Field to Fork, as well as NSSF’s +ONE Movement, has become so successful that it has become a central tool for R3—recruit, reactivate and retain—programs nationwide seeking to attract new hunters. Derek Stoner, Hunter Outreach Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, says, “We are working on connecting to non-traditional participants who are interested in learning to hunt and need a quality mentorship experience to guide them through the process. Our hunter outreach team identified the Field to Fork program as an ideal initiative that reaches new adults and provides a well-balanced approach that emphasizes conservation, wildlife management, ethics and harvesting of wild game meat.”

Kentucky Born

The program got its beginning in the Bluegrass State back in 2010. Folks at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife were frustrated that they didn’t have a program in place to support residents asking to learn about hunting. Since many of those requests were coming from people outside the traditional hunting demographic and seemed to be centered around hunting from a wild game meat-procurement perspective, KDFWR came up with Learn to Hunt, which taught basic hunting skills that included processing and cooking game. The new program was quickly successful, with more applicants signing up than spaces available. Those early attempts taught the department some valuable lessons. At the top was the realization that the locavore movement was gaining steam and there was a vast pool of possible new hunters in urban areas who were interested in learning to harvest their own game. KDFWR knew they needed to expand the curriculum. It immediately started applying for federal grants to expand Learn to Hunt. The agency refined the course while waiting and for good news on the additional funding. In 2014, the grant was awarded. Realizing that food was one of the main reasons for interest in the program, KDFWR had already changed the name to Field to Fork and had designed a new, and now familiar, logo to go along with the new name. Another lesson learned in the years leading up to the grant was that simply spending time in class learning about hunting wasn’t enough to get the participants afield on their own. Since few of the participants had any experience afield or any support network of seasoned hunters who could answer questions and offer advice, class time alone wasn’t providing the confidence necessary to hunt by themselves. The answer was an expanded mentorship component in which classroom participants went afield with a mentor for a hunt or two. The hunts allowed the participants to experience real hunting situations with knowledgeable hunters, instilling that much-needed confidence, and successful hunts were followed by hands-on lessons in processing of game and a wild game dinner. Besides teaming up new hunters with an experienced companion, the expanded program allowed the classmates to form their own peer groups, something that continued well beyond the weekend class itself. The revised program was immediately successful. Soon, the department added classes beyond the original deer format to include other species like dove, turkey and small game. Then, over the next two years, KDFWR began to share Field to Fork with other state agencies, all of which employed it with success. Besides state governments, conservation organization like QDMA and NWTF, private businesses like SIG Sauer and Traeger Grills, and private sportsman’s clubs around the country have taken Field to Fork to heart. QDMA’s Forester says the Field to Fork program is vital to his organization’s recruitment efforts. The program focuses on three angles: hunting for food, because it has a high public approval rating; adults because they have the best ability to pursue hunting as a pastime; and social support, which is critical to getting potential new hunters past the “try it” stage. “We started using Field to Fork in 2016. We followed the data, made a few educated guesses and created a mentored hunting program that is efficient and effective,” he told me. “We created a food-focused program for adults, and we knew that we needed good mentors and community to create social support. How well has this approach worked for QDMA? “Through Field to Fork, we are having success creating new diverse hunters who are then sharing their stories, sharing their venison and, ultimately, becoming tomorrow’s mentors and advocates,” said Forester.

More Than One Way to Talk About Grilled Backstrap

While starting one of the most successful hunter recruitment programs in history might seem like enough of an accomplishment, the folks at KDFWR weren’t finished. Brent McCarty, R3 Branch Manager for KDFWR, says the department is constantly researching new ways to introduce the program to anyone who might be interested in hunting. One of the most promising new initiatives is Cook Wild Kentucky. In a partnership with the University of Kentucky’s Cooperative Extension Service, the KDFWR is working with the University’s Nutrition Education Program to come up with delicious, easy-to-make wild game meals. The recipes and cooking instructions are printed on the back of color-photograph postcards that get distributed through the state’s 120 cooperative extensions. KDFWR is also working directly with approximately 80 county agents to train them to hold their own Field to Fork classes, making the program more accessible to the entire state. McCarty says this increased coverage is a key to stopping the decline in hunter numbers. “We simply aren’t seeing the numbers we need to sustain license sales from traditional sources,” he explained. “We need to recruit new hunters from non-traditional demographics and making proven programs like Field to Fork more accessible to everyone is key to moving the needle.”

Support from Capitol Hill

“Over and over, we hear that one of the biggest problems that new hunters face is a lack of access to land,” McCarty told me. “Unfortunately, a lot of our state is made up of private land. We have landowners who are interested in hosting youth and Field to Fork hunts for new hunters, but their land is already being hunted during our regular firearms season.” KDFWR realized that growing Field to Fork would require additional properties, so KDFWR worked with the Kentucky legislature to pass regulations allowing specially permitted firearm hunts on private land outside of the regular season dates. “We’ve found landowners are much more willing to host these hunts if they are still able to hunt their property or host friends during the traditional firearms season,” says McCarty. *** There is no denying that hunter numbers across the nation are going down. Population centers are becoming more urban, and conventional, familial induction of new hunters is falling as current hunters age and their children and grandchildren don’t remain in the sport. Innovative programs like Field to Fork are reaching out to non-traditional demographics to recruit and train a new kind of hunter—and it turns out those new hunters look surprisingly like those hunters of old who hunted with one goal: feeding their family. About the +ONE Movement NSSF encourages all current hunters to take the +ONE Pledge. Reach out to someone new—someone outside your circle of friends and family who hunt—and teach them what you know about hunting, conservation and the deeply meaningful ability to put food on the dinner table that you harvested yourself. Talk with your local game wardens and state game agency professionals or reach out to QDMA’s Field to Fork program and others like it and let them know you’d like to serve as a mentor. There are thousands of people out there who want to hunt for their own food and don’t know where to turn to get started. With +ONE and programs like Field to Fork, you’re the solution to that problem.  

By Gary Nski As I watch the last sunset of the last day of the last of Wisconsin’s deer gun seasons for 2019, I was remembering, joyfully, my future daughter-in-law Jess’s phone call three years ago. “Hey, Gary, I just got a call from my uncle. My grandfather left me all of his deer rifles, shotguns and a .22-caliber Winchester. Would you please teach me how to use them and how to hunt with them?” The words hadn’t even left her lips before I exclaimed, “Let’s do this!” and I thought this is a perfect match for what the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s +ONE^SM Movement initiative is all about. My father mentored me, and if I could mentor Jess and my daughter, Elizabeth, by introducing them to the sports I love, a life’s mission would be achieved. [caption id="attachment_3303" align="aligncenter" width="650"] My Grandpa’s Remington Model 740.[/caption] Before we could move forward, I advised Jess she first needed to get a Wisconsin Hunter’s Safety Certificate. While she was working on completing that, I started scouring topo maps of northwestern Wisconsin to zero in on deer habitat like my dad and I had done five decades ago. My late father, Henry, started teaching me at the age of five about what would become my life’s passions of hunting and fishing. On fall Sunday afternoons in the 1960s, we’d cruise the fire lanes of Wisconsin’s rural Clark county in the emerald-green, 1952 two-door Pontiac he’d purchased with savings from his combat duty pay in the Korean War. He also used those savings to purchase a Mossberg semi-auto .22-caliber rifle, a Winchester model 94 .32 Win. Spec. rifle and a Winchester Model 12 12-gauge shotgun. We’d explore those back country roads, fire lanes and forests, foraging for edible oak stump mushrooms, hunting for ruffed grouse, gray squirrels and fox squirrels and scouting for whitetail deer sign before the upcoming Wisconsin deer seasons while listening to veteran football announcer Ray Scott call the Vince Lombardi-era Green Bay Packer games on the old Pontiac’s radio. [caption id="attachment_3304" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Jess, the Grouse and my best dog, “The Dude.”[/caption] I cherish those memories with Dad, and I wanted to pay forward the gift of the outdoors he gave me to Jess and Elizabeth. Jess passed her required hunter’s safety course, and in early fall of 2017, I ventured north to the twin ports of Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin and the public hunting lands of Douglas County to meet up with her and Elizabeth. That trip had a dual purpose. I wanted to spend time inventorying the inherited guns, but I also needed to teach the girls safe firearms handling and how to sight in a rifle before we took to the woods to scout for whitetail sign. I was fortunate to grow up in a small Wisconsin farming community with an active hunting and angling tradition fostered by our local scout troops and a sportsmen’s club. Once a month, we’d gather at a local tavern for a wild game feed. On some nights, we’d have a reel-to-reel movie about hunting moose or grizzlies in Alaska or fishing for huge northern pike and lake trout in Canada. The club raised funds through a variety of raffles, bratwurst feeds and donations from organizations like the NRA and local and state government agencies to build a state-of-the-art shooting range. That rifle range is where many, including myself, learn how to safely and accurately shoot our guns at an early age. Jess and I started sighting in our rifles at the 25-yard line at the George Constance Sr. Memorial Range and completed our sight-in at the 100-yard lanes, satisfied with our accuracy. That’s when Elizabeth asked to shoot one of my rifles. I was surprised. When Elizabeth was growing up on our farm, she’d embraced the outdoors at a very early age, chasing frogs, riding and showing our horses, fishing and occasionally hanging out in a deer blind with me and now and then field-dressing a deer. But she’d never asked to shoot or actually hunt, and I’d never pushed either on her. But it turns out that Elizabeth, now 28, had learned how to shoot with friends. [caption id="attachment_3305" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Our Campfire Buck Camp.[/caption] I asked her which of my two .30-06s she wanted to try. She chose the Browning A-bolt. We loaded her choice and I stood back with the spotting scope to watch the distant target. I had to rub my eyes after she squeezed off her first round: At 100 yards, she’d hit the one-inch bull’s-eye. And there was more, for her next three shots produced a three-inch group. She ejected the last round, laid the A-Bolt down, chamber open, on the bench and looked up at me with a Cheshire cat smile. “Dad, it’s all about the breathing,” to which I replied, “Okay, you two Annie Oakleys, there’s a bit of a different breathing pattern shooting at paper target verses shooting at one with hair. Let’s see what happens when deer season opens in a couple weeks.” *** Wisconsin’s deer hunting traditions, management and future are currently at a major crossroads, just as they are in many areas of the country. In 2019, Wisconsin deer hunting license purchases were down over 15,000. Deer in 50 of our 72 counties have tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), that after a nearly 20-year attempt to control the disease. There’s even bickering amongst us about the firearms we choose to hunt deer with. All of these things, and a lack of seasoned hunters ushering in a new generation to our traditions, threaten the future of hunting. Still, I remain optimistic because of the time I’ve spent with Jess and Elizabeth over the past three hunting seasons. Together we’ve put venison in the freezer each year, including the first season after I taught them to sight in their rifles and took them scouting. Best of all, I’ve learned as much mentoring them as they hopefully have learned from me. [caption id="attachment_3301" align="aligncenter" width="650"] One of our venison dinner.[/caption] The importance of safe gun handling both in and out of the field. The skill of not just hiking but slowing way down to track, hunt and, if lucky, harvest. That your heart rate will indeed greatly differ between a paper target versus one with hair or feathers; Jess learned that after she failed to take her safety off when a deer was standing just 30 yards away. The importance of taking care of your game once killed with proper field-dressing in the woods and processing the meat once back at camp. And, finally, taking these lessons of the guns and of the hunt and becoming mentors themselves. That’s how NSSF’s +ONE Movement is intended to work. That’s how we keep hunting alive.

https://youtu.be/7sVCB508XdY

Have you ever considered expanding your hunting party and family with a hunting dog? A four-legged partner is the perfect hunting +ONE to make your trips afield more memorable.

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By Michael Pendley State departments of natural resources and fish and game agencies are worried. Their chief function is to manage and protect their state’s wildlife populations. To do that, most rely at least partly on income from license sales and allocated federal tax dollars derived directly from the sale of hunting and fishing gear. The problem: The people they regularly interact with are already enjoying some aspect of the outdoors. To truly expand hunter numbers, these agencies must reach out to the potential hunters.

Wisconsin Turns to Adults for New Hunters

Wisconsin is one of those states actively seeking new hunters. Since 1990, it has lost over 100,000 licensed deer hunters, one-seventh of its deer-hunting population. Emily Lehl is the Wisconsin DNR’s R3 Coordinator. R3 stands for “recruitment, retain, and reactivate” and is a national initiative followed by many state agencies. “In 1996, our department implemented the ‘Learn to Hunt Program.’ Back then, our first inclination was to target young people for introduction to hunting. We set up ‘Learn to Hunt’ as a way to get kids from non-hunting families involved in hunting. We were able to get special seasons and relaxed limits implemented,” said Lehl. After several years of “Learn to Hunt,” the DNR discovered a few things. One, most of the kids involved in the program were from hunting families—not really the target audience the agency needed to attract new hunters. Second, the participating kids who were from non-hunting families had no support network to continue hunting. With that knowledge, starting in 2011, Wisconsin DNR officials shifted its R3 efforts from kids to young adults. “We noticed an increase in interest from young adults who were looking at hunting as a means to procure organic protein for themselves and their families,” said Lehl. Since most of these young adults had neither hunting experience nor a network of hunters to turn to for advice, the department implemented a series of “Hunt for Food” classes designed to provide information, mentorship and hands-on experience the new hunters would need to continue participating in this American pastime. The classes meet once a week for four weeks. The first class is held in a classroom setting where participants get to know one another and get a basic overview of hunting methods, general safety and equipment needs. The second week is spent in the field covering actual hunting situations and methods. Week three moves to the shooting range to introduce the new hunters to either firearms or crossbows. All of this training culminates in the actual hunt weekend. Participants are paired with volunteer mentors and then put their training to use. After the hunt, everyone reconvenes for a hands-on butchering class to process game from any successful hunts, and the final part of the class has participants and their families attending a wild-game dinner. Not only does the meal introduce properly prepared wild game, it gives the attendees a chance to socialize and form bonds that should help form a lasting support group for future hunts. The program has been so successful that the Wisconsin DNR is now encouraging hunting and conservation clubs across the state to adopt the framework and hold classes of their own. “We traditionally see these clubs focusing on youth, but with the success we are seeing from the ‘Hunt for Food’-style programs, we are encouraging these clubs to shift that focus to young adults,” said Lehl.

Kansas Takes a Multi-Pronged Approach

Another agency seeking to stem the decrease in their state’s hunter numbers is the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism (KDWPT). From 2011 to 2016, hunter numbers in the state dropped 16 percent. Tanna Fanshier, R3 Coordinator for the Department, is working to reverse that trend. One of five states awarded a monetary grant from the Association of State Fish and Wildlife Agencies for programs to expand hunter numbers, the KDWPT is attacking the problem on multiple fronts. In addition to re-engaging hunters who have stopped participating in the tradition, Fanshier says the KDWPT is reaching out to non-traditional hunting audiences, including women, college students and Millennials. “Our Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) classes are proving to be extremely popular,” said Fanshier. The classes are held at multiple locations throughout the year with experienced volunteers covering a variety of topics, including basic hunting, species-specific hunting, camping, firearm or archery gear training, bird and wildlife ID and fishing, in hands-on training. “One of the things I’m really excited about is that we have recently scheduled our first BOW class with an all-female instructor group,” Tanna said. “We think having women as instructors for the class will remove some of the apprehension participants might have when signing up for the class.” Like the Wisconsin DNR, the KDWPT is also seeing great return on investment from programs centered on young adults and their desire to learn to hunt as a means of procuring organic protein. “We have seen great success in tapping into the locavore movement among young, sometimes urban populations. We are using both fish and game dishes as a way to introduce a non-traditional segment of the population to hunting and fishing,” said Fanshier. Unfortunately, one of the biggest hurdles for new hunters is finding a spot to hunt. With approximately 98 percent of the land in Kansas being privately owned, this is particularly true for new hunters in the state. To combat this issue, KDWPT began a Walk-In Hunting Access (WIHA) pilot program in 1995. The program paid private landowners to open their land to walk-in hunters. By 2004, WIHA had grown to over a million acres; during the 2018-’19 season, WIHA provided over 1.2 million acres of ground to hunters pursuing a wide variety of game species. To ease liability concerns, Kansas state law has provided landowners who lease their land to the state for recreational purposes immunity from damages or injuries that result from ordinary negligence.

Kentucky Gets Creative with Firearms Seasons and Mentored Hunts

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife (KDFWR) is also on a constant search for ways to stop falling hunter numbers. Brent McCarty, R3 Manager for the department, says the state of Kentucky has long been at the forefront of new-hunter recruitment. “Our department has a large R3 staff for agency size, an indication of just how important it is to us,” says McCarty. “We were the first to introduce the ‘Field to Fork’ program that has been adopted by so many other agencies and organizations. And we are still the most active with more than 40 ‘Field to Fork’ programs last year, alone.” Brent said. “One of the biggest impediments to new hunters in the state is access to a place to hunt. We have a lot of experienced hunters who would like to mentor new hunters, and landowners who offer their farms to host hunts. Trouble is, the most effective tool for new hunters is a firearm, and both the mentors and the landowners tend to be either hunting themselves or hosting friends and family hunting their property during the relatively short firearms season. To combat this, we’ve recently gotten legislation passed that allows us to host firearm mentor hunts on private land outside the regular season. This gives us the opportunity to pair up experienced mentors with new hunters in the NSSF +ONE^SM Movement-style on farms that don’t have other active hunters on them at the time,” said McCarty. KDFWR is also in the process of switching the required Hunter Safety Certification from an either partial or complete in-person class to a completely online course. “Not only is this going to make it easier for new hunters, it will free up the four regional hunter ed coordinators and nearly 400 volunteers we have across the state to move away from hunter ed and more toward R3 initiatives,” said McCarty. While efforts like these from various state game agencies might not entirely reverse the decline in hunter numbers, they can turn the tide. Introducing a new, non-traditional demographic to hunting is helping to spread the word to a much wider audience, good news for the long-range well-being of the tradition we love. Curious about what your state’s natural resources agency has to offer you, from public hunting lands to game seasons and apprentice hunting license programs? NSSF’s Where to Hunt is your one-stop resource for state-by-state information, and it’s just one of the resources for both new and experienced hunters at LetsGoHunting.org. Give it a visit and see all it has to offer—and then head to the field for a great day of hunting.   You may also be interested in: https://www.letsgohunting.org/articles/fish-wildlife-agencies-use-mentored-dove-hunts-to-introduce-people-to-hunting/

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. [caption id="attachment_3247" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Students at Camp Compass Academy spend two years learning in the classroom as they earn the opportunity to go afield.[/caption] 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.” [caption id="attachment_3249" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Image Courtesy of Amanda Snyder.[/caption] 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 Annoni and Camp Compass clearly demonstrate that mentoring is key to growing hunting and the shooting sports. NSSF’s +ONE^SM 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,” Annoni 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. You may also be interested in: https://www.letsgohunting.org/articles/the-ultimate-hunting-plus-one-goal-building-lifelong-hunters/