“mentors”

For new hunters, mentors who have “been there, done that” are invaluable resources. Fortunately, numerous opportunities for beginning hunters to receive expert tutelage exist across the nation as well as online.

Federal Premium Ammunition hosted a gathering of 20 leaders from outdoor mentoring programs from across the country earlier this month, in an effort to bring local and national organizations together to align their work with the National Hunter Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation (R3) plan. The event was organized in conjunction with Pass it On Outdoor Mentors and the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports.

The latest version of the Powderhook app makes it easier than ever for both new and experienced hunters to connect and interact with others in the hunting community, find a place to hunt or fish, and discover local, current events related to hunting, fishing and recreational shooting.

The NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum has awarded a $50,000 challenge grant to the First Hunt Foundation to help establish the Hunting Heritage Endowment and provide for on-the-ground mentoring work.

QuietKat Electric Bikes has announced it will be donating products to help raise money for the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA-USA). It joins Federal Ammunition in this support and investment.

In the July 2015 issue of American Hunter, we wrote about how the National Rifle Association supports wildlife conservation through the Women’s Wildlife Management/Conservation Scholarship (WWMCS). The scholarship is the 2006 brainchild of the Women’s Policies Committee of the NRA and is intended to help preserve national resources for future generations through educational subsidies. We thought it would be interesting to follow the career track of one who put the scholarship to good use, the 2009 WWMCS recipient, Samantha Pedder.

The 2017 National Rifle Association Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) National Championship is scheduled for July 23-28, 2017, at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico.

Acknowledging youth hunter recruitment efforts may not necessarily pay dividends, many states now focus additional effort on the 27- to 40-year-old adults, people who have the time, money and resources to hunt and take their kids hunting.