Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
DNR takes hunter education classes to Michigan School for the Deaf to open up outdoor activities to students - The Flint Journal Online News - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com
Dressed in camouflage pants and headband, Mike Fisette, 16, looks right at home leaning against a rack of shotguns. Nearby, his buddy Ray McCall, 14, sits on a table heaped high with outdoor gear.
Usually, John Bell's uniformed team of instructors is riding herd over 50-100 youngsters at a time. Here, the two teens are outnumbered three-to-one but no one seems to mind. The class might be smaller but the goal is the same: to teach budding young hunters the basics of Michigan's original outdoor sport.
The difference is this Department of Natural Resources hunter education class is being held at the Michigan School for the Deaf.
"I go out hunting with my grandpa but I've never been able to shoot at any game. All I get to do is pick up the birds," joked Ray, speaking through one of the two sign language interpreters assigned to the class.
"I've tried to take the class before near my grandpa's place but they didn't offer interpreters. I read the book but couldn't really get everything offered in the class to get all the information you need."
Mike agreed. He's shot a bb gun, he said, but this will be his first opportunity to handle a real firearm designed for hunting.
So this time, the DNR came to them.
"This one is truly a special class because a specific group requested it, and our volunteer instructors really went all out to make it happen for them," said Sgt. Kevin Davis, the DNR's hunter education field coordinator for northern Michigan.
Hunter safety is required for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1960. A hunter safety certificate or previous hunting license is required to purchase any Michigan hunting license.
Every year the DNR holds about 3,000 hunter education classes to train about 30,000 new hunters across the state. All classes are intended to be open to anyone regardless of disability.
"All they need to do is let the instructor know at least 10 days in advance what their specific needs are so they can make accommodations," said Davis.
However, any special needs group can make arrangements for a class tailored specifically to those needs, such as the one held at MSD.
"All they have to do is contact their local DNR office and someone on the local scale will get that ball rolling for them," said Davis. "The outdoors should be open to everybody to enjoy."
The goal is to make sure that all youngsters are provided equal opportunities to learn the necessary skills, said Sen. John Gleason, D-Flushing, a longtime crusader of rights for the disabled who sponsored the MSD hunter safety class.
"There are 86,000 citizens in Genesee County with some kind of disability. I'm a big hunter and fisherman myself and I knew we were leaving a lot of people out," said Gleason. "We want to give them the same chance as everybody else to get out there in the woods."
The Michigan United Conservation Clubs paid for the ammunition while the DNR provided the classroom materials and volunteer instructors. The MSD provided the sign language interpreters.
Hosting a special needs class isn't all that different from any other class, Bell said. But it does require attention to a few extra details. In this case, two certified sign language interpreters switched off every 15 minutes.
"Communication is the biggest obstacle you face," said Bell, Genesee County's DNR hunter education coordinator. "You're used to interacting directly with the students but in this case, everything goes through an interpreter. That's a slower process naturally just because of that extra third step in there.
"You have to slow everything down and back up sometimes, because you want to make sure you get the point across."
The interpreters said the unfamiliar material was a challenge.
"What we're doing is interpreting. It's not a literal translation of each word. So it really helps to have some background knowledge in the subject," said one, who asked that their names be withheld.
When all is said and done, Michigan will have two more new hunters whose actions speak louder than words.
"I've learned a lot about safety and first aid when you're out in the woods. But I don't see how the ability to hear has any effect on how you hunt. I'm sure it's pretty much done just like everybody else does it," said Ray. "If I get an animal, my family will be proud."
Dressed in camouflage pants and headband, Mike Fisette, 16, looks right at home leaning against a rack of shotguns. Nearby, his buddy Ray McCall, 14, sits on a table heaped high with outdoor gear.
Usually, John Bell's uniformed team of instructors is riding herd over 50-100 youngsters at a time. Here, the two teens are outnumbered three-to-one but no one seems to mind. The class might be smaller but the goal is the same: to teach budding young hunters the basics of Michigan's original outdoor sport.
The difference is this Department of Natural Resources hunter education class is being held at the Michigan School for the Deaf.
"I go out hunting with my grandpa but I've never been able to shoot at any game. All I get to do is pick up the birds," joked Ray, speaking through one of the two sign language interpreters assigned to the class.
"I've tried to take the class before near my grandpa's place but they didn't offer interpreters. I read the book but couldn't really get everything offered in the class to get all the information you need."
Mike agreed. He's shot a bb gun, he said, but this will be his first opportunity to handle a real firearm designed for hunting.
So this time, the DNR came to them.
"This one is truly a special class because a specific group requested it, and our volunteer instructors really went all out to make it happen for them," said Sgt. Kevin Davis, the DNR's hunter education field coordinator for northern Michigan.
Hunter safety is required for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1960. A hunter safety certificate or previous hunting license is required to purchase any Michigan hunting license.
Every year the DNR holds about 3,000 hunter education classes to train about 30,000 new hunters across the state. All classes are intended to be open to anyone regardless of disability.
"All they need to do is let the instructor know at least 10 days in advance what their specific needs are so they can make accommodations," said Davis.
However, any special needs group can make arrangements for a class tailored specifically to those needs, such as the one held at MSD.
"All they have to do is contact their local DNR office and someone on the local scale will get that ball rolling for them," said Davis. "The outdoors should be open to everybody to enjoy."
The goal is to make sure that all youngsters are provided equal opportunities to learn the necessary skills, said Sen. John Gleason, D-Flushing, a longtime crusader of rights for the disabled who sponsored the MSD hunter safety class.
"There are 86,000 citizens in Genesee County with some kind of disability. I'm a big hunter and fisherman myself and I knew we were leaving a lot of people out," said Gleason. "We want to give them the same chance as everybody else to get out there in the woods."
The Michigan United Conservation Clubs paid for the ammunition while the DNR provided the classroom materials and volunteer instructors. The MSD provided the sign language interpreters.
Hosting a special needs class isn't all that different from any other class, Bell said. But it does require attention to a few extra details. In this case, two certified sign language interpreters switched off every 15 minutes.
"Communication is the biggest obstacle you face," said Bell, Genesee County's DNR hunter education coordinator. "You're used to interacting directly with the students but in this case, everything goes through an interpreter. That's a slower process naturally just because of that extra third step in there.
"You have to slow everything down and back up sometimes, because you want to make sure you get the point across."
The interpreters said the unfamiliar material was a challenge.
"What we're doing is interpreting. It's not a literal translation of each word. So it really helps to have some background knowledge in the subject," said one, who asked that their names be withheld.
When all is said and done, Michigan will have two more new hunters whose actions speak louder than words.
"I've learned a lot about safety and first aid when you're out in the woods. But I don't see how the ability to hear has any effect on how you hunt. I'm sure it's pretty much done just like everybody else does it," said Ray. "If I get an animal, my family will be proud."