Local gun show, Alaska Fish and Game offer opportunity for shooting enthusiasts

Let’s begin with a few reminders of coming events. First, the Grouse Ridge Rangers Youth Shooters group is sponsoring a Christmas gun show and holiday extravaganza Saturday and Sunday at the Menard Memorial Sports Complex in Wasilla. The hours run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults and kids under age 10 are free.

The flyer I have says there will be more than 100 vendors of shooting, hunting and gun related items. For folks less interested in gun stuff, there will also be more than 30 vendors of craft items and gift ideas. The idea is to provide something of interest for everybody in the family.

If you’re wondering, the Grouse Ridge Rangers is the youth shooting group which sent shooters to Illinois this past summer to compete in a national shotgun match. An article about the match appeared in the Frontiersman this past fall. These kids are good shooters and very ably represented Alaska by finishing 15th out of 500 teams competing.

This gun show is a primary fund-raiser for these kids to travel to these national shooting events. Four kids were able to travel to the Illinois shoot. If enough funding can be raised, Coach Neil Moss said that a larger group of kids could travel this shooting season. Plan on stopping by either Saturday or Sunday and browse the vendors to finish your Christmas shopping. The Grouse Ridge Rangers will thank you.

Second, we’re in the home stretch to apply for the drawing hunt permits. In an earlier column, I explained that the application period was open from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 for the 2011–12 drawing permit period. Paper applications were only being accepted during November, so to apply now, you must go online. Go to the Fish and Game homepage and browse the menu. I submitted my application online in November. I’m hoping by being early rather than late, my luck will change and I’ll actually get drawn for a hunt!

Several of the drawing permits require a hunter education (HE) certification to participate. All of the so-called “weapons restricted” hunts require the applicant to already have the appropriate certification for the “weapon” mandated by the hunt conditions. The largest numbers of drawing hunts with this requirement are archery hunts, but several muzzleloading hunts also are available.

Any hunt occurring on military lands requires at least the basic HE certification. Other general season hunts in specific areas, like the Palmer-Wasilla management area, also have HE requirements. Hunting anywhere in the game management units along the highway system from Homer to Fairbanks requires HE as well. Check the hunting regulations book for specifics.

While we’re talking HE, the Mat-Su HE instructors had their annual planning meeting this past Tuesday at the Grouse Ridge shooting facility. The main purpose of this meeting was to lay out a schedule of HE classes for the three disciplines: basic, bow hunter, and muzzleloading, for the coming year. Instructors then signed up to teach the class or classes that best fit their individual schedules.

Jerry Soukup, the Hunter Information and Training Statewide Coordinator for Fish and Game, presented some interesting preliminary statistics (there are still a couple of classes yet to happen) to the instructors at the meeting. For the Mat-Su, a total of 43 classes were presented in 2010: 27 basic courses; 11 bow hunter courses; and five muzzleloading classes. A total of 530 students attended these classes and 507 successfully passed their respective courses and earned their HE certifications.

The statewide statistics, including the Mat-Su numbers, look like this: 153 basic classes; 91 bow hunter classes; and 30 muzzleloader courses for a total of 274 classes. Total student enrollment numbered 2,972 with 2,732 successfully passing their respective courses. Total instructor hours involved with teaching the HE classes statewide added up to 6,017.

Looking at those numbers reveals the greatest student interest, after the basic course, is in the bow hunter certification. In the valley, 26 percent of the classes, 35 percent of the total enrollment, and 34 percent of the successful graduates were all from the bow hunter discipline. Statewide, the numbers were similar, with 33 percent of the classes, 31 percent of the total enrollment, and 33 percent of the graduates from bow hunting. There’s obviously a lot of interest in the archery drawing permit hunts!

The entire amount of time HE instructors spend preparing for and instructing courses is donated to the hunter education program. For the courses taught in the Mat-Su, a total of 841.5 hours (14 percent of the statewide total) was donated. Fish and Game assigns a dollar value to this time and uses it as “in-kind” match to receive real dollars into the program for things like teaching materials, shooting supplies, and other program expenses.

Alaska has limited HE requirements. The other 49 states have statewide HE requirements in order to even buy a hunting license. If you didn’t apply for a permit to hunt in the areas requiring HE in Alaska, you still might find yourself booking a trip Outside for a hunt someday. You’ll need a HE certification to do so.

All three disciplines have online courses, so unavailability or time and travel concerns are no longer valid excuses to avoid receiving the certification. Alaska’s HE certifications are recognized nationally, so consider taking a course. You might be surprised at what you’ll learn!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by e-mailing sports@frontiersman.com.