 Lance Morgan and CO Phil Mohs
Lance Morgan of North Branch has been named the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Firearms Safety Volunteer Instructor of the Year for 2016. Morgan recently received his award at Game Fair held in Anoka.
Morgan has been teaching as a firearms safety instructor for 10 years and has worked tirelessly to organize, teach and recruit youth hunters through the program, as well as recruiting new instructors to expand the capacity and availability of safety training.
Outside of the classroom, Morgan is a 4-H coach, National Wild Turkey Federation chapter president, and an avid turkey and big game hunter. Morgan has volunteered his time to be a youth turkey hunt mentor every year since the program began and his local NWTF chapter is consistently one of the most active in the hunt.
In 2016, he and other firearms safety instructors joined the Chisago Lakes Sportsman's Club, NWTF and the DNR to host an outdoor skills and safety field day for more than 60 local youth. "I'd like to thank my fellow instructors and volunteers for their help. I couldn't do it without them," said Morgan.
From the many volunteer hours spent organizing youth training, to securing permission from landowners to allow kids a place to hunt, and encouraging a camaraderie between youth and their mentors, Morgan's commitment to growing the next generation of ethical hunters and conservationists is evident.
"Lance's emphasis on safety is second to none and has a lasting impact on the hundreds of students he has taught in the classroom and in the field over the years," said DNR Conservation Officer Phil Mohs, who nominated Morgan for the award. "I have had the great pleasure of checking several of his students last fall while they were hunting and was pleased to see first-hand that they were focused on safety and ethics during my contact with them. The students were a true reflection of Lance and the other volunteer instructors he surrounds himself with."
Congratulations, Lance!
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 Front Row: New graduates of the DNR firearms safety field day; Back Row:RTO Jen Mueller (L) with newly certified firearms safety instructors
MN DNR Enforcement Regional Training Officers (RTO’s) recently
assisted with putting on two firearms safety instructor clinics at Carlos Avery WMA.
At 8:00 am on
a Saturday morning, 10 women met at Carlos Avery WMA to participate in
the instructor clinic. After the clinic, 5 young ladies came to
Carlos Avery to complete their FAS field day which was taught by our RTO’s and
the new instructors. Our intention was to teach the new instructors in
the morning and have them jump right into training young kids with the hope that the information they learned in the morning would be better understood by being immediately applied.
On Sunday, 8 more women completed the instructor clinic.
Once again, we had 9 young ladies show up in the afternoon to complete their
field day.
All in all, we added 18 new FAS instructors (all female) and 14
young females earned their FAS certificate.
The purpose of this “project” was to increase our female
instructors and our hope is by having more female FAS instructors, we will
encourage more young women and girls to obtain their FAS certification and
start enjoying hunting and the outdoors.
We partnered with Women Hunting and Fishing who reached out to
females already involved in the outdoors and made this opportunity available to
them. All the women who participated had a background in the outdoors
from long time members/employees of Pheasants Forever, MN DNR employees, and
several instructors who teach other youth outdoor activities.
There is already a waiting list for our next all-female
instructor clinic which will be held in the spring of 2018.
Thank you to all who assisted and participated!
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 Front Row (l-r): John Breimhorst, Jeff Radick; Back Row (l-r): Jeff Will, Shawn O'Hern, Lance Schmitt and Ed Breimhorst
The DNR Volunteer Instructors in Jordan recently held their fall firearms safety class for youth at the Fish Lake Sportsmen's Club.
Thank you!
We recently received am email from a mom whose daughter recently attended a Firearms field day in Pine City. She complimented the Pine City Firearms Safety Instructors with being "extremely well-prepared, knowledgeable and fun!" She felt her daughter left at the end of the day feeling much more confident and really excited.
She also mentioned that it was evident the instructor team put a lot of time and resources into making a really great experience for each person there, and would recommend them to anyone looking for an awesome field day!
Links to Websites:
HUNTER EDUCATION
Henry Repeating Arms Company .22 rifles, both Lever and Bolt action -
718/499-5600 or visit their website at:
Henry Repeating Rifles
Hunter Safety Systems - Fall Arrest Harness Toll Free 877-296-3528 or go to: Savage Arms .22 bolt action youth models - single shot
Third Hand Archery - Tree Stand Gun Hoist and other training aids available for purchase.
Education materials can be purchased at
Federal
Premium Education Materials.
IHEA - Subscribe to the International Hunter Education Association Email Newsletter.
To access the volunteer discussion section of the IHEA website, go to www.ihea.com – Username is volunteer and the password is huntsafe.
To access the instructor resource section of the IHEA website, go to www.ihea.com, click on Instructor Resource. The Username is instructor and the Password is gohunt.
ADDITIONAL WEBSITES:
Adaptive Equipment
for Disabled Hunters
Alan Madison DVDs
Outdoor Edge
DNR Instructor Page
Hunter Education Tools
Ducks Unlimited
Izaak Walton League
MN Deer Hunters Association
MN Shooting Ranges
MN Volunteer Instructor Association
Nat'l Bow Hunter Ed Foundation
Nat'l Shooting Sports Foundation
Nat'l Wild Turkey Foundation
Pheasants Forever
Ruffed Grouse Society
Safari Club
Turn In Poachers
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE WEBSITES:
American Council of Snowmobile Associations
ATVAM
ARMCA
Heads Up Braking System
MN 4-Wheel Drive Association
MN United Snowmobilers Association
Nat'l Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
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