RGS New Hunter Mentor Program Held Saturday, 4/30, at Rolfe Beagle Club
Johnsonburg, Pa.: The New Hunter Mentor Program within the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) held their first of three days of training for new hunters on Saturday, 4/30, at the Rolfe Beagle Club in Elk County, Pa. The RGS New Hunter Mentor Program (NHMP) is for hunters of any age that want to learn more about hunting upland birds – grouse, woodcock, or other upland birds. In order to keep the quality of instruction at a high level, a maximum of ten enrollees are accepted into the annual program.
The first day of the program is shotgun and safety – learning about types of shotguns, safe handling of guns, different shells, what chokes to use when and where, prices of different guns, gauges of shotguns – everything you would need to know to become familiar with what type of shotgun you might acquire. All enrollees got to pattern guns they brought, and then shoot their guns at both clay targets and birds.
This year's enrollees come from SW PA, central PA, and Elk County. “We have a nice mix of older and younger hunters,” said Christine Haibach, an instructor. “We have three adults, three youngsters, and two teenagers in this year's class,” finished Christine.
The next two days of training are tentatively scheduled:
Saturday, 5/21, the seminar will cover bird habitats, and learning to navigate in the woods.
Saturday, 11/12, the seminar will cover bird dog care, and then enrollees will go on an actual bird hunt.
People with questions about the New Hunter Mentor Program can contact Christine Haibach at christine_haibach@hotmail. com, or Rich Elliott at crawld11@gmail.com.