Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Outdoor Wednesday … Outdoor Education.

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday Y’all … Susan at A Southern Daydreamer is our lovely hostess for the fun weekly blog party.. Make sure you drop by and show her and all those participating a lil bloggy love.

This week I’m going to share with y’all an Outdoor Adventure Show & Tell.. I have mentioned several times here about my husband Jeff and his passionate love of all things relating to Nature and the Wild Outdoors. Jeff is a certified Hunters Education Instructor, and He teaches Hunters Education here in Georgia. Earlier this month he was teaching at the Georgia FFA Wildlife Camp. He was only there a week.. He had to get back to his money making job here at home..  but Ashley went for 2 weeks. 

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The above college shows a few of the different groups attending.. There were 6 groups in all the first week that he was there. That’s Jeff there in the center.

  • Orange O’possums
  • Silver Snakes
  • Pink Panthers *the only girl group*
  • Green Geckos
  • Blue Bears
  • Yellow Yaks

This next photo is the one and only non outdoor photo.. but I wanted to share this guy. This is Jeff’s buddy, Steve Struggs sitting there beside him. If that name doesn’t sound familiar.. maybe you’ve heard him called by his other name.. “The Snake Master”.  If you have school age children chances are they know him and have seen one of his shows at their school. Steve has traveled throughout Georgia and the Southeast teaching kids for the last 12 years.

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First up: An Outdoor Class Room.. The Rifle Range.

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Inside that class room:

  • Before any child touches a rifle or shotgun they are first taught the safety and operation of each of the firearms.
  • Wilderness Survival is taught.
  • Primitive fire starting.
  • Building and making a shelter.
  • Water purification.

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The instructor takes the class on a blood trail field trip.. On this trail they are shown and taught first hand the safe way to cross a fence with a firearm… as you’ll see in the next 2 photos.

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The red spot you see below is an mock of a blood trail that they are following. At each spotting of blood they are to put an orange flag to make the spots easily spotted if needed to trackback.

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Each kid is shown and gets a turn at practicing the proper and safe way to cross a fallen tree with a firearm.

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They are taught the safe way to approach an animal.. in case they haven’t fully expired. This protects them from being injured by the kicking or charging animal.

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Here an Instructor is shooting an assault rifle.. a Remington R25… as part of a safety demonstration.

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He fired from 150 yards away to show them the distance a bullet can and will travel.

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He was shooting at the larger wall and another target you see in the background.

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This is one of those targets he was shooting at.. it’s a half inch thick solid steel plate. Lesson taught here was that even fired from 150 yards away a bullet will penetrate steel and cause damage.

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This is a mock wall demonstration…which he also fired upon from 150 yards away.  It shows the students what can happen if a careless shot enters a house wall.

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This mock wall is actual width of a standard home wall.

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The photo below is the backside of that wall showing where the bullet penetrated.

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Each of the Students are sized to the shotguns. Meaning that they check and measure each of their arms for length.. can’t be shooting a bigger gun than you can handle.

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Here’s Ashley being instructed just before stepping up to shoot.

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She is being taught the proper hold and stance when preparing to fire.

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Time to shoot some clay pigeons..

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Ashley’s a lefty, so she shoots left handed… Here she is shooting at a clay target.. it’s that lil tiny orange dot located just under the words clay target on the photo. She’s definitely her Daddy’s girl! 

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She’s a natural..

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The Archery Range:

  • Each child is taught safety and basics of Archery.

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Ashley is a natural at this also and has completed both basic an advance classes in Archery.. in fact she is working with an Olympic Coach each Saturday on toning her skills… She loves it! 

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It wasn’t all classes all the time.. at night the kids got to experience all types of fun activities. Ashley had the time of her life those 2 weeks.. and she’ll be back next year for a whole month as a Junior Counselor. As for Jeff.. he’ll miss the outdoor classes.. because it’s back to teaching inside for the month of August.

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For information about the FFA Wildlife Camp for the Summer of 2010 you can contact the Wildlife Camp’s website by clicking here.

 

If you have a child or know of any that need to take the Hunters Education Safety Class in Georgia.. You can visit the Georgia Department of Natural Resources website to learn where and when classes are being offered by clicking here. 

 

Thank You for joining me today for my lil show & tell Outdoor Wednesday.. Please check out Susan and all the others participating today by clicking the button below.

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Happy Wednesday Y’all… Hugs, Debbie

22 comments:

  1. What an incredible learning opportunity! And great adventure too.
    Rhonda

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  2. This would have been a perfect camp/training for our middle son when he was younger. How very cool!

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  3. That's a great survival training. Sure did cover a lot of areas!

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  4. Wonderful post, so many parent don't want their kids near guns. They should be taught to respect guns. What a great learning experience.

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  5. I used to enjoy archery practice at camp when I was girl. If I hit the target I felt so proud :)

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  6. This looks very interesting. I bet the kids and your hubby really enjoy it..Christine

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  7. Great training. Looks like they had fun! Mumzie

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  8. Hi Debbie!
    Looks like this was a wonderful experience for all of the kids. No wonder your baby came home exhausted. She has been tracking all week. Country Hugs, Sherry

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  9. Great way to learn safety AND have tons of fun at it... I would like to do that even!

    TTFN~~Claudia ♥

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  10. Debbie,

    That looked like tons of fun and education! Thanks for sharing.

    xoxoxoxo
    Donna Marie

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  11. I like all the care that the instructor took to teach respect and safety. Thanks for sharing. Happy Outdoor Wednesday.

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  12. What a great thing for kids to learn.

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  13. Whether or not people have guns, I think it's a great idea to teach kids proper handling. What a great learning experience. I like that they learned distance traveled by bullets, how they can penetrate walls, etc... it's all great. I learned most of this when I was in the military. Stuff that is good to know.

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  14. Both my boys took hunter education courses and we gave them lifetime licenses for their 15th birthdays! Beloved is reminding me that dove season is not far off! Great pictures! Glad to see the girls!

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  15. I'm back--just saw the prayer request-consider it done and please keep us posted.

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  16. I never knew they had training camps for firearms. Your post was very interesting. I hope you're having a good day.

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  17. This is always great training for children. You do seem to see it more here in the South. My husband can remember going out with his father and brothers and shooting their guns at small wild game when they were about 9 years old.
    It is good that they learn how helpful and dangerous guns can be. Happy OW : )

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  18. A wonderful post! My dad was an avid hunter and my husband is not. Then comes along our three strapping sons and they love hunting or fishing. So these clsasses would have been wonderful for each of them.
    Your husband is wonderful to do this!

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  19. What a great opportunity for kids everywhere. My youngest has taken a few courses here at the State Game and Fish in Arizona, but he would have loved something like this! Ashley looks as if she is loving it, and your hubby too....even if it was just for the week. It was fun taking a look at each of their activities. :)

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  20. That must have been a terrific opportunity for everyone. There are so many great programs available in our area that we need to take advantage of them more often. Remember, come see what's up with Crock Pot Wednesdays on diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com. I have posted information about one of the giveaways. You'll not want to miss it.

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  21. this is so great that so many young hunters were able to attend and take part that is wonderful and I believe alot of fun

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  22. What a great thing for these kids to learn how to do all this safely! I wish there were more places like this around the country. Thanks for sharing!

    Robin@Miscellaneous Thoughts

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I am always happy to know who's visiting. Thank you all that take the time to leave a comment... I really appreciate every comment and try my best to respond.
Have a Blessed Day!
~Hugs
Debbie

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Y'all Come Back Now Ya Hear!!

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