By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sixteen kids, ages 9 to 18, got expert instruction on shooting, and gun safety in general, in a just-concluded seven-week course offered by the Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H club and the University of Alaska Fairbanks cooperative extension office.
“This is through the 4-H Shooting Sports National program. They have a variety of disciplines,” organizer and instructor Anna Schumacher told the Sentinel.
While there are a number of facets of the overall 4-H shooting sports program, this one is riflery and archery, Schumacher said.
“Right now we are running a riflery program which is focused on firearm safety and teaching competition stances,” she said.
The instruction covered sitting, kneeling and standing shooting positions with a variety of .22 rimfire bolt action rifles, from single-shots to repeaters. The rifle practice took place at the Sitka Sportsman’s Association indoor range.
Schumacher works with the Sitka Conservation Society as a Jesuit Volunteer and leader of the Alaska Way of Life 4-H club. Looking ahead, she said, she would like to see courses about hunting available for the same age range as the kids in the course that ended on Saturday.
This course “meets community needs around gun safety, and our desire to train and inform youth on how to use tools for subsistence harvesting… There is a hunting skills discipline within the 4-H shooting sports structure that we’d really love to get off the ground in the future.”
Course co-instructor Paul Rioux said that as this course for young people wraps up, “I hope that it helps create opportunities for harvesting food in their futures.”
Some of the kids in the course had never fired a rifle before, while others were already hunters.
Alexandra Fujioka was nervous at the start, but said she’s become more comfortable with time and shooting practice. “I’ve grown up eating venison and other things that were fished or hunted by my dad. And one of my favorite treats my dad makes is duck gumbo… I don’t really want to hunt with big deer rifles. I’m tiny and I don’t really feel comfortable with that. I’m still learning and maybe eventually will do a little bit of shooting with a .22, but I’m less nervous now than I wasn’t the beginning,” the young shooter said after wrapping up target practice Saturday.
On the flip side, Jason Hodges, 11, was already a hunter and target shooter when he enrolled in the 4-H class.
“I’ve shot my whole life and really enjoy it… I really like how you can hunt and get food that’s better than beef at the grocery store,” he said. “And I personally don’t like beef, but I really like game... I used to live in Colorado, so my family has done a lot of hunting there. I’ve gone with my dad and my family.”
In the class, Jason was most excited to learn new shooting positions. In the future, he’d like to improve his skill with a shotgun.
“I really want to learn trap and skeet better because I’m not really good with shotguns,” said Jason.
Matthew Chevalier hopes to hunt deer with his father this season, and took the 4-H class to hone his marksmanship.
Erik Chevalier lines up a shot during the Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H Club’s shooting sports program at the Sitka Sportsman’s Association indoor range. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
“My dad brought it up to me, and we both thought it was a good idea because I’m going to try to shoot a deer next year. I’m going to need to know how to shoot in all those positions,” he said.
He’s looking forward to “just coming with and getting to help process the deer and have that satisfaction of getting meat in the freezer.”
Like others on the shooting range, he said he favors the prone position for stability and accuracy when shooting.
Schumacher was glad to see kids improving in the shooting sports.
“It’s been really gratifying to watch them gain confidence in their shooting skills. The day one of our girls got her first bullseye was a really big deal. She rolled her target in from down range, just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I shot right… in the middle!’ It’s so awesome to see them get comfortable with that, to be able to follow range commands,” she said.
One boy said at the start that he was nervous, “and now he’s shooting with confidence,” she said.
“Youth in Alaska are going to be encountering firearms at higher frequency than other youth in the U.S., and they deserve to feel safe around them,” Schumacher said.
Rioux said, “I think that teaching firearms safety is critically important in Alaska, where we have a high ratio of gun ownership and use.”
The 4-H archery class starts March 24 for kids age 9 to 18. Those interested in enrolling or volunteering can register by emailing jdshaw2@alaska.edu by Friday, March 17.
