Program Update - Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program - U.S. ...

Hunter Education
Shooting Ranges Improved in Indiana
A shortage of well-designed shooting ranges throughout Indiana causes access
problems for recreational shooters and hunters. To meet the demand for recreational
shooting opportunities, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources embarked on a
program to improve, renovate and expand public shooting ranges statewide.
Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act hunter education funds are typically used
for these projects. Three large shooting range renovations have been accomplished on
Department of Natural Resources properties. The three major renovations had a total
project cost of about 7.7 million dollars, including about 5.7 million dollars of hunter
education grant funds.
The Kingsbury State Fish and Wildlife Area range had been closed for safety reasons.
One grant was used to renovate and expand the range to 33 firing points and four clay
target ranges. The Huntington Reservoir/Rousch Lake range was renovated and
expanded from four firing points to 33 firing points. The Sgt. Joseph Proctor Shooting
Range at Atterbury State Fish and Wildlife Area was expanded from 28 firing points
to 72 firing points and four regulation trap and skeet fields were added.
Each of these ranges was designed to be safe, family friendly and appealing to the
public. The annual increase in shooting opportunities is anticipated to exceed 40,000
from these three ranges. All the ranges are designed to be fully accessible and hunter
education class friendly, with full time range officers and modest support facilities such
as training rooms and restrooms. Safe, modern ranges provide a unique and valuable
opportunity for participation in recreational shooting sports, enhance programs such
as hunter education, recreational shooter and hunter recruitment and retention and,
most importantly, provide a great way to introduce kids to outdoor sports.
Minnesota Archery in the Schools Program
The Minnesota DNR uses some of its annual apportionment of Pittman Robertson
Wildlife Restoration Act hunter education funds for a statewide National Archery
in the Schools (NASP) program. An estimated 85,000 students from 250 Minnesota
school districts participate in the program which teaches target-style archery to
students in grades 4 through 12 during regularly scheduled physical education classes.
Kraig Kiger, the DNR shooting sports program administrator, said “Every year this
program is more exciting as more schools, children and families become involved.”
“It is a safe, supervised and structured program that introduces children to a sporting
activity they can enjoy and participate in for their entire lives.”
Nearly 600 youths from schools through Minnesota competed in the DNR’s fourth
annual State NASP Tournament in March, 2008. In 2005, the first year the program
was offered, 65 student archers participated in the state tournament.
The top five male and female individuals in the elementary, middle school, and high
school divisions of the State tournament received medals and earned the opportunity
to participate in the NASP national tournament which was held in Louisville, KY,
in May, 2008. A total of 152 archers from seven Minnesota schools made the trek to
Kentucky. Minnesota had the third-largest number of students participating in the
national tournament where 24 States were represented. Mitchel Monforton of Mound,
MN, was the 2008 national champion male archer in the elementary division. Students
from Minnesota schools finished fourth and eighteenth in the high school girls division.
26 Wildlife and Sport Fish Program Update September 2008