Meet The Mentors: Hi-Line Sportsmen Hunter Apprenticeship Program

Hi-Line Sportsmen is again offering their Hunter Mentoring program this year. The impetus behind the program stemmed from Andrew McKean's work on the national R3 campaign (Hunter Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation) and a 2016 survey of hunter participation showing a drop of 2.2 million hunters in the country.

McKean said, "That R3 movement really became a national campaign to match up existing hunters (mentors) with apprentices (people who either had never hunted before or who had limited hunting experience) and get them in the field. We [at] Hi-Line Sportsmen (HLS) realized that we had the perfect situation - a bunch of inspired, experienced hunters in a community with people who probably had an interest in hunting but who had never been invited to hunt. That was the idea behind our program.

"The other advantage we have here is that we have abundant opportunity, between public land, Block Management land, and landowners who might not be enrolled in a formal access program but who are open to the idea of hosting a new hunter. And we have the advantage of people knowing each other - in larger towns, the deliberate anonymity of society makes these connections a lot more difficult.

"The goal of our local program isn't necessarily to turn around the national picture of hunting participation, but I'd say it's more modest. We think it's easier to make a difference in the goals of HLS - which are to promote outdoor recreation in all its forms in NE Montana - when more people are involved. When we have more people who care about wildlife populations, recreational access, and a healthy, vibrant community, then there's more advocates for all those things."

The following is a transcript (edited for clarity and length) of a roundtable discussion of the program with the intent of introducing potential apprentices to mentors. The discussion was held at the FWP Region 6 offices Oct. 18 with Marc Kloker, Drew Henry and Jared Krebs, a small sample of available mentors.

Gwen – I'll have you say your name, what you do with FWP and how long you've been hunting.

Marc – My name's Marc Kloker. I work for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as the Region 6 communication education program manager. I've been hunting my whole life in eastern Montana ... about year 34.

Drew – Drew Henry. I'm the regional supervisor for FWP R6. I was formerly the wildlife biologist in Glasgow. I've been hunting with my dad since I could walk, but legally packing a gun since I was 12 ... 27 years.

Jared – I'm Jared Krebs. I am the Glasgow area fisheries biologist. I started hunting when I was 13. I'm 28 now.

Gwen – What's your favorite type of hunt?

Jared – Easy for me. I like bird hunting the most. Upland hunting, pheasant hunting. But any bow hunting is a close, close second. Archery follows closely behind that. Then rifle deer hunting on a big landscape like eastern Montana.

Drew – If I had to choose, I would say pronghorn hunting. They're just such a cool critter ... an awesome native species. They're delicious ... They're wily. They're my favorite.

Marc – That's a tough one. It seems like I've morphed as a hunter over the years. I've found different things that I like to hunt more at different times. But I would say ... mule deer. I like them being a native species to our landscape.

Gwen – So you guys are all FWP, you all love hunting, all members of Hi-Line Sportsmen. How long have you been involved with them? What's the organization like?

Marc – I started with them from the beginning ... fit more to my ideals of what I'd like to be a part of in a conservation group.

Drew – What it does for me for Hi-Line Sportsmen is they're local and we're right her in Glasgow. The money stays local is what is awesome to me. We're here to raise money on behalf of the local sports men and women of our communities and on behalf of the critters in the habitat.

Jared – I started with Hi-Line three years ago. I'm now the current president. The local aspect of a conservation group that doesn't have oversight ... no greater oversight than the people in the community that are involved in the group.

Gwen – One of the things that sets Hi-Line Sportsmen apart is the Hunter Mentoring program. Marc, you were going to be involved in the fledgling 3R program. Drew, you've mentored.

Jared – I haven't mentored anyone through HLS. I've done mentored hunts through other organizations back when I lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It's something I aspire to continue to be involved in.

Drew – I've mentored, so to speak, lots of people – usually family and friends. The first experience with HLS was similar but man, it had so many different rewards ...The first person I mentored she was middle age coming into hunting for the first time. She wanted real fresh I-know-where-it-came-from meat. We shared a lot of laughs, she shed tears. It was intense at times, but the outcome was just phenomenal. And the following year, I took her husband on his first one.

Jared – When you go mentor somebody there's so many things that you take for granted they have never experienced. It's just a totally different hunt in a much more rewarding way than like, 'Oh, I shot this really nice buck by myself.'"

Marc – Like I said, I've been hunting all my life. I didn't really start hunting turkey seriously until about five years ago and I feel clueless doing that. I've gone with guys like Drew and Jared's given me some pointers. I've learned a ton and feel like such a novice. In other words, there's always room to learn, especially if you're gonna hunt a new critter or even a new area. I've offered up my name to be a mentor with Hi-Line but it hasn't worked out with anybody through the program. But like Jared and Drew, I've taken a lot of first time hunters, including my own kids. And my sister I took a couple years ago as a reactivation thing because she hadn't hunted in like 25 years. Definitely it is very rewarding.

Gwen – So if you have somebody who's interested in trying hunting what would you recommend they look at trying for their first hunt?

Drew – One thing we haven't done as a group yet but we put out when we started this, was the option to just come along. The whole concept of tagging along because somebody might be 'I don't know if I'm up for shooting a deer or dealing with it.' But if you just want to come along, sit on the river bottom, watch the deer feed and witness a hunt. I think that's a starter point.

Marc – That's a good point, Drew. When you think about the time and the money and, you know, Gwen. Maybe you're like I wanna shoot pheasants and maybe you go along with us and you're like, 'nah I ain't doing that,' and you've already got your shotgun. It is a big expense to get into most aspects of hunting. I think they should have an idea of whether they want to hunt birds or big game or both.

Jared – I would say if someone is open to big game hunting, I would say a whitetail or mule deer doe is probably the easiest. So if somebody wants to bird hunt, it's generally not a super controlled environment. It can be chaotic. The waterfowl stuff's a little bit different because you're stationary. There's pros and cons to all of it. So I would say that if someone's open to anything a doe, a deer hunt, any deer hunt is much preferred.

Marc - The easiest bird hunt to go on as a first time hunt is a dove hunt.

Drew – It's what do they want out of it. Do you want a lot of action or a more controlled environment. The deer hunt is the way to go.

Gwen – The other thing I want to hit, because as somebody who came to it with no gear, no equipment, no real funds for those things, how would they go about it? Do you help?

Drew – I think it's a comfort level of who's doing the mentoring and who you're taking out. I've got extra binoculars, I've got an orange vest, don't worry about pack frames. Make sure you got your licenses, make sure you're dressed warm enough for the weather and you've got ammunition and a gun. You wanna make sure they can use it in a safe way. I would make sure that I went to the range with them and shot with them, make sure they know what they're doing.

Jared - That would definitely be prerequisite for loaning a rifle to somebody.

Drew – I would say that if someone wants to get into the sport, they wanna hunt they're worried that gear is a limiting factor, reach out to us. We'll figure something out. ... I think the other thing that when it comes to gear or preparation that often intimidates a lot of people is, alright it's dead. Now what. Like processing. For me personally, after the hunt, processing your own critter is a huge part of the experience and taking care of the skull. Mentoring folks is just, let's go hang it in my garage. And we'll skin it together and we'll piece it out. Once you start, you realize really quickly this isn't as scary as I thought it was gonna be.

Jared – And as a group, we do have equipment.

Drew – The hunt is amazing and the reward of being successful but when it's all said and done, you open the freezer and you're like I put all that in there.

Gwen – The first meal I made with my first deer, I sat down at the table I'm like, oh wow, yeah I did this, from the beginning to the end. It was way more rewarding.

Gwen – Who are you looking for? Who needs mentors?

Marc – I think we want those people that don't have access to any other mentorship.

Drew – If your only avenue to getting out in the field is through Hi-Line, that's who we want.

Marc – One of the kids that started out with this program with Jack [Medlicott, former HLS president]. Jack took that kid out for like five years and all types of different hunts. He was from a single mom, no male figure. That was awesome.

Jared – I would say, someone's shot a handful of does over the years and they don't have the equipment to get into waterfowl hunting but they want, that would be something as well. I think that demographic would be a target as well. We can have this conversation when someone reaches out, but I think a lot of these situations are going to be we need to go the range first. We need to have time the following day to potentially process the animal. I think we want the full experience.

Gwen – So the goal is to bring new members into the hunting community and get them started on what will hopefully be a lifetime in the sport, not a tourism thing

Drew – But if you want to be a tourist, tag along, I would gladly take someone.

Gwen – If you're not sure, tag along, but don't just come shoot an animal and be done.

Drew – There's reward and it doesn't always come in the form of taking something. I'm glad to help someone cut their deer, hell, I'll do the whole thing, but I want them there. I want them to learn so that next year when we go they're like, hey give me the knife, let me dress this deer.

If you are interested in becoming a hunting apprentice, contact Jared Krebs at [email protected] or 320-250-5997, or by finding Hi-Line Sportsmen on Facebook.

To read about one of the first mentor success stories, see https://www.outdoorlife.com/its-never-too-late-to-learn-to-hunt/