LaGRANGE —
The Maplewood Nature Center was packed to capacity on Friday and Saturday for the final Indiana DNR gun safety course of the year.
The state hosts four classes a year and this was the last class for 2012.
Everyone who wanted to obtain a hunting license had to attend both of the classes, as well as pass the written test. Indiana law requires all hunters born after 1986 to obtain a hunting license by passing these classes once. Many other states require hunter education classes regardless of your birth date.
The attendees ranged in age from 7 to 40 and both genders were well represented. No age limit applies to DNR Hunter Education classes. Students as young as 7 years old have taken and passed these classes.
Parents were encouraged to attend the class with their children and many did.
“I learned something new since I took this course a couple of years ago,” said Ed Raper. “There is quite a bit of information and it is good to get a refresher.
Raper brought his 8-year-old son Quinnlin Raper.
“I am learning about safety with guns,” Quinnlin said loudly to the group. “I have a BB-gun and I already did something very bad with it. I got into a lot of trouble. Because I shot my sister in the leg so I am learning gun safety today.”
Loren Rhodes, 12, of Middlebury and her father Kevin were one of the father-daughter teams in the class.
“I have wanted to hunt for many years,” Loren said. “My brothers and Dad hunt and I enjoy going along for the hike.” She said she would encourage other girls to take up hunting as a sport.
Her father leaned over to her and said, “You will learn how to skin a deer too.”
In response she rapidly shook her head in disagreement. “Oh no, I’m not.”
Kevin said he, too, learns something new each time he has attended the classes with his children.
“Each gun is put together differently,” he said. “You have to know all about your gun and how it functions. These classes are great to get you thinking. Like today I learned about that spring clip you release to unload the pump shotgun.”
Gun safety is the emphasis of these courses. It prevails in all of gun instructor Scott Beam’s lectures.
“I have experienced only one fatality in all of my years of hunting,” Beam said. “It was totally preventable, if they had followed basic gun safety rules. The guys were crossing a fence. They did not unload, lay down or pass their weapons before crossing. After crossing the wire, the guy pulled his loaded gun over the fence barrel up. It caught on some brush and discharged, killing my friend’s brother. Follow the rules of gun safety, they are there for a reason.”
Breaking News
Related Photos
-
Demonstrating the proper way to carry a rifle for his Indiana Gun Safety classmates is 8-year-old Quinnlin Raper of Rome City. DL PERRIN
Great turnout for DNR gun safety class
- Breaking News
-
-
You should know: Tom Yoder
GOSHEN — Tom Yoder doesn’t mind getting dirty when he’s pursuing one of his favorite interests — gardening.
-
Technology speeds disaster alerts
Caitria O’Neill remembers her reaction to hearing tornado warnings on June 1, 2011. She went to the grocery store, she said, “because I live in Massachusetts, and we don’t get tornadoes.”
-
Here today and gone tomorrow
Word of changes at Navistar wasn’t entirely unexpected. More than 500 jobs leaving Wakarusa? That information was a surprise.
-
ADEC bike ride draws crowd
ELKHART — Cycling met philanthropy at Concord High School Saturday morning as approximately 250 cyclists hit the pavement to show their support for the 41st annual ADEC Ride-A-Bike fundraising event.
-
A local quake: low probability, high consequence
GOSHEN — Earthquakes in Indiana aren’t top of mind for most Hoosiers. But while the chances of a massive earthquake in these parts are slim, the damage such a freak occurrence would cause could be huge.
-
Experts believe its only a matter of time before a mid-American quake
It’s a bleak scenario. A massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault kills or injures 60,000 people in Tennessee. A quarter of a million people are homeless. The Memphis airport — the country’s biggest air terminal for packages — goes off-line. Major oil and gas pipelines across Tennessee rupture, causing shortages in the Northeast. In Missouri, another 15,000 people are hurt or dead. Cities and towns throughout the central U.S. lose power and water for months. Losses stack up to hundreds of billions of dollars.
-
Businesses gearing up for new digs in downtown Goshen
GOSHEN — It may not be much to look at now, but just you wait.
-
The Plain Side: Quad Hopper finds a bit of Utopia
I have found my El Dorado, my Shangri La, my Utopia. It’s in Mishawaka.
This is not an ad for Barnes & Noble book sellers. I am only relating what happened Saturday last. -
IU Health employees work to promote wellness during day of service
GOSHEN – Around 50 employees volunteered for the Goshen Parks Department Friday to help improve the city’s trail system.
-
Charges filed in ’08 armed robbery
GOSHEN — A Goshen man who allegedly helped rob an Amish man at gunpoint in 2008 has been charged with the crime.
- More Breaking News Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
