Been hunting? Jimmy Herman has, and he’s hooked

By James Herman, father, Kingman

The following is a thank-you letter, sent by a father of two, to Hunter Education Instructor Cliff Saylor, about a family’s trek on a juniors only elk hunt, shortly after completing the hunter education course. This is another example of how education programs and the outdoors build great relationships.

Cliff, we just got back from Jimmy’s elk hunt – he didn’t get one – but everything else was perfect.

We saw elk consistently throughout the hunt – at least twice a day everyday.

Jimmy didn’t get a shot off – the first few times he stood in awe and didn’t even move the gun. Several of the others just happened too fast.

The best couple of times, he didn’t have a clean shot because of the way they were grouped up. I don’t think I’ve seen as many elk in all my elk hunts as we saw this weekend.

We had Mike carry an empty .22 just for practice. They were both flawless as far as safety and gun handling. They’d pass the guns back and forth, going over and around obstacles. They kept them pointed in safe directions without being told. Jimmy took his shells out before I had to remind him. He never pulled the hammer back until he was on target (I wasn’t sure I’d remember to remind him to do it, so I was very impressed). It was great! The phrases “in our hunter’s safety course” and “Cliff said” came up frequently all weekend.

They were still excited about the hunt this morning. I mentioned that we should probably put scopes on their .22’s and do more rabbit and squirrel hunting to get them used to drawing on a target and shooting. They asked me to get that done this week so we can go Saturday morning. I’m pretty sure this hunt hooked them for good.

Thanks for everything, your class played a big role in their excitement and behavior this weekend.

Jim, Jimmy, and Mike Herman