Outland earns hunter ed honors

Wyoming Hunter Education Instructor Kody Outland is Wyoming's lone recipient of the International Hunter Education Association-USA Instructor of the Year Award for 2023.

According to the IHEA website, "With over 45,000 volunteer hunter educators in the United States (the second largest volunteer corps to volunteer firefighters) vying for the award, this prestigious IHEA-USA Instructor of the Year Award presented by SIG SAUER honors only one hunter educator in each state for rising above and beyond their normal duties in 2021. Above and beyond means not only spending countless hours offering volunteer time teaching but also often includes personal hours mentoring, volunteering time to other outdoor programs, teaching additional clinics and classes, contributing valuable ideas to their state Hunter Education programs, and performing excessively more to create safe hunters and shooters than is expected of any volunteer.

According to IHEA-USA Executive Director Alex Baer, this is the third year the IHEA has celebrated each state's hunter education volunteers during its International Conference.

SIG SAUER's commitment to recognizing these educators includes a prize package and an award.

Kevin Lockwood, Indiana volunteer hunter education instructor and the international board chairman of instructor advisory committee said most states have their own nomination process and submit their winner to the IHEA-USA for the honor.

It is a way to recognize the fact that there are instructors who go above and beyond," Lockwood said.

Per its website, "The International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) – USA is the professional hunter education association affiliated with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the 50 state fish and hunter education programs. The programs employ 45,000 instructors, many of whom are volunteers, that teach hunting and shooting safety and responsibilities throughout the United States."

Outland said he received email notification of the award and was "surprised and quite honored."

He added that it was the "first time I was actually aware of [the award]."

Outland, who began hunting at the age of 12, was involved in hunting prior to that, going with his dad, fellow hunter education instructor Tom Outland.

He said after being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 2011 he began helping his dad teach classes for a couple of years and then about 10 years ago he went through the process to become a certified instructor.

Being an instructor is important to him to "make sure students and adults alike get the proper training and safety for hunter education so they could be safe and ethical hunters in the future."

Kody and his dad teach a hunter education class in the spring time, with another instructor doing a class in the fall.

Kody Outland said they have between 20 to 30 students in each class, but have had as few as 12 on occasion.

Students typically range between the ages of 10 to 15 but they do have three to four adults and one class there was a person in his 90s.

Outland said by Wyoming statute, anyone born after Jan. 1, 1966, must pass a hunter education course in order to obtain a hunting license. He said there are also some hunt areas near Yellowstone that require a hunter education certificate regardless of age.

Outland said if anyone is interested or thinks they may be interested in hunting, he would encourage them to take a course. He said it is just $10 and "you learn quite a bit."

If upon completion, a person is still interested, the Game and Fish have a mentor program or people can find a friend or family member to "take you on a hunt to show you what it's like."

He added, "The main thing in our hunter education we want to keep tradition alive. When I was growing up I'd go hunting with my dad even though I was not of age yet, I'd go along with him. I had a lot of fun with him just spending time with him in the outdoors. We like to see other families do the same thing and have a good bond.

"We like to make sure people are staying safe and making ethical kills, understanding the reason for conservation of wildlife and the habitat, trying to protect all the herds and habitat so neither one gets destroyed."