ROCKFORD, Mich — Orange is as good as gold for new generations looking to get into hunting— and a Michigan right of passage that certified instructor Bill Skallos at the Rockford Sportsman’s Club has been helping hunters achieve for over 30 years.
“I enjoy teaching the kids," Bill told me from the main room of the sportsman's club. "We have kids here that want to hunt [and] would like to do it safely."
If you were born after 1960 the law requires you to successfully complete a hunter's education course before you can buy a hunting license.
And passing along that knowledge is a family affair. With Bill teaching the classes and his wife Maryly running the show from behind the scenes.
From her perspective, these courses just make sense.
"We have driver's ed, for educating drivers," Maryly explained. "It's the same for hunters education."
That’s the main reason Bill and Maryly put on the hunter’s orange year after year. With the number of licensed hunters here in Michigan on the decline— dropping by around 25,000 hunters from 2020 to 2023 according to DNR numbers— passing along the appreciation of our natural resources is as important as any aspect of conservation.
"I'm a firm believer in education in anything," Maryly told me. "Hunter education is so important because it demystifies some of the negativity and how you can avoid it."
The couple says the best way to dispel that negativity is a real emphasis on safety with both firearms and archery equipment.
“A firearm is a tool, it's an implement, but like many things that we do, it can be dangerous, and you can hurt somebody," Bill emphasized. "That is the most important thing is if you're going to hunt you need to learn how to handle a firearm safely."
"The second thing,—" Bill added. "—is that hunting involves killing animals, you know that we harvest them, but we kill animals, and the hunter owes it to the animal that he's hunting to kill it quickly and humanely."
It's that honest information that helps each new class understand their responsibility when donning camo and orange.
Legal requirements aside, hunter's education courses like the ones taught by the Skalloses help pass on more than safety information and a love of the sport.
With more than 360,000 acres of public hunting lands in Michigan, even if a harvest isn't successful, hunters reap the benefits of enjoying the great outdoors.
Being out in nature is a proven natural antidepressant and stress reducer, and has been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rates.
If you're curious you can find a class near you by visiting the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website.
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