Instructor Targets Safety With Young Hunters

Pat LaBoone has a phone message that he has never bothered to erase.

LaBoone is a wing-shooting instructor near Duluth. The message is from a young hunter to whom LaBoone gave shooting instruction this fall.

The boy called to thank LaBoone for his help and report a successful first hunting trip.

“When I get a little down, I listen to that message,” LaBoone said.

More and more parents are bringing their kids to LaBoone for shooting instruction before they go afield for the first time. Kids need some kind of wingshooting tips before they get into a live hunting situation with all its variables, LaBoone said.

Most kids have had the typical gravel-pit shooting instruction from their parents. The kids have shot at a tin can or two just to get used to the sound and recoil of the shotgun, and to practice aiming.

LaBoone uses clay targets to teach young hunters how to mount their guns and track the targets. Young hunters must learn not to look at their gun barrels or sights but to focus on the target and let their lead hand guide the gun to the bird in much the same way as someone would point at a moving target with a finger.

Perhaps the most valuable instruction LaBoone imparts is the safety message.

Here are a few of his safety points:

“It’s more important what you don’t hit than what you do hit.”

“Treat every gun as if it’s loaded and it’s going to go off when you least want it to.”

“If you can see in the end of a barrel - any part of the end of the barrel - or someone else can see in your barrel, it’s pointed too close to them. And I don’t mean seeing a perfectly round hole. I mean any elliptical shape.”

“The most dangerous shot is the bird that comes at you. You keep the barrel straight up in the air, turn around (as the bird passes) and then push the gun out to take the shot.”

LaBoone enjoys giving his safety tips in front of adults, too.

“It puts the kid in the position where they can mention it to dad later, and dad knows what he’s talking about,” LaBoone said. “When we’re carrying guns, we’re all the same age. We ought to be able to talk back and forth about it.”