Instructors committed

The 850 volunteers teaching hunter education courses in Washington this year are among the best-trained and dedicated in the program’s history, said Mik Mikitik, Department of Fish and Wildlife hunter ed coordinator in Olympia.

Demand was high for instructors in 1957, when hunter education for young hunters became mandatory. About 35,000 students were enrolled in courses the first year, Mikitik said.

The ranks of instructors swelled to more than 3,000 in the early ‘70s, he said. “But they weren’t all active or dedicated,” he said. “Many of them would get certified so they could teach their kids or a neighborhood group and then never teach again.

“Nowadays we’ve become more selective; we ask for more commitment, completion of a 10-hour certification course, and we have an amazing corps of instructors who each teach several classes a year.

“Our attrition rate is only about 10 percent a year, not bad for a volunteer program.”

However, the demand for certified instructors has been increasing in recent years as the number of students has grown from 11,500 in 2001 to 15,227 in 2006, Mikitik said. Participation from female students has increased from about 5 percent in 1980 to 25 percent last year, he said.