Hunter education course bears the heat
![Dog trainer Dan Hoke addresses hunter education students – most of whom are female – in a field session geared to hunting upland birds. The number of girls and women enrolling in Spokane-area hunter education courses has dramatically increased in the past 15 years, said course organizer Jack Dolan.](https://thumb.spokesman.com/odtLxyDToGhePXhQt6URb47IaUM=/810x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2013/08/04/out_4_female_shooters.jpg)
HUNTING -- The hot sunshine that sent most folks toward water on Saturday didn't deter a group of dedicated hunter education instructors, their students and a few good hunting dogs from hitting the field near Medical Lake to take their best shot.
Jack Dolan,73, and a stable of helpers and instructors offer the rare course that includes the vital element of live fire under carefully controlled field situations.
On Saturday, they tested the students and their ability to walk through the field with loaded shotguns to see how they would react to real chukars that flushed in unpredictable directions. The students had to decide in an instant whether to shoot, or not, while swinging on a flying bird.
- Would you want to hunt with a student who'd never shot a firearm in a field situation?
- Would you want a heart bypass by a surgeon who'd never dealt with the variables of hemorrhage in a living creature?
Here's a tip of the hat to the crew that's been going the extra mile for hunter safety for 23 years.