Most organizations recognize that mentoring and personal training of new hunters can be the long-term answer to help save our hunting heritage. Mentors/Coaches come in many forms and are represented by a wide range of skills and talents. While there are undoubtedly thousands of excellent mentor/coaches in the US, there is no known training standard in the R3 community for developing highly qualified and trained mentor/coaches as ambassadors to save hunting and shooting as part of our culture. The First Hunt Foundation has wanted for years to put together training that can fill that gap. The NRA Hunter Leaders Forum is in tune with that desire and has awarded $120,000 to the First Hunt Foundation to assist with the development of an interactive online training that will assist all mentors/trainers in their quest to train the next generation of hunters.
The total cost of the project will be $160,000 and FHF President Rick Brazell says they believe they will easily find national organizations or businesses to help sponsor individual sections of the training to raise the remaining $40,000 and show their support for the effort. of R3. Brazell says, “Our vision is to set the gold standard for mentor/coach training in the R3 community using best practices for coaching and mentoring across diverse demographics and needs.” By also incorporating “How to Talk About Hunting” in today’s society, the course will enable educators to become effective ambassadors for the sports of hunting and shooting, but also to pass on that important information to the next generation of hunters.
AllenComm, a corporate training and e-learning company, will develop the training modules for the FHF. AllenComm has developed numerous training programs for the NRA and is familiar with outdoor-related training efforts. They will work with the FHF and many subject matter experts to design and test the training before it is released to the public in early 2023.
Adds Brazell, “We are even more excited that FHF has received a Technical Assistant Grant from the National Mentoring Resource Center to help with the development of this training. Having them on board ensures that we are using the latest science and research around tutoring. Having your stamp of approval will validate the credibility of the trainings.
“The NRA Hunters Leadership Forum is pleased to support the First Hunt Foundation,” said Peter Churchbourne, Director of the NRA Hunters Leadership Forum. “We have taken a long time to have a properly designed online training course to help those who teach hunting and shooting skills that is available to everyone. I’m excited that the training is free. All Fish and Game agencies and NGOs in the country will be able to use this training to help their people better understand best practices for advising and training new hunters. I want to thank the generous donors of the Hunters’ Leadership Forum for providing the funds that made this grant possible.”
For more information about the First Hunt Foundation, visit: https://firsthuntfoundation.org or contact Rick Brazell at [email protected] or (208) 917-9700.