Muzlstik is proud to partner with the International Hunter Education Association-USA and support their educational programming by providing a wide variety of chamber flags. We were thrilled to participate in the IHEA-USA’s Incident Academy, a program that was established many years ago to provide skill, knowledge and confidence to Wildlife and Law Enforcement Officers investigating hunting accidents in the field.
The Academy also serves to collect and analyze hunting-related shooting incident data, so that the IHEA-USA can effectively develop curriculum and analyze the effectiveness of current hunter safety practices. The Academy has proven invaluable to both law enforcement investigating the scenes of these sometimes tragic incidents, as well as the individual state Fish & Wildlife Agencies that develop safe-hunting curriculum for new hunters afield.
HANDS-ON EVENTS PREPARE STUDENTS FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIO
The most recent Incident Academy events took place simultaneously at Camp Johnsonburg, New Jersey, and in Iowa. Both events featured IHEA-USA Instructors and Hunter Educators from seven states, who offered instruction for a combined 57 students from states including Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
These aggressively instructional and comprehensive courses featured hands-on education on policies, planning an investigation, tools of the investigation, bullet-path reconstruction, evidence kits, ballistics, blood analysis, evidence collection, diagramming, methodology of the hunting investigation and tree stand falls and scenarios.
ATTENDEES SHARE REACTIONS TO THE ACADEMY EXPERIENCE
Instructors and students alike offered a variety of comments regarding the instruction and the difference it makes for the law enforcement officers taking the course.
“The group of instructors that taught that week were absolutely top notch, “Lieutenant Travis Goreham of the Missouri Department of Conservation commented. “The firsthand knowledge and experience of the instructors was impressive, and all of them are true experts in the fields they taught. A huge thank you to all that were involved in the organization of this course. It was truly some of the best training that I have been a part of during my career with MDC.”
Michael Brooks, Director of the New Jersey Academy stated,” The highlight of the training for me is watching the students working in teams to find the forensic evidence on the recreated hunting incident scenes set up by the instructors while being engaged in the learning process. The mentoring model we use allows for the students to ask questions and the instructors to guide them using the proper methods of evidence collection to help them build a strong set of analytical tools to use when they return to their home agencies.”
Missouri-based Hunter Education & Shooting Range Coordinator Justin McGuire added, “The Iowa Academy consisted of classroom instruction and practical field work during which the students had the opportunity to practice their newly acquired skills. The cumulative years of service and hunting incident investigations among the group of instructors was invaluable, and the students responded professionally and skillfully to every challenge issued by the instructors.”
IHEA-USA offers training Incident Academy events all over the United States. If you’re interested in having one in your area, you can submit a request at mgr@ihea-usa.org. And stay for announcements of more Incident Academy dates in 2022.
