GRAND HAVEN, Mich — This July 20 - 24, for the first time, teens ages 15-18 will have the chance to earn both their boater and hunter safety certification in one shot here at the North Ottawa Rod & Gun Club.
“What we’re really going to do is something hands-on,” Sargent Chris Reuwer with the Ottawa County Sheriff's office told me. And he thinks that by making the classes more convenient, it will help get more people out on the water and in the woods.
“I've been teaching boater safety and hunter safety for the last 11 or so years, and we run one course here, and one course here, and everybody's looking for both, but we don't run them anywhere near each other," the Sargent said. "You know, usually in the springtime we're running a boater safety class, and then in the fall rolls around, everybody's looking for a hunter safety class. I thought, why not just get it all done in one academy week.”
The course is free of charge and will give students the chance to combine classroom work with supervised .22 rifle shooting, shotgun shooting, and archery. Along with boater safety, actually on the water.
“Getting the students out, especially for boater safety," Sargent Reuwer said. "You know, hunter safety, we do a little bit of hands-on. You're required to have a field day, so there is some of that hands-on experience already there. We're going to expand that, make it bigger, which is kind of cool.”
That focus on rolling-up the sleeves and practicing what the course preaches, hopefully making a difference.
"Seeing what you're going to experience when you're out on the water is super important," Sargent Reuwer added.
There is still time to sign-up for this course. If you are intereseted you can follow this link here for more information.
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