Explore Bowhunting
The Program
Beginning in 2010, the Explore Bowhunting
curriculum was developed by the Archery Trade
Association (ATA) to teach students (aged 11-17)
basic skills used to bowhunt. The program not
only teaches students how to interact with
nature using ageless hunting skills, but it also
teaches an appreciation of what is around them
and enhances their encounters with the outdoors.
As one of the first states to pilot Explore
Bowhunting, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation is excited to coordinate with state
schools to conduct the program, particularly as
a compliment to the highly successful National
Archery In Schools and Oklahoma Hunter Education
in the Schools programs.
The Explore Bowhunting curriculum contains 22
different lessons covering such topics as: how
to use calls to lure animals into range, how to
estimate the distance to a target, how to field
dress game animals, how to shoot a bow from
different positions and understanding animal
ecology - specifically the whitetailed deer.
One of the most popular is the activity called:
Shot Placement.
Example activity: Shot Placement
In the activity, students are
given common food items such as
pudding, corn kernels, whipped
cream and food coloring to
construct the simulated internal
organs of a whitetailed deer.
After the heart, lungs, liver
and intestines are formed with
different sized sealed bags,
the “organs” are placed inside
a large cardboard tube used for
anchoring fence posts into the
ground with concrete (available from
home improvement stores).
After the simulated deer is built,
students take turns shooting the
target and then examining their
arrows to determine how effective
the shot was. According to one
trained Explore Bowhunting teacher
who is also an avid bowhunter, the
exercise mimics real-life bowhunting
scenarios.
How can your school join the program? Explore Bowhunting Training is being offered to a limited number of schools each year who have been conducting both the National Archery in Schools Program and the Oklahoma Hunter Education in Schools Program. Due to finite funding, a limited number of schools will be offered the Explore Bowhunting Training each year. Schools who are actively participating in the OKNASP and Hunter Education programs will receive the highest priority.
What is required of teachers? Attend a one-day training workshop, teachers will receive the curriculum, student handbooks as well as training materials such as deer anatomy charts and DVDs. Additionally, each school system receives a resource trunk that has a large collection of visual aids. Within each trunk there are three different types of bows (compound, crossbow and recurve), game calls, camouflage clothing, shooting release, broadhead samples, deer lures and scents, a trail camera, arrows, and much more.
To learn how to
bring this exciting
program to your
school, contact:
Coordinator
Justin Marschall
at
(405) 522-1857.
- Watch the Explore Bowhunting episode on Outdoor Oklahoma
Explore Bowhunting article in Outdoor Oklahoma magazine Jan/Feb 2012