School for safe shooting

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Jeff Trask likes a full classroom - it could mean more people in the woods.

“I like the fact what I’m doing keeps more people interested in what I like to do: hunt,” says the Canadian Firearms Safety Course instructor. “Hunters in this province are outnumbered by non-hunters, and the more people that do it, the more I can do it.”

Trask is a volunteer teacher of the firearms education course, a must-have for anyone who wants to get a firearms license or register a gun. He’s one of a half-dozen trained members of the Annapolis Valley Shooting Sports Club in Canaan who lead the course, partnered with the Kentville community college’s continuing education program and the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Centre.

“The hunter’s safety course I took 20 years ago was more geared to woodscraft, and the firearms part was just a conservation officer up there with a few rusty guns from his truck, and here’s how they work,” Trask says.

The safety aspect hasn’t changed - “it’s pretty simple common sense, but one of the hardest things to teach,” Trask says: don’t shoot yourself or anyone else.

There are new rules and regulations on how to lock, store and transport firearms, all tied in with federal registration and firearms management programs in place over the last decade.

“When the course first started, there were a lot of guys who stood back and said, ‘I don’t have to do that,’ but they’ll get letters upon letters from the firearms centre - they have to.”

Trask says, in the 15 years he’s been an instructor, he’s only had a few people fail the test after three days of class and hands-on instruction.

“And we work with them - unless they’ve been sleeping at the back of the class - to get a pass. A lot of these people may not have been in school for 30 or even 60 years.”

Students range from 12 years of age through to seniors, novice to experienced shooters and woodsmen. The September course was full, and October’s is as well.

“This time of year is nuts - everyone who waited all summer now realizes they want to go hunting in a month.”

Trask enjoys teaching, though - and the exposure it gives to his gun club, which offers archery, handgun, rifle, youth , trap and skeet recreational and competitive programs.

“We let them know who we are, and anyone interested in shooting sports can come up.”



Taking aim

With the fall hunting season upon us, hunters will be dusting off their firearms and making plans to head for the woods.

Volunteers with the Annapolis Valley Shooting Sports Club hope they make one stop first: to test their gun at one of two sight-in sessions at the Canaan range.

“It’s an opportunity for them to check their shooting accuracy on a safe, legal range, and that their rifle is operating safely and is reasonably accurate,” says club member Don vanNostrand.

The club’s range officials will set up paper targets at varying distances and then check the shots after five rounds, make any sighting adjustments and then watch another shooting test.

“The goal is to get a consistent pattern of targeted shooting, ensuring the firearm and the person shooting are able to effectively and accurately hit the target - this should improve their odds when hunting!”

Sight-in dates are Sept. 20 and October 4, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. Rifle caliber is not restricted, and the cost per sighting is $10 per rifle or $25 for three rifles. Club members can also offer facility tours and talk about programs for youth, archery and recreational and competitive skeet and trap. To find the range, follow signs south from Hwy. 101 Exit 12.