36 Nebraskaland • August-September 2024
Mort was among the fi rst graduates of Game and Parks'
new Hunter Safety program, passing the course in 1972 while
in high school. His father sat through the class with him. "To
be honest, he grew up not realizing things were illegal," Mort
said. "I'm sure he learned that and he wanted to bring me up
correctly.
"I know when I took hunter ed, I learned a lot of stuff that
I didn't know before. I learned why there are laws, and you
understand the need for laws. I think that's huge."
After becoming a conservation offi cer, he saw hunters'
knowledge and compliance with game laws grow, and he
believes Hunter Education played a big part in that. "That's
about the only education we have nowadays, because a lot of
the parents, they don't hunt anymore," said Mort, who helps
teach classes.
When he sees Hunter Education graduates violate game
laws, it is often because they are hunting with someone who
doesn't respect the laws and is bowing to peer pressure. But
it also goes the other way. "Kids will infl uence their parents,
too," Mort said.
"The hunter ed card is pretty important to the kids.
That's one of the fi rst things they pull out of their billfold. It
defi nitely aff ects how they do things."
Volunteer instructor Dave Haumont of Broken Bow teaches David Anderson of McCook how to shoot a .22-cal. rifl e during a
Game and Parks-sponsored Youth Outdoor Skills Camp at the Nebraska State 4-H Camp in the Nebraska National Forest near
Halsey in 2003. ERIC FOWLER, NEBRASKALAND
Mentor Tom Lanz shows Christian Gates a deer scrape
during the fi rst mentored deer hunt near Ashland in 1995.
KEN BOUC, NEBRASKALAND
