Fifty-one officers from 15 different state fish and wildlife agencies recently graduated from a 40-hour course on investigating hunting related incidents, according to the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA).
This unique Hunting Incident Investigation Academy, according to IHEA, provides skills, knowledge and techniques to commissioned wildlife officers so they can conduct investigations in their home states. These officers are already experts at investigating outdoors scenes.
Coming from as far away as Florida, Washington, Utah and Vermont, the course brought these officers together in Missouri.
According to the IHEA, this year’s academy was taught by instructors from six different states, with more than 300 years of combined experience. The academy was co-hosted by IHEA and the Missouri Department of Conservation at the Andy Dalton Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center.
The curriculum has been developed by hunter education administrators across the country who have reviewed and analyzed hunting incident investigation data. “The curricula developed for basic hunter education programs have been molded to better target contributing causes and further reduce hunting-related shooting incidents,” IHEA said.
According to the organization, a national clearinghouse database has been created to store data collected from each IHEA member jurisdiction. Standardized reporting forms have been developed so that complete and uniform data can be analyzed. A standardized definition of a hunting related shooting incident has also been adopted by IHEA-USA.
