Highschool hunting trip--> Need donations

[treeroot]

I am a teacher in Northern AB. One of the classes I teach is "WILDLIFE". Within this course, I teach the hunter education program where students can do their hunter ed exam to earn their license and credit.

This year, after a LOT of work, my school board has given me permission to take my entire class on hunting trips.

We have a few trips booked.
1) A survival camp where they make shelters and sleep in them for the night on crown land AND we get to walk trails for grouse/hare with a shotgun.

2) I am allowed to take them on a bus to cruise gravel roads for grouse with a shotgun. I know this isn't ideal hunting, but in my eyes, I just want to get as many kids out hunting as possible.

3) I am taking them to a farm field near my house where they will all sit in a stand of willows and hopefully catch a white tail coming out to feed or a buck coming out looking to breed. This will be a rifle hunt. I am going to take them a few times on this one.

The donations I need are binoculars. I need bino's for the deer hunting.

In order to have my entire class sitting in willows waiting for deer, I have to have them about 200-250 yards away from the bush the deer are coming out to feed from.. If the kids are too close, I know we will spook the deer before they even come out because of how many ppl I will have with me.

So they need to be able to see the deer while sitting 200-300 yards away from where they come out. I know if they can see the deer in the bino's they will be excited, satisfied and successful. IF they can't see the deer, it will be hard to keep their focus and they won't feel successful.


The bino's will have another use..
There is a very large chunk of bush behind my school where deer come out to feed. In November the deer actually come out in block 4 when I teach this class. So I am going to take the class to scout the bush where the deer come out, identify the deer trails/sign and then I will teach the class how to play the wind to find a spot and wait for the deer to come out. We will sit in this field a handful of times practicing being quiet, where to sit, how to rattle/grunt etc.. Bino's will play a huge role in their understanding of how to hunt deer and learn their habits.


If your still reading... This year me and another staff member are the only ones allowed to carry and shoot. If the program is successful this year, I am going to try to move towards students doing the shooting next year.

I made a post earlier about asking for bino donations, but my school didn't want me to say they were for taking a highschool class on actual hunting trips because they were a bit worried that they will get negative reactions from anti hunting groups. I was able to convince them that they were very unlucky to get such a reaction from a hunting forum.

If you can donate bino's please pm..

I have emailed several optics companies directly about donations and discounts and the only company that has got back to me has been Leupold. They are willing to give me dealer pricing, but its still much more than we can afford. We have to run 3 separate wildlife classes and 4 separate outdoor educaiton classes on $2,000 total

[DirtShooter]

Good for you.

I remember going on hunters ed and fishers ed trips from grade 7 to 12. Even did my pal in grade 12 hunters ed.

Being that it's hunting season I don't have any binos I could lend but have you looked on Amazon?

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by DirtShooter

Good for you.

I remember going on hunters ed and fishers ed trips from grade 7 to 12. Even did my pal in grade 12 hunters ed.

Being that it's hunting season I don't have any binos I could lend but have you looked on Amazon?

I couldn't take bino's on load. To much risk with 26 kids handling them.

I have looked on Amazon yes. It's tough to gauge quality..

The other issue is money. As I mentioned, I have 5 "outdoor" classes with only 2,000$ to work with. 750$ is already spent on hunter education courses. In order for students to write the hunter ed exam, it costs money. Our school isn't allowed to charge a course fee. So its included in the budget. I bought some camping supplies, fishing supplies already. That $2,000 goes very quickly and I need to stretch it until June.

I'm hoping I can get enough bino's through donations. A couple people have already contacted me today through pm so I think I'll get what I need from AO.

In the past I have had a lot of donations from here for my outdoor programs I've run through schools in the last 15 years. I find people here are quite willing to donate to see kids get outside

[brendan's dad]

I don't have extra bino's, but if you post an email for e transfer I will send you a money donation. Very worth while cause and thank you for your dedication.

[Dean2]

I pmed the OP and asked for some details of who we are being asked to support. I was prepared to make a sizable donation, as in covering the cost of acquiring binos from the Leupold offer, to this cause and asked for information about exactly who and where I would be making the donation to. Was told they are unable/unwilling to share further details. My take, on that basis I have no idea who I am being asked to help out. I don't want to be donating significant cash to anyone who is unwilling to tell me who they are.

There may be some very legitimate reason for this secrecy but I have no way of judging that. Not many reasons I can think of that should be an issue. You guys decide for yourselves if you want to donate to some mysterious northern school with no more detail than that. Personally, I am not prepared to send money blind to a cause with so little detail.

[Dewey Cox]

Thank you for the detective work Dean.

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Thank you for the detective work Dean.

X2

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I pmed the OP and asked for some details of who we are being asked to support. I was prepared to make a sizable donation, as in covering the cost of acquiring binos from the Leupold offer, to this cause and asked for information about exactly who and where I would be making the donation to. Was told they are unable/unwilling to share further details. My take, on that basis I have no idea who I am being asked to help out. I don't want to be donating significant cash to anyone who is unwilling to tell me who they are.

There may be some very legitimate reason for this secrecy but I have no way of judging that. Not many reasons I can think of that should be an issue. One however is, if this program is intended to get more "Keepers of the Land" out hunting, then I have less than zero interest in facilitating more unregulated hunting. You guys decide for yourselves if you want to donate to some mysterious northern school with no more detail than that. Personally, I am not prepared to send money blind to a cause with so little detail.

Your jumping to conclusions sir.. I just replied to your 2nd pm.. I was marking math quizzes all night.

Your initial pm to me was sort of vague, so I replied asking you why you needed to know the info you were asking before I explained more. You didn't ask for the name of the school, location etc.. You asked for the background of students and why they don't have the opportunity outside of school to go hunting or observe wildlife. I just needed more clarification about why you wanted to know that info.. So I replied to you right away.. Then I started marking math exams and didn't have a chance to reply to your 2nd message until now.

Yes I did tell you I may not be able to share all the info you might want, and that's true.. Student confidentiality is a real thing I can be consequenced for if I break it.


Hopefully that clears things up. I don't have anything to hide and never intended to come across that way either.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by brendan's dad

I don't have extra bino's, but if you post an email for e transfer I will send you a money donation. Very worth while cause and thank you for your dedication.

I don't know how to accept a donation of cash through EMT to be honest. I'll have to ask my admin tomorrow.

[Zip]

This whole thing stinks a bit…been on here since 2017..407 posts, and he says he has asked numerous times…if somebody could show all that to me, then I might donate..right now this poster does not pass the smell test!
My opinion only, plus my gut feeling is saying stay away…
Good luck, but I’ll take a hard pass on your ask!
Zip

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Zip

This whole thing stinks a bit…been on here since 2017..407 posts, and he says he has asked numerous times…if somebody could show all that to me, then I might donate..right now this poster does not pass the smell test!
My opinion only, plus my gut feeling is saying stay away…
Good luck, but I’ll take a hard pass on your ask!
Zip

I'll try to clear things up. I'm not sure how things got so sideways?

I'm the teacher who butchered a deer in his classroom back in 2020 and made lots of news reports.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...o-butcher-deer

Same person, but now I'm at a high school trying to do more outdoor stuff with kids.

I have gotten donations of here before. Last year I made a post about taxidermy donations for the classroom to help with animal ID. I got some donations and they are hanging on my classroom wall right now. Can't recall the members who donated, but A few did and a couple more tried but I physically haven't been able to make it where they live to pick up the taxidermy.

I had a different account about 10-15 years ago. I started an ice fishing program at an elementary school and got some rods donated to start the program. I got hundreds of kids out ice fishing over 5 years on that program. It was still running strong after I transferred to another school until Covid hit.

Hopefully that clears things up a bit. In hind site maybe I should have put more info in my original post, but my admin was hesitant to even allow me to ask for bino donations on the premise they would be used for hunting. They were a bit worried they would get negative responses from anti hunting groups. So when I made the post I tried to make it so it wasn't tied to my school. I figured I would ask anyone who wanted to donate to pm me and I would pass along the school's info.

[Ackleyman]

Hopefully that clears things up a bit. In hind site maybe I should have put more info in my original post, but my admin was hesitant to even allow me to ask for bino donations on the premise they would be used for hunting. They were a bit worried they would get negative responses from anti hunting groups.

If you stated you were taking kids on a wildlife observing outing I would believe you and would donate. To load kids up on a bus with a shotgun and to have them sit in bush while you fire a high power rifle is off the wall.

[Zip]

Originally Posted by Ackleyman

Hopefully that clears things up a bit. In hind site maybe I should have put more info in my original post, but my admin was hesitant to even allow me to ask for bino donations on the premise they would be used for hunting. They were a bit worried they would get negative responses from anti hunting groups.

If you stated you were taking kids on a wildlife observing outing I would believe you and would donate. To load kids up on a bus with a shotgun and to have them sit in bush while you fire a high power rifle is off the wall.

Ive been a member here since before this poster…and yet this is the first time that I have see a post like he is asking…from anybody! Something is just not right about any of what he is saying, I agree..”off the wall” is one way of putting it!
Zip

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Ackleyman

Hopefully that clears things up a bit. In hind site maybe I should have put more info in my original post, but my admin was hesitant to even allow me to ask for bino donations on the premise they would be used for hunting. They were a bit worried they would get negative responses from anti hunting groups.

If you stated you were taking kids on a wildlife observing outing I would believe you and would donate. To load kids up on a bus with a shotgun and to have them sit in bush while you fire a high power rifle is off the wall.

I could list all the stuff I had to do to get the trips approved and how I have things set up to take them, but it would be pages.

My proposals to my school board alone were about 9,000 words.

If you want more info about how the trips are set up I could give you a rough idea. It’s not how you are picturing it though.

[treeroot]

I think I’ve got about 5 sets of Binos being donated to the school now. I think that should cover the need. Thanks to everyone who donated. I’ll see if I can send some pictures of our trips.

[Dean2]

I think I may have derailed this thread a bit after the OP would not initially provide more details. He has since provided very good detail, that makes sense and rings true. It would have been a lot easier had some of those details been in the original post, but hindsight is always 20/20.

If it matters to anyone, I now believe this is a legitimate and sincere request. Thanks.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by treeroot

I think I’ve got about 5 sets of Binos being donated to the school now. I think that should cover the need. Thanks to everyone who donated. I’ll see if I can send some pictures of our trips.

All the best. I think it's fantastic that kids are going to be able to get out and try experience this.

Will keep my ears to the ground if I see/hear of any supplies that could be donated.

[bagwan]

Originally Posted by Zip

Ive been a member here since before this poster…and yet this is the first time that I have see a post like he is asking…from anybody! Something is just not right about any of what he is saying, I agree..”off the wall” is one way of putting it!
Zip

Zip, i'm one of the guys trying to get an antelope head to this teacher from his last "ask" on AO. was unsucsessful on pony express so head is still here but it was legitimate as Dean has now clarified.

[Dick284]

The OP is legit!

He asked for and received from me a collection of deactivated ammunition for teaching the firearms section of the Hunters Ed, last year….


I have 2 pairs binos heading his way straight from Cabelas BTW. ($49 free shipping)

[sns2]

Guys, now that I see the details filled in, I can tell you that Treeroot is a teacher who does exceptional work. I never recognized his username, but he and I have conversed in the past, and he was exceedingly helpful in providing me with the application he used to get approval for an ice fishing trip, and other than me, is the only other teacher I have heard of to have brought a whole deer into class to process with the kids.

The first post was shy on details, but we should all cheer Treeroot on in his endeavors.

Us guys in the cities have no chance in hell to do with students what he is doing.

None.

He's one of us.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I think I may have derailed this thread a bit after the OP would not initially provide more details. He has since provided very good detail, that makes sense and rings true. It would have been a lot easier had some of those details been in the original post, but hindsight is always 20/20.

If it matters to anyone, I now believe this is a legitimate and sincere request. Thanks.

Thanks dean!

As I mentioned my school didn’t even want me to say they were for hunting.

In 2020 when Edmonton sun/journal did an article about me butchering deer in my classroom, I had many many death threats from people commenting on Facebook. The negative comments got so out of hand that the school board had to assign someone to sit on Facebook and delete the really bad comments as people made them until things calmed down. I had people threatening me and calling my Jeffery Dalmer on my divisions Facebook page lol..

And a lot of people called my school directly and caused issues. Some had honest questions and concerns, but majority were PITA people trying to get my program shut down.

So the concern about asking for Binos for hunting was that the school didn’t have that happen again. It was a really difficult situation they had to deal with. So yes I didn’t put every detail in my orginal post in hopes what’s viewed on line to anyone won’t include my info or my schools. I was free to share that through pm for people who wanted to donate.

Your original message to me just didn’t make entire sense so I had asked why you wanted to know what you asked. I think understand your reasons for asking.


In the end, the health inspector was called, he came in and we had a great chat about my process to keep things clean and sanitary and what I did with the meat etc. He was more than satisfied with how I did things and my program continued.

In fact today, my one outdoor Ed class is butchering grouse for their lesson today.


I’m not sure how to satisfy the other members who are still doubting. I’m not sure if they are doubting me being truthful and that im just trying to get myself free Binos? Or they are saying what I am doing is crazy and shouldn’t be done? I’m honestly not sure, but I don’t mind sharing more info to help clarify. Int ge end I think I got enough Binos so it’s all good. But I would feel better if I could explain to have everyone satisfied that I’m not trying to get free Binos and what I’m doing is real and safe or what ever concerns there still might be.

I’ll have to ask permsion, but if I can post pictures of our trips I will gladly share them.

Part of me not including some info in my original post is also me wanting to keep a bit of privacy on here. I like reading AO with my morning coffee. I rarely post, but I’m often here reading. I love to talk politics, but my opinions and what I say in any political discussions can be held against me as a teacher. It’s part of my code of conduct. So if it comes out on ao I’m a teacher amd where I teach, I lose my privacy here.

I had an old account on here. I asked for ice fishing donations to start a program at a school I used to teach. Once that happened a lot of people in my community found me on here and I really just wanted some privacy. So I messaged Rob and he was ok to let me start a new account in here, the treeroot one. My privacy is that important

As for other things I’ve asked for schools on here. I searched my name and I found posts about
1) asking for taxidermy donations
2) asking for help to transport taxidermy to lac la biche that has been donated
3 asking for help to fix some shop equiepemt when I used to teach shop. My post didn’t say it was for a school, but the lathes I needed fixed were in my school shop.
4) I asked for help to figure out what’s the easiest thing I can give a kid to flesh muskrats. I had two posts about this and in the end I managed to buy 8 stirrup scrapers based on a member recommendations. Again, I didn’t say it was for a school but my post said I need 8 scrappers for 12 year olds. I figured most woudl realize it’s for a school or class of some sort.
5) I made a post asking for how to help a 12 year old get his trappers course fee covered. He was a boy in my class that year and I was able to get his course fre covered. Once he passed the course I drove to his house, gave him his first 330 and some beaver lure to get started. We went down to the river he lived on and I spent an afternoon showing him everything I could about trapping beavers. This boy still traps beavers to this day.
6) I made a post last year asking for some reloaders for some deactivated ammo I could use in my firearms portion of hunters Ed I teach in school. A few members gave me everything I could possibly want to teach that section of the course.

Not sure what else I can say.. I’d actually love to explain to people all the stuff I’ve done through schools. The more I can share about what I’ve done, the more likely other schools will try do some of the stuff. And the more I share with people, the more ideas I also get.

If you’re interested, you can follow my schools Facebook page. Once in awhile they will post pictures of the stuff we do in my programs like beaver trapping, beaver skinning, deer butchering etc. if you want the Facebook info jsut shoot me a pm. My one class is currently doing damage control beaver trapper for various landowners in the area for example. The Facebook page has a few pictures of the kids out in the field trapping the beavers.

It’s difficult sharing what I do on here . Policy states that anything and everything I post on social media about school must go through our divisions communication officer. I completely understand why, but it’s difficult and time consuming to do this each time. I didn’t go through my communications officer for asking for bino donations, I talked with my principal and we figured it wasn’t too bad. Based on how this thread has gone, it wouldn’t surprise me if I have to talk to our communications officer about what happened here.

As far as any safety concerns go, there is nothing I can do without going through a thorough process of approval through my school and school board. The process is there to keep everyone safe and make sure any risks are addressed and kept extremely low. So without posting my 9,000 word document I submitted to get hunting trips approved, believe me any possible risk you can think of was addressed and I had to explain how these risks are kept extremely low.


Thanks for clearing things up dean, hope everyone has a good day and I’ll post pictures if I can

[biggyJ]

I think all you non-teachers out there need to understand how difficult it is to get a program and trips of this type approved in a school district. (unless you work at a private school that runs on completely different rules and risk management systems)

As much as you would like to think its just...hey, I have an idea.... and the principal says "go for it".......is the furthest thing from reality.

It takes months of planning just to get an approval from the various levels within a school district, and every level needs to sign off on it. Principal---> super intendent ---> risk management team ---> and maybe even the chief superintendent depending on the level of risk involved.

Dont even get me started on what a district deems risky.....basically everything is too risky in their eyes. Best to just keep them in a desk all safe like.

Even if you get approval, you have to walk a fine line once the trip/program is approved to make sure that you follow all of their guidelines.....at the risk of having the trip/program pulled last minute because one tiny thing was off or something the risk managers didnt account for.

Case in point, I almost had a trip to sunshine village for skiing cancelled while kids were loading up the buses to go because there was the potential for students to go into BC if they rode the great divide chair. (literally 50m into BC) Crossing a provincial line would have been a big no-no and a whole other approval process. It took me an hour to convince the powers that be...that cancelling at this point was a silly idea, and that the easier solution was just prohibiting the students from riding that chair. But this is the system we have to work within to get trips like this off the ground.

We also have to make sure that as teachers we follow all the FOIP rules, so I can understand why the OP was being gaurded on what he was able to say. Sometimes the best intentions or query's can derail a program or trip.

So maybe his messaging could have been more clear...but I think he was trying to walk that fine line so that the entire thing wouldnt have brought more attention to it.

Sending an emt or check to a public school for a program like this, can raise red flags and more scrutiny than would like on their program.


Kudos to OP for going through all the bull**** of beaurocracy and getting these programs off the ground, and continuing to do it. It is a lot of work......far too much for most teachers as there are too many barriers.

These are the types of things students will remember, and it will be because of teachers like him.

[CBintheNorth]

Sounds to me like you're a man that goes well, well out of his way to instill your (and our) passion into the next generation.
Thank you for going above and beyond in your calling. It sounds like you're taking on a lot of headaches that you really don't need.
If you're still in need of any type of hunting or trapping related stuff, just PM me.

[Ackleyman]

Treeroot , I was very skeptical about what you are doing. Now that I know you have a legitimate program going on with the kids I applaud you. I was wrong and owe you an apology......so I apologize. Keeep up the great work.

[Zip]

Looks like I need to apologize to treeroot as well, I’m sorry that I snap judged your intentions. I’m sorry man, good luck with everything you do! I also apologize to the gang of AO…I messed up a bit by jumping in to quick on something I clearly didn’t have any knowledge of.
So Sorry All
Zip

[Map Maker]

Keep up the good work treeroot. Hopefully I will be able to help next time.
Kids need this type of education.

[kingrat]

If I had teachers like you and classes like that I may have enjoyed school. Good for you sir.

[treeroot]

Apologies accepted. I could have been more clear in my original post, but i was trying to “stay between the lines” as best as I could.


We butchered our grouse today. Kids did great. 1 grouse for me to demonstrate and then I had 8 to do in groups of 3. As mentioned, maybe once my fall hunting trips are done I can get permission to put some pictures up and if not, I’ll put their Facebook group up as they usually put pictures on of stuff like this

[sns2]

I am sorry to hear about the lunatics who brought threats your way and made life difficult for you after that story ran.

Two years ago, I asked my boss if I could bring in a hind quarter of a moose to work on with my Foods classes. He said no for my sake because he thought the potential blowback in today’s victim climate would just not be worth it. It saddened me that’s where we’ve come to, but it is definitely where we are currently at.

Treeroot, I wish you nothing but the greatest of successes with this program.

Undertaking something of this nature shows me exactly what kind of a teacher you are.

Mad respect from this corner.

[anchorman]

This post made my day. Kudos to you @treeroot, it'd definitely be easier to just do the prescribed curriculum.

I guarantee that you will make many life long memories and positive experiences for those kids, and they will appreciate it.

Cheers.