McVay celebrates 51st year as Hunter Education instructor

By HEIDI DESCH / Hungry Horse News

When Pat McVay believes in something he takes matters into his own hands.

When the 1957 Montana State Legislature considered a law implementing a hunter safety program, McVay didn't wait for the OK to start the first class. He did it himself.

"Mel Ruder called me about 11 p.m. the night it passed to tell me," he said in an interview this week.

McVay lived in the Canyon at that time and had already taught a group of youngsters about hunter safety. Within about two days after the notice, McVay mailed off the first certification cards to the state that year.

"They returned them and said, 'They didn't know what to do with them,'" he said. "I sent them back and said, 'You know better what to do with them than I do.' They kept them that time."

When talk began of the legislation first began, McVay started preparing for the classes. He ordered the training books from the National Rifle Association.

Today, McVay is considered to be the first Hunter Education instructor, because of that early submittal.

He's still taking matters into his own hands. At the age of 88, he recently completed his 51st year of teaching from his home east of Cayuse Prairie.

In 1957, McVay was already active in a junior shooting league and has also helped start the 4-H shooting club.

So it comes as no surprise that he was an advocate for safe gun and hunting practices.

"I was an advocate for the implementation," he said. "I feel good about the whole program."

McVay began teaching at Hungry Horse. From there, he moved his class to Coram, Columbia Heights, Lake Blaine School, Cayuse Prairie School, the East Side Grange Hall and finally to his farm home a few miles east of Cayuse Prairie. He's taught one to two classes each year.

This year one of his students, Josh Snyder, was a third-generation student. Josh's dad, Beau Snyder, took Pat's class in 1985. Beau's father, Paul Snyder, had Pat as his instructor in 1962.

"It was pretty special having them all," he said.

McVay keeps a roster from every class he's taught and he enjoys nothing more than when some former student wants to show him a picture from a successful hunt.

He said he has no plans for retirement because he continues to love working with the students.

"There isn't a better group of children than 10- and 11-year-olds," he said. "It's a rewarding experience for me as well as the kids."

DURING THE program, McVay goes above and beyond to make sure his students have the knowledge they need to be safe and ethical hunters.

Students are shown a number of pistols and rifles, ranging from flint lock muzzles and loading revolvers to more modern guns.

McVay, along with the help of instructor Dennis Urban and assistant instructor Kevin Fraley, makes sure that students can handle and fire a number of pistols and rifles.

"I'm really proud that all of the kids in the shooting program get to live fire and handle the guns," he said. "This is important. It makes them understand the safety aspects of hunting."

Students even go through an obstacle course in which they must show they can properly handle carrying a rifle. That includes while climbing a fence and crossing a creek.

McVay holds his students to a high standard. He tells the students up front that a perfect score on the exit exam won't guarantee their certification.

"I tell them that even if they make a 100 on the test and I don't feel they're safe enough for me to hunt with them then they won't pass," he said.

All the time and work is important, because McVay believes in the program and what it's done.

"It's made a big difference in gun and hunting accidents," he said. "The number of hunting accidents has been reduced since the implementation. We have a group of ethical shooters because of it."

McVay still gets out to "hunting camp" on the Missouri breaks of Montana every year. Friends join him all over. He's been doing it for over 40 years.

"It's more about visiting and seeing everybody," he said. "But it's tradition."