Half a century of hunter ed

The proud smile of a young hunter with their first deer is what has kept Leonard Howke excited about teaching hunter education for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the last 50 years.

“When they get their first animal, they’re just jumping with joy,” Howke said. “That’s what keeps you going.”

Howke, 73, was honored this month with a 50-year hunter education award. He also received a Hall of Fame wall plaque and honorarium for his volunteer service.

“I’ve been teaching so long I’m onto the second generation now,” he said. “Kids I taught are bringing in their own kids.”

Much about the course curriculum has changed over the last five decades, Howke said.

“When I first started, it was all about handling guns,” he said. “Now it’s about ethics and responsible hunting, too.”

Ethics can be challenging to teach.

“I always tell the kids hunting isn’t like basketball, where a referee tells you when you do something wrong,” Howke said. “You have to be your own referee. You’ve got to make the call yourself. Should I shoot, or should I not shoot?”

John Fraley, FWP’s hunter education coordinator for Region 1, has worked with Howke for the past 24 years and calls him a key mentor in his own career.

“I watch him a lot on the field course portion of the classes,” Fraley said. “He’s taught it so long, it just comes naturally to him.”

Fraley says Howke always adapted to changing safety and ethics standards.

“He’s seen all the changes,” Fraley said. “Sometimes our first reaction is to not embrace change. But if the change is good, Leonard is always right on board — as long as he feels the changes are progressive and helping.”

A native of Whitefish, Howke has been an avid outdoorsman since he was a boy and still remembers his first deer. He graduated from Whitefish High School in 1959 and worked in the timber industry, as a taxidermist on Central Avenue and at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company for 17 years.

He’s volunteered as a wildlife worker on white-tailed deer studies, assisted at the Olney big-game check station, helped capture bears in the Swan Valley, trapped and transplanted Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and helped with bighorn sheep trapping and transplanting operations. He’s also a longtime instructor for the Hooked On Fishing program and takes local school students fishing each year.

While he doesn’t get out to hunt as much as he used to, Howke doesn’t plan to slow down as a volunteer anytime soon.

“As long as I can keep going, I will,” he said.

Fraley hopes he sticks around for many more years.

“We hope he keeps volunteering,” Fraley said. “Everybody loves Leonard, whether it’s the parents or students. He’s just selfless in how he gives of his time.”