LOL the second part is pretty much my approach when I find out my son got bullied at school.
First thank you for your efforts to help our youth get on a safe path to enjoying our hunting heritage . I’m sorry that adults can’t understand what a poor example they show their children. You give your time and help others with less than appreciation but true harassment because you could not circumvent the rules. I don’t get the plain rudeness and general lack of manners in today’s society, I do however respect the way you handled this situation from the beginning , I commend you for your efforts to the future of hunting and you have my respect sir !Sorry, I’m going to vent about something that happened to my wife and I last night while we were out to eat at a very nice supper club. It’s long and I don’t have any pictures to include.
In March I was the lead instructor at 2 hunters safety field days. For the field days the majority of the class is held online at the students pace. When the students finish with the online portion they can sign up for a field day to complete their certification. At the field day things are taught like shooting positions, safe zones of fire, carrying position, etc.
The first field day was in the morning and all went well. All 30 kids passed the final exam with flying colors. The second class was to begin at 1 pm. All the kids were arriving and getting checked in. Both of the classes were preregistration only through the Iowa dnr website and were filled within a day or 2 of being posted to the website. Another instructor was checking students in and getting their materials while I was working on something else. The instructor comes over to me and says this kid does not have a voucher for the online portion. At every step of the registration it says the student must show proof of completion of the online portion before taking the field day and they need to print and bring with them a voucher stating such. So I start talking to the kids dad and the kid is next to him. At first I figure that they just hadn’t printed the voucher off, no big deal. But I find out he has not taken the online portion. Not even started it. The dad claims it did not say anywhere on the registration page he had to complete and bring the voucher. He’s getting mad! But finally they leave and we complete the field day. We get everything packed up and I left. 2 of my instructors are still at the facility talking and this guy comes flying back in and starts screaming at them that they had a hunt planned in a couple weeks and the kid needed hunters safety and is pissed. The instructors deescalate the situation again and the guy leaves. On Monday while I’m doing my paperwork I call the safety officer for the DNR and tell him what happens. He says we handled it correctly and reiterated that it is very clear the kids need to complete the online portion. I helped with 3 of these field days last year for about 90 students. He was the only one that had this problem.
Now, fast forward to last night. Our kids were staying at grandmas and we had dinner reservations at a nice supper club. We were seated and had a drink and appetizers, followed by our meal. I had a 12 oz prime rib, my wife had a 8 oz filet and we split steamed asparagus and garlic crusted Mac and cheese. It was all very good. The whole time the table next to us had a couple our age, an older couple and a kid probably 12 or 13. The guy about my age looks familiar, but I can’t place him. After we payed our bill we were finishing our drinks and start talking to the table next to us. By this time we are the only tables left on our area. It’s the usual, from the area? Where do you work? Etc etc. as soon as I say where I work the younger guy screams that is where I know you. You are the one that wouldn’t let my kid take hunters education. At this point the kid is off the outside deck texting or playing a game on his phone. The guy and his wife are screaming at us and he calls the kid back over. He says to the kid, while pointing at me, “remember him? He’s the one that ruined our hunt and we had such a terrible day.” The guy’s wife is literally climbing over the table vigorously pointing her finger at me, yelling while the older couple is just looking at them like what the hell? I put my drink down and look at my wife saying we gotta go, have a good night while they continued to scream as my wife and I walked away.
unfortunately it was a bitter ending to a very nice meal and night. It took me a while to calm down. I’m trying to explain to my wife that I don’t make enough money to deal with shit like that while I’m not working. I thought about the whole situation on the way home and after I got home until I fell asleep. This morning I wake up over it and my wife is like that guy was such an ass and I’m right back pissed off again!
I just can’t seem to understand why some people are such asses and feel they are entitled to benefits others are not. I feel really bad for the kid because his mom and dad are obviously not from the best stock.
