The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Courtesy of Jared Luther Jared Luther '09 began this spring's hunting season with his first turkey.

"Hunting is a Maine tradition," Rob Kievit '09 said. "But at Colby, [the tradition] exists only among a fragmented community." Kievit, along with friends Jared Luther '09 and John Roberts '09, hopes to change that with a proposal to the SGA to start the Colby Sportsmen Club, for enthusiasts of fishing, hunting and other shooting sports. The potential club looks to unite hunters at the College and educate anyone interested in these sports through lectures, clinics and trips to local ranges.

According to the College 2007-2008 Student Handbook, "Shotguns and high-caliber rifles to be used specifically for target or skeet shooting or for hunting (only with a valid Maine hunting license) during Maine's hunting season must be registered and stored under Security's supervision in Roberts Building." Director of Security Peter Chenevert said that between eight to ten students are currently making use of the designated safe, a noticeable increase from past years. Students are able to sign out their weapons to go hunting or visit local ranges; there is no specified time limit, as long as students do not bring their weapons into residence halls.

Kievit has been visiting shooting ranges since he was eight and received his first gun at ten. His parents stressed safety around firearms and stored his ammunition. "I grew up around guns," he said. "It was never taboo." He visited Maine often on hunting trips before matriculating to the College in 2005.

"[Hunting] is a sport, it's not just about killing anything and everything," Kievit said, acknowledging an "anti-gun and anti-hunting environment on a liberal campus" such as the College's. Spreading awareness would be one aspect of the Sportsmen Club.

Kievit knew that others at the College kept guns, but didn't know who these individuals were although they shared this common interest. Along with Luther and Roberts, he started a Facebook group to get in touch with other shooting sports enthusiasts.

"[Shooting sports] are a hard thing to get into," he said. "There's no way for others who are inexperienced, but interested, to find information about the sport. We want to show people that it's not this extremely dangerous thing-it's accessible to people." The club would help student access information on the safety courses necessary to purchase a hunting license. These cover firearm handling and safety, along with local rules. "It's all really complicated," Kievit said. He, Luther and Roberts have frequented Arnold Trail Gun Club in Sydney, where they were warmly welcomed by the local members. "They were really helpful and very accepting. Unfortunately, we didn't know about it for the past two years."

Continued...

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