By Rome Fiore

My hunting journey started all the way in California when I was a kid. My father and grandfather taught me the necessary skills to harvest upland game birds and fish. These lessons would teach me to respect the animals, as well as the public lands to enjoy these freedoms.

The author (right) and his childhood friend. With a plate of harvested dove breast.

As I matured into an adult, I was fishing a lot more than hunting because those in my social circle and family were more about fishing.

Fortunately, in my 40’s, I met some new friends who took me under their wings and introduced me to duck and goose hunting. I dove right in and started acquiring the necessary gear to waterfowl hunt in Arizona. This group of friends were also archery mule deer hunters.

After a couple of years of watching them shoot bows, plan, and scout for deer, I decided I wanted to learn more about big game hunting with a bow.

This also coincided with a big life change: in 2014 my lovely wife and I visited north Idaho to see where her father and lived. We fell in love with the area and knew in our hearts this was going to be our happy place. Fast forward to 2016 and I landed a job in Sandpoint in September; we packed up our stuff and hit the road to North Idaho. My mother-in-law knew how important hunting was to me and she tried to find me some of her friends that could help me with learning to hunt this country that was so amazingly different than Arizona. I found that at first, most hunters in the area are not too open to help newcomers to the secret spots. I had to work really hard at learning the area on my own and meeting like-minded individuals with the same goal of harvesting a big game animal. Lots of trying miles in the woods with no big game tags filled. I did have some success as I was able to harvest a nice tom turkey with my bow!        

Fast forward again to 2023 and my mother-in-law found an ad in the local newspaper for a Learn to Hunt class partnership with Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA). Yes, she still reads the newspaper daily. I signed up for the class having no expectations of what or how the class would go.

Class began in July at the at the Farragut Shooting Range in Athol, ID. I arrived with slight anxiety, nervousness, and butterflies in my stomach. As I walked into the classroom it was filled with 7 other adults, plus the instructors. It was a relief as everyone in the class was new to big game hunting. Some of the adults, like me, had some experience with upland game birds and a couple have never hunted at all.

Students talking about firearm safety with North Idaho Lead Instructor Dan Smith

This first class was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn skills to hunt big game in North Idaho, we reviewed firearm and hunter safety. Reading the regulations, we also were assigned an e-scouting assignment for homework, and we all shared it in the next class. I was introduced to the great organization of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), as I was unaware of the organization before starting the class. With the class came a 1-year membership to BHA.

During the Learn to Hunt classes over the next 6 weeks, we learned how to glass for the game, figure out what they were eating, and from what side of the plant the deer were standing as they ate. How the habitat dictated where they move to bed down, eat, and drink. We went in the woods and looked for all types of signs such as rubs, scat, beds, and active game trails. We had a range day to learn how to site in our rifles as well as shoot different caliber rifles the instructors provided.  In the last class, we were to meet at Farragut Shooting Range in one of the outbuildings to butcher the deer provided by Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG). During this time, it was one of the worst air quality days of that summer due to local wildfires. The motto of the class was to adapt and overcome, so we all met at one of the instructor's houses and butchered a deer. In the butchering class, we spoke about knife choices, how to hang a deer, skin the deer, and process the deer with minimal meat loss. At the end of the class, we all took home some fresh deer meat.

Adapt and overcome: a class participant skinning a deer in the garage of one of the instructors.

During the 2023 Learn to Hunt class, I was able to meet some great people and started new hunting relationships with them immediately for the 2023 archery elk season. On my 1^st day out we spotted an elk on a ridge and worked our way into him. We had a calling competition with the bull; raking and bugling. We called him into 30 yards, and as I was watching him come in my heart was racing and I was taking slow deep breaths as I had never experienced anything like this before. As he was coming in, we saw another bull as well. I was unable to get a shot off as he would not come out of the thick brush. The amazing part of this whole experience was that we had an 18-month-old with us!

All smiles on the hike out from the first hunt!

I was amazed at the knowledge I gained by and the friendships I made attending the Learn to Hunt class in 2023. This led me to become more involved with BHA over the following year and I became a regional rep for the Idaho Chapter. I wanted to give back to the community as well as share and help educate new hunters, so I jumped at the chance to help instruct the 2024 Learn to Hunt class.

The 2024 class format was a little different from the 2023 with the inclusion of two evening virtual meetings as well as three full field days, rather than 5 half field days done the previous year. This was done in hopes to open it up to a larger audience: less busy weekend commitment for everyone (instructors included).  New to us this year was having 6 teenagers in the class! 

A lot of work has gone into honing in the program, which started in Southern Idaho in 2018. We’ve tailored ours to our area and instructor knowledge and envision we’ll have some modifications next year after having so many teenagers in the class this year!.

2024 Students during the 2024 classroom portion

If you are interested in becoming a hunt advisor, please send an email to [email protected] In my experience, it is an opportunity you won’t regret as you’ll acquire a new hunting friend and can lead to more involvement with this great organization!

2024 Students and instructors practicing using binoculars

An instructor and student during the range session for 2024.

I have really enjoyed my transition from being student to being instructor and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

A special thanks goes out to our team of volunteer instructors; Melissa (North Idaho Co-Chair), Dan (Learn to Hunt Lead), and Zac (ID BHA Region 1 Rep), and to IDFG for their dedicated time and resources to this program!