Imagine those ancient tribal rituals

Imagine those ancient tribal rituals where secrets to the hunt were passed on around roaring fires, or the secrets were written on the walls of caves.

Today, those rituals remain - but the ceremony is a bit less dramatic. It is simply called Hunter Education, and each spring and fall, nearly 1,300 boys and girls, men and women in Northwest Montana participate in these courses, which are required for anyone 12 and older to hunt legally in Montana. The 12- to 18-hour courses cover firearms safety, wildlife identification, laws and regulations, hunting ethics, wilderness survival and more. The spring courses begin in March and April, with additional courses in the fall.

And while society's elders no longer paint their faces or dance around a fire, there are men like Leonard Howke who have spent decades passing on the tradition of the hunt.

Howke, 63, of Whitefish, enters his 41st year of training this spring when he will instruct the hunter-education course in Whitefish.

Rarely is so much accomplished with so little money. With only two full-time employees in the state who work on hunter education, about 6,500 students get the education required by law to go hunting. All Montana residents and nonresidents born after Jan. 1, 1985, must take the course.

For Howke, a retired Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. heavy-equipment operator, teaching hunter safety is all about giving back to an activity he grew up with around Whitefish. The information gained in the courses doesn't just help the kids. "A lot of this stuff gets passed up to the parent," he said. All of the courses are free. The money used for course materials comes from a federal tax on hunting equipment.

Howke is typical of the kind of people who pour their time into hunter education. There are two kinds of instructors, according to Thomas Baumeister, education bureau chief for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Helena. There are those instructors who become very involved for a short time, like the dad wants to teach his kids how to become a hunter. Those instructors tend to last for about three years.

Then there is the other kind of instructor like Howke, who has the desire to give something back and gives decades to the program.

"These are the guys who don't need another elk head on the wall," Baumeister said. "They view it as passing on the tradition of passing on their knowledge, and they stay with it for a long time. They are the pillars of the program. We couldn't hold it together without these people and their commitment. They do it all.

"Maybe only Boy Scouts has similar dedication."

Covering Flathead, Lake and Lincoln counties, the agency's Region One represents the second-largest contingent of hunter-education students in the state, slightly behind Bozeman's Region 3. Last year Region One had 1,231 students, a figure that reflects a growing number of hunter-education students, according to Baumeister. After dropping to a 15-year low of 1,063 students in 1990, and peaking at 1,460 students in 1995, the figures are beginning to climb again, Baumeister said. Statewide, the number peaked in 1990 at 7,200.

Although the number of people taking the courses is down from 15 years ago, Baumeister said that doesn't mean hunting is on the decline. He said the programs are getting about eight percent of the children enrolled in public schools, a percentage that is actually up from the early 1990s.

Montana has about 229,000 licensed hunters, according to Baumeister, and the state is No. 1 in per-capita number of hunters. The hunter-education program in Region One has helped lead the way for other programs around the state. "They've done some very creative things," Baumeister said.

For instance, the Northwest Montana courses provide stations where the students get to experience a mock real-life encounter. Someone might act like a poacher who is approached by a game warden; in another station, students get to knock on the door of a grouchy landowner whom the students ask for permission to hunt on their land.

"In that sense they've done some real neat things," Baumeister said.

"They're very well organized. They're a finely oiled machine."

The 200 volunteer instructors in Region One "is somewhat remarkable," Baumeister said. "For that to happen takes quite a bit of coordination."

Montana's hunter education program began in 1957. Since then, more than 350,000 people

have gone through the program, according to Baumeister.

"What is really remarkable," Baumeister said, "is that once the instructor is part of the program, they have a tendency to stay for very long. We gain a sort of institutional memory, and we use that to advance our program. Getting that historical perspective is very useful."

One instructor, Bob Larsson of St. Ignatius, has been with the program from the beginning. Larsson's son and grandson also now teach hunter education. Last weekend, Fish, Wildlife and Parks gave out its annual awards to the hunter-education instructors around the state. In addition to Howke's 40-year award, the agency had three 35-year awards, two 30-year awards, four 20-year awards, and "just a slew" of five- and 10-year instructors, Baumeister said. That's not to say they're top heavy. "We have many long-timers on the top, but there's a strong number of people coming up through the ranks," he said.

Howke's grandson, Devin Howke, 13, is a junior instructor now in Whitefish (you must be 18 to instruct). He went through the course with his grandfather and hopes to one day be a full-fledged hunter-education instructor.The elder Howke, born and raised in Whitefish, is active in many other areas of volunteering with Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He works with the Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs program and assists when he can with bear trapping and relocation.

But why would a man dedicate 40 years of his life to teaching others how to hunt?

That answer is simple and you can find it each year at the Olney hunter check station. Each year Howke sees the kids and their families who have driven miles out of their way just to come and show him their first deer or elk they've shot.

"When I see how excited they and their parents are, that just tickles me," he said.