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Owl Brook Hunter Education Center
The Owl Brook Hunter Education Center,
located on 500 acres of land off Perch Pond Road in Holderness,
N.H. is the first facility of its kind in the state. It is managed
by the N.H. Fish and Game Department's Hunter Education Program.
The center was made possible through a grant from the Federal
Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (managed by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service), as well as many private donations.
Owl
Brook's Mission
The mission of the center is to educate
individuals in the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to become
safe and responsible hunters, trappers and stewards of the state's
natural resources. The center hosts workshops, special events and
talks conducted by Fish and Game staff, hunter education and center
volunteers, and in partnership with non-governmental organizations
like the N.H. Trappers Association and the National Wild Turkey
Federation. These activities allow individuals and families to start
the lifelong journey of becoming safe and responsible hunters and
trappers. As much as possible, the "hands-on" and "learn
by participation" approach is used.
Facilities include Shooting Ranges, Classroom
Space and Self-guided Trails
The center includes an office/classroom
building with room to accommodate up to 60 students. Near this building
is a four-target practice archery area and a 25-yard covered firing
range suitable for small-bore and muzzleloader training. In addition,
there is a shotgun training area, hunter skills trail, orienteering
course and a 14-target field archery course along a wooded trail.
Self-guided interpretive trails for trapper education and wildlife
habitat management are in the works.
Public
Hours
The Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, including its interpretive
trails and 4-target archery practice range, is open to the public
Monday through Saturday from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The 14-target
archery course is open seven days a week, from dawn to dusk.
The classroom, covered
shooting range and the shotgun range are open for center-sponsored
events only. On weekends throughout the year, special activities
and events take place at the center. Watch the Owl
Brook Calendar of Events
(click here) or call the center for more details.
For more information
on the Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, call: (603)
536-1290; or write to Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, 387 Perch
Pond Road, Holderness, NH 0324
Directions
to Owl Brook Hunter Education Center
(387 Perch Pond Road, Holderness, NH)
From
the South:
Take I-93 to Exit 24 (Ashland), at the end of the ramp turn right
onto Route 3/Route 25 and take this into the center of Ashland.
In Ashland, bear left at the Y and continue along 3/25 south until
you come to the blinking light at the junction of Route 175. Turn
left onto 175 and follow it for 1.7 miles to Hardhack Rd. on the
right. Once on Hardhack Rd., go about 75 yards and take a right
onto Perch Pond Rd. Follow Perch Pond Rd. for 1.8 miles and the
entrance to the center will be on the left. The building is 100
yards or so through the gate on the right.
From the North:
Take Exit 25 (Plymouth), at the end of the ramp turn left onto Route
175A. At the top of the hill, bear slightly right onto Route 175.
Continue on Route 175 for 2.9 miles to Hardhack Rd. on the left.
Once on Hardhack Rd., go about 75 yards and turn right onto Perch
Pond Rd. Follow Perch Pond Rd. for 1.8 miles and the entrance to
the center will be on the left. The building is 100 yards or so
through the gate on the right.
A Brief History of Owl Brook
The Owl Brook Hunter
Education Center opened on October 1, 2002, after ten years of planning
and development. The N.H. Fish and Game Department's Hunter Education
Program had been looking since the early 1990s for land on which
to construct a multipurpose hunter education/outdoor skills training
center. James Hall and Randy Curtis, then acting Hunter Education
Coordinators, were instrumental in initiating this project. Both
men saw the need of a center dedicated to the education of individuals
in the safe and responsible practices of hunting, shooting and trapping.
In May of 1995, Fish and Game was able to acquire 498 acres of land
for this purpose in Holderness, N.H., adjacent to the Pemi Fish
and Game Club.
Many partners
The acquisition was only possible through
cooperative effort. Fish and Game was able to use federal funds
through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to purchase
228 acres of land once intended as a housing development and with
an extensive road system already in place. The Meredith Village
Savings Bank then owned the property, and the bank agreed to sell
the property at somewhat below the appraised value. In addition,
Robert Ambrose donated 270 acres of land and the Pemi Club donated
a right-of-way that connected the two parcels. The value of the
donations was then used as the state's matching share to receive
the federal dollars. With everything falling into place, the acquisition
became final. The next step was writing a developmental grant to
build the facility. Again, it took a combination of Fish and Game
support, federal funds and private donations to make the center
a reality. The facility was officially dedicated in September 2004.
Passing on the heritage
The center consists of an administration/classroom/interpretive
building with a 20-yard indoor archery/air rifle range in the basement,
a 10-position, covered 25-yard shooting range, a practice archery
range, a 14-target archery course, a shotgun range, orienteering
courses, a trapper education demonstration area, self-guided hunter/trapper
education interpretive trails and wildlife habitat demonstration
areas.
These are important
tools allowing Fish and Game to accomplish its mission at the center.
Owl Brook will offer basic, advanced, and special opportunity classes
and workshops on hunting, trapping, shooting, outdoors skills and
wildlife management. The broader goal is to pass on the heritage
of hunting and trapping to future generations. To achieve this goal,
the center relies upon volunteer assistance from the state's sporting
community. Click
here for more information on volunteering at Owl Brook.
<Return to Main Hunter Education Page>
Wildlife Restoration
in Action
 The
Owl Brook Hunter Education Center and Hunter Education in New Hampshire
are made possible by the Federal
Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act.
Here's how it works: Excise taxes are collected
from the sales of firearms, ammunition and archery equipment. These
funds are distributed to state agencies to conduct research, manage
wildlife populations, protect habitat and conduct hunter education
programs.
It's a great example of a user pay-user benefit
system. Hunters and target shooters ultimately pay the excise taxes.
They enjoy the benefits, namely opportunities for safe and satisfying
hunting.
Educating safe and responsible hunters in New
Hampshire wouldn't be nearly as successful as it is without the
Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act.
There are over 500 volunteer hunter education
instructors in New Hampshire. Their donated time is used as a match,
enabling Fish and Game to receive enough federal funds to cover
the entire costs of coordinating New Hampshire's Hunter Education
Program.
So the next time you buy a gun, ammunition or
archery equipment, remember that you're helping to fund wildlife
management and hunter education. |
