Howke reaches hunter education milestone
The proud smile of a young hunter with their first deer has always been the ultimate payoff for Leonard Howke. It’s what has kept him excited about teaching hunter education for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the last 50 years.
“When they get their first animal, they’re just jumping with joy,” Howke said in a recent interview with the Pilot. “That’s what keeps you going.”
Howke, 73, was honored this month with a 50-year hunter education award by FWP. He also received a Hall of Fame wall plaque and honorarium for his volunteer service.
He first got involved with teaching hunter safety in 1965, leading classes at the old Whitefish Central School.
“They asked me if I wanted to get involved, so I tried it,” Howke recalled.
He’s been teaching the course in Whitefish ever since, with thousands of children and parents learning the dos and don’ts of hunting under his tutelage.
“I’ve been teaching so long I’m onto the second generation now,” he said. “Kids I taught are bringing in their own kids.”
The course curriculum has changed plenty over the last five decades, Howke said.
“When I first started it was all about handling guns,” he said. “Now, it’s about ethics and responsible hunting, too.”
He says ethics can be challenging to teach.
“I always tell the kids hunting isn’t like basketball where a referee tells you when you do something wrong,” Howke said. “You have to be your own referee. You’ve got to make the call yourself. Should I shoot or should I not shoot?”
John Fraley, FWP’s hunter education coordinator for Region 1, has worked with Howke for the last 24 years and calls him a key mentor in his own career.
“I watch him a lot on the field course portion of the classes,” Fraley said. “He’s taught it so long, it just comes naturally to him.”
“Imagine the vision Leonard had at 20 years old to get involved in a program like that,” Fraley added. “The program has only been going 58 years and he got involved with it at the beginning. That shows his vision, perseverance and fidelity to the program.”
Fraley says Howke has always adapted to the changing safety and ethics standards.
“He’s seen all the changes,” Fraley said. “Sometimes our first reaction is to not embrace change. But if the change is good, Leonard is always right on board — as long as he feels the changes are progressive and helping.”
A native of Whitefish, Howke grew up in the house he now lives in on JP Road on the Whitefish River. He’s been an avid outdoorsman since he was a boy and still remembers his first deer.
“It’s been a few years back,” he joked. “It was a four-point buck on the property by Highway 40.”
Howke graduated from Whitefish High School in 1959. His varied career included work in the timber industry, at a taxidermist shop on Central Avenue, and 17 years at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company.
Howke’s history of volunteering for FWP is equally as varied. He’s volunteered as a wildlife worker on white-tailed deer studies and assists at the Olney big-game check station.
He’s helped capture bears in the Swan Valley, trapped and transplanted Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and helped with bighorn sheep trapping and transplanting operations.
He’s also a longtime instructor for the Hooked On Fishing program and takes students from local schools fishing each year.
While he doesn’t get out to hunt as much as he used to, Howke doesn’t plan to slow down as a volunteer anytime soon.
“As long as I can keep going, I will,” he said.
Fraley hopes he sticks around for many more years.
“We hope he keeps volunteering,” Fraley said. “Everybody loves Leonard, whether it’s the parents or students.”
“He’s just selfless in how he gives of his time.”