 Maryland 4-H Shooting Sports
Instructor Certification
May 2007
Mark Burchick
 INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION
4-H Gun Club / Howard County, MD
| Several members of the Howard County 4-H Gun Club attended a three-day weekend course to become certified firearms instructors. The disciplines included shotgun, rifle, handgun and archery. The 36-hour class was held at the Thendara 4-H Training Center in Hurlock, Dorchester County, Maryland. |  | The camp included the training center, camp dormitories, firearms ranges, woodlands, wetlands, agricultural fields and ponds. I caught this bass at 10:30 pm, Friday night. Mark 'spot-lighted' a female on a bed near the shoreline. I cast my Senko worm in front of her and bam, insto-fish! |  | Mark and I went on to catch several bass over the weekend during breaks. Mark snapped his rod trying to land a lunker. The fish is somewhere in the pond with a plastic worm, hook and line still in his mouth. Mark saw the fish and it was either a large largemouth bass or Grandpa Whiskers, the catfish. What a way cool way to break a rod, lost in action in a fight with Moby Dick. |  | I found a pink lady slipper, an uncommon, native orchid at peak bloom in the loblolly woodlands abutting the pond. |  | Toadflax, a southern species, was an aspect dominant wildflower in the agricultural fields of the shotgun training area. They typically grow in full sun, sandy and infertile soils, which was the exact habitat of the fallow fields. |  | This photo is of the newly graduating crop of Maryland State rifle instructors . . . |  | From left to right is the Howard County contingency: upper row - Kevin Lancaster (pistol with rifle since 2006), Peter Martin (rifle), Tracy Harriotts (shotgun), Mark Burchick (pistol with shotgun since 2001), Alex Herman (archery), Scott Bosse (Maryland State rifle instructor, and veteran shotgun instructor). Lower row - Ed Grimm (shotgun), Kevin Lancaster (Junior Rifle), Nick Boeh (Junior shotgun), Tom D'Asto (shotgun), Mark Burchick (Junior shotgun), Steve Boeh (rifle) & Phil Howard (shotgun). Howard County has always had a viable and contending firearms programs, emphasizing shotgun (trap, sporting clays & skeet, via Mark Mason and Mark Burchick), excellent archers through Mrs. Ann Severance and an up and coming rifle program (Kevin Lancaster, formerly Scott Bosse & Ken Klipple). We now intend to incorporate handguns into our program (Mark and Kevin) and further strengthen our existing programs with our new graduating instructors from this weekend. Congratulations you all, and thank you for your service. |  | . . . and this photo is of our new State shotgun instructors. |  | Here's a blast from the past. Do you remember S&H Green Stamps at your local gas station. We had a Sinclair gas station in Greenbelt where I was born and raised, and my parents collected S&H stamps in booklets, redeemable for gifts. A gas station and attached country store in Hurlock had this old sign out on the road. |
Submitted By: Mark Burchick |
