Craig Fish, a Toledo, Iowa resident of nearly 35 years, was recently recognized by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for his 50 years of volunteer hunter education instruction. At a meeting held in Linn County on March 17, Fish received an award for his 50 years of volunteerism. In actuality, this year marks Fish’s 51st year of being a volunteer hunter education instructor for the State of Iowa.

In Iowa, resident and non-resident hunters born after Jan. 1, 1972 must satisfactorily complete a hunter education course in order to obtain a hunting license. The hunter ed program administered by the Iowa DNR relies on thousands of volunteers like Fish to implement the program across the state. We would not have a hunter education program in this state if it was not for volunteer instructors like Craig Fish.

Fish became a certificated Iowa hunter ed instructor in 1975 at Marshalltown Community College. At that time Fish had ambitions of becoming an Iowa Conservation Officer. However, life led him down a different path and he became a teacher after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 1978 with a biology degree. For 14 years Fish taught 7th grade life science, 10th grade biology, and 11th and 12th grade ecology.

Fish began teaching hunter education in a classroom setting in 1978 while teaching at Olin in Jones County, Iowa. In 1978, Fish moved to the Butler County community of Parkersburg for a teaching position where he taught hunter ed in his classroom yearly until 1992. In 1992, after 14 years of teaching, Fish moved to Toledo from Parkersburg when he was hired as an agronomist at the Toledo Pioneer plant where he retired in 2020. From 1992 to the present-day, Fish has taught hunter education in Tama, Benton, Black Hawk and Poweshiek counties. Prior to ’92, Fish instructed students in Jones, Butler, Grundy and Marshall counties.

I was first introduced to Craig Fish in 2004 when I started my employment with the Iowa DNR as the State Conservation Officer assigned to Tama/Benton counties. Officers are responsible for giving a “laws talk” at each hunter ed course. When I started and for many years to follow, Fish was the lead hunter ed instructor for the hunter ed class held annually in Toledo. Looking back at the instruction I observed from Fish and his cadre of fellow instructors, I can say that I was impressed with their attention to detail, passion, enthusiasm, and the caliber of instruction they gave to students who attended. For many years and to this day, I come across former hunter ed students who graduated from Fish’s hunter ed classes who tell me that they learned a lot and appreciated what they learned from Fish and his counterparts.

I recently sat down with and interviewed Craig Fish for this article. Fish stated that over the past 51 years he has taught hunter education to an estimated 1,710 students. I asked Fish why he became an instructor and why he continues…he responded with, “I originally wanted to be a conservation officer, but due to the lack of jobs, I became a teacher. I continue because I enjoy working with officers and seeing the excitement in a student’s eyes-like when they shoot 5 out of 5 clay birds at the trap range during a hunter ed course. And when a former student of mine remembers me years later it is meaningful to me. It’s the impact the classes have had on the youth that attended which is most meaningful to me.”

In conclusion, the Iowa DNR would like to acknowledge the contributions that Craig Fish and thousands of other hunter education program instructors, past and present, have made to making the program what it has been. The DNR appreciates the devotion and the impact instructors have made in continuing the hunting tradition we and our forebears have enjoyed. A list of upcoming hunter education classes can be found at www.iowadnr.gov.

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Brett Reece is the state game warden.