Gilbertson receives Hunter Education award

40 YEARS OF SERVICE HONORED —Bud Gilbertson (left) was presented with a 40-Year Hunter Education Award by Jaime McDermid (right), Conservation Warden for Dunn County, at a recent hunter safety class held at the TCE library. —photo submitted

By Renee Bettendorf

BOYCEVILLE — Jaime McDermid, Conservation Warden for Dunn County, presented Bud Gilbertson with a 40 Year Hunter Education Award at a recent hunter safety class held at the TCE library.

Gilbertson, who is a retired Boyceville phy ed teacher, first got involved volunteering for DNR safety courses as a snowmobile instructor back in 1972. He spent 25 years as a snowmobile instructor and started as a hunter safety instructor in 1985.

Boyceville has a long history of teaching hunter safety courses. In fact, the current format of the class started in Boyceville in 1967, said Gilbertson. The first instructor was Gib Sykora, former principal and ag instructor for the district.

Gilbertson taught school for 32 years and was the athletic director for another eight years after that. Teaching hunter safety is a volunteer side gig. Most years the class is offered twice, once in March and again in August and usually there are between 20 and 30 students. He has no plans to retire as an instructor. 

Over the years Gilberson has done lots of hunting. While he no longer goes gun hunting, he still enjoys bow hunting because it’s more quiet and easier to stay warm.

“I’m a deer watcher, I used to be a deer hunter,” he joked.