Pennsylvania Game News - March 2022 - 24

pair up with Stenger in teaching HunterTrapper
Education.
" You look at what's been taken from
him, with his eyesight and everything
and all that he used to do, " Remensnyder
said. " But he is just so resilient. He just
keeps finding ways to bounce back. He's
a phenomenal guy.
" I told him it's time to get back in the
game. "
Mike agreed. He teaches during
the safety portion of hunter-ed classes,
accompanied by a photo presentation
put together by students where Stenger
teaches school. It begins with images
of Mike posing with family and friends
with their deer and turkeys. It goes on to
show the bloody clothes cut off him after
getting shot. There are X-ray images, too,
revealing the eight to 10 pellets forever
lodged in his head.
It's a spellbinding combination.
" A lot of these students are younger
kids, taking hunter-ed for the first time,
11, 12 years old, and they're normally
fidgety most of the time, " Remensnyder
said. " But when Mike gets up and starts
talking, everyone is just locked on him.
You can just feel the power of his instruction
in the entire room. "
Stenger agreed, saying students sit with
" their jaws a little bit on the dropped side "
as they listen to Mike's tale.
" He makes it reality. He makes a mistake
reality, " Stenger said.
Mike does it well enough, at four
classes in Union County each year, to be
recognized as the Game Commission's
Hunter-Trapper Education Instructor of
the Year for 2020. His motivation, Stenger
said, is simple: he cares about kids and
hunting. Hobbins' message, he added,
is equally straightforward. Hunting with
rifles and shotguns and pistols can be fun,
but requires care, too.
24
" Those things are all part of it, " Stenger
said. " But you've got to do it the right
way. "
Mike emphasizes the importance of
taking the time to identify your target
and what's beyond. That can seem to take
forever in the heat of the moment, he said,
but really lasts just seconds, or even fractions
of seconds.
What he doesn't do is scare anyone
unnecessarily.
" We definitely try to drive home the
need to make sure it's safe to shoot, "
Mike said. " Hopefully they learn. I'm
sure they will.
" But I loved hunting and have so many
great memories. It's so good, just a really
good family activity I think, just getting
out with your parents or kids or whatever.
I wouldn't want them missing out on that
fun. "
Mike did himself for a long while. But
no more.
WORK & THE WOODS
Bored sitting at home - you can only
listen to so much TV and radio - Mike
landed a part-time job making cookies in
a local shop. When the store got a machine
to do the work, he switched to washing
dishes. That required fewer hours and was
less rewarding.
Then, an opportunity arose.
His sister works in a bank. She was
talking with a co-worker whose husband,
Russ Wagner, owns Top Calls, which
makes turkey, deer, predator and squirrel
calls and more out of two buildings, one
in Renovo, one in Hartleton. They needed
help. Mike's sister suggested him as a
good candidate.
Wagner knew Mike somewhat, graduating
from the same high school, just one
class ahead. He gave Mike a shot.
" One thing that I did tell him, right up
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