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Mark Freeman Commentary Bauman's influence will always live on Susan Jones recalls a day in the early 1990s when she took her son Joey down to a night class so he could learn about hunting. Standing next to the registration table was a big man in a plaid shirt and brown vest, and he introduced himself as one of Joey�s volunteer instructors. "It�s like he could have pinched my son�s hand off when he shook it," Jones recalls. "He was like this imposing bear and I thought, oh, God, what have I gotten Joey into." Susan Jones hung around to watch Joey�s hunter-education teacher that night, and then at another class and finally for a full day�s shooting at a local rifle range. She was impressed with how gentle and kind the bearish man was to these cub-like kids, how passionately he preached about gun safety and how attentively all the kids listened. "When he was done with the course, I thanked him," says Jones, of Medford. "I don�t think I or Joey ever saw him again, but he made a big impression on both of us." There are hundreds of Susan and Joey Joneses over the years who called upon Ron Bauman to teach them about safe hunting skills and later left impressed with the large man with the soft heart for kids. That is the legacy left by Bauman, one of America�s most influential and decorated volunteer hunter-education instructors who made a life out of the simple joys of introducing the outdoors to kids. The 54-year-old Bauman�s soft heart gave out on him last Thursday, when he died from a sudden heart attack in his Medford home. Bauman was the consummate professional volunteer. He was the 1998 national hunter-education instructor of the year and two-time Oregon instructor of the year who pioneered a "team teaching" technique now used regularly in hunter-ed courses across the country. He was by far the most heavily involved volunteer hunter-ed teacher Oregon has ever had, logging thousands of hours of donated time to the program over the past 13 years. Bauman was a gruff and loud man who was never short on opinions and always willing to share them. Yet he also had immense patience for teenagers and others he shepherded through his hunter-ed program that is mandatory for kids who want to hunt in Oregon. "He had this passion for the outdoors, and kids saw that," says Mike Bickler, the former Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hunter-ed coordinator when Bauman joined the program 13 years ago. "Kids like that. They responded to it. "I�ve been involved in hunter education more than 30 years, and in all that time, I�ve never come across anybody who gave more than Ron." Bauman barely worked at his fire-equipment business, doing just enough to finance his volunteerism. "Work," friend Duane Mackey laughs, "was not one of his favorite subjects." But sharing the woods and waters of Oregon, and preaching stewardship of them, clearly was. "He was so dedicated to teaching kids about the outdoors," Mackey says. "It was his life." Everywhere kids congregated to learn about hunting or fishing, he was there. He coordinated bowhunter and angling education courses and ran a local gun-safety education program. He also helped coordinate special disabled kids� fishing days in Jackson County, ran the shotgun skills clinic at the juvenile pheasant hunt weekend at the Denman Wildlife Area and flipped free pancakes for hundreds of people during Free Fishing Weekend at Hyatt Lake each year. "Anything he could do to help young people get involved in the outdoors safely, he�d not only take part in but also take the lead in organizing," says Tony Burtt, the ODFW�s current hunter-ed program coordinator. Dissatisfied with what he thought were superficial lessons his son received in a local hunter-ed course, Bauman joined the program in 1987 and immediately began making changes. He recruited several of his hunting and fishing friends, each with his own specialty, to teach kids a variety of skills. This "team teaching" technique eventually became the norm for Oregon and has spread across the country as the preferred method for running hunter-ed with volunteers. Bauman also added live-fire range days and extended the course to almost twice its required length, though still charging just $5. He impressed upon the kids how serious gun safety was, to a point where hunter-ed officials regularly hear of young graduates admonishing their elders for poor safety. "Who knows how many kids, maybe even my son, who are alive today because of that course," Jones says. One of the best Bauman stories no one knows about involves perhaps his most public of accolades. In winning the Winchester Hunter-Education Instructor of the Year honors, Bauman also earned what many consider a hunt of a lifetime. He earned a free trip to Nilo Farms, Winchester�s private hunting farm in Illinois frequented by America�s best-known hunters. Bauman tried to give the trip to a kid through the Make A Wish Foundation. "But that was Ron," friend Ted Kruggel says. "He said, �I�d rather see a kid go out and have a good time�." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at: [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. 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