Local schools take Tuesday off for firearm opening day

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Local school children, teachers and administrators celebrated what some might call a “hick holiday” on Tuesday.

Tuesday was opening day of Michigan firearm deer hunting season.

Many schools in more rural areas across the state elect to cancel school on opening day because of poor attendance.

“Ultimately, this began about 20 years ago,” said Jeff Platte, Mount Pleasant High School assistant principal. “In order to have a school day count you need 75 percent of students in attendance. If there aren’t enough students in attendance, that means we have to add an extra day in June.”

Not only were schools noticing many kids not attending class on opening day, but teachers were also skipping out.

Platte said it is easier to overcome low numbers of teachers, but the district didn’t want to take the chance of low student attendance.

“It’s just not worth it to take the chance of only having 50 to 60 percent of students here,” Platte said.

Mount Pleasant resident Edwin Courser said he has been hunting around the area for the past 10 years. He said he would have probably taken the day off if school was canceled years ago when he attended Mount Pleasant Public Schools.

By having the day off, it doesn’t risk students missing out on anything important, he said.

“The best part was that it was a way to spend time with my dad and uncles,” Courser said. “It’s a way to be outside in the woods and wait until you finally see a deer.”

Courser said he shot a buck every year from the time he was 12 years old until he was 20 years old. He said the biggest buck was a 10-point the year after he graduated high school.

“One year, after I shot a buck, my dad came over to help me move it,” Courser said. “Then all of the sudden the deer got up and started dragging my dad through four to five rows of corn. It didn’t hurt him but the look on his face when it happened, it was hilarious.”

The biggest lesson hunting has taught Courser is patience. His younger cousin Erica Lybeer agreed.

The 13-year-old Mount Pleasant resident said in the two years she has been hunting, she has shot a seven-point and a 10-point buck.

“I really like having the day off from school so I can be out in the wilderness and getting to watch the animals,”
Lybeer said. “Last year I was in the blind looking at a smaller deer. I was with my Dad and when he turned around he saw a 10 point right in front of me.”