O.B.’s Chris Litton earns hunter education award

O.B.’s Chris Litton earns hunter education award

Chris Litton, the logistics and safety coordinator for the City of Orange Beach, has been awarded the Gladney Davidson Memorial Award from the International Hunter Education Association – USA.
The award is IHEA-USA’s highest of service award and is in recognition of Litton’s important and innovative contributions to the field of hunter education.
“I was honored to even have been considered for the award,” Litton says. “We certainly could not have achieved the things we’ve accomplished without all the volunteer support and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ staff that have been so quick to support everything we do.”
For over a dozen years, Litton has worked with the city to establish firearm safety and training for the youth of Orange Beach. The children have fun, but Litton says the main goal is firearms and hunter safety as well as hunter ethics. With so many kids immersed in video games, Litton says hunter education gives them hands-on, real-life experiences.
“It is not a game,” he said. “These things are real and need to be handled properly. My number one goal is to change the way the kids think about hunting safety. If we can change the way they think about it, their actions will follow.”
Litton has been involved in Hunter Education since 2006 and certified since 2008. Over the years, he has coordinated hunting trips for special-needs children as well as other people who would not otherwise have an opportunity to go hunting.
Litton is now assisting with the new Orange Beach Middle / High School clay shooting team.