New App designed to save lives

Thirty years ago I bow hunted the Huron National Forest in northwest Michigan nearly every evening during the month of October after work. I was in the Air Force back then. My hunting partner and I pretty much had the place to ourselves, seldom seeing even a vehicle parked along the access roads.
Come November, that all changed on the opening day of gun season.
Vehicles were parked nearly two deep all along the pipeline we hunted. The forest was full of hunters. One guy, who obviously was lost in the dark, began making this shrill whistle, scared to death someone was going to shoot him.
I never dreamed the tranquil national forest, alive with the colors of fall the month before, would become the equivalent of a war zone by mid-November. What’s more, a very dangerous environment, with so many hunters not knowing one another’s location.
Times change and so does technology.
New Iberia resident Skip Leleux, owner of AmmoCamo, has developed a cell phone app that may revolutionize the way we hunt, whether on public or private land. Leleux’s app was released in August as part of the company’s Project Zero (for zero fatalities) promotion designed to make hunting safer.
The Safety S.H.O.T. app that stands for “Safety Hunter On Track” is one tool that hunters will want to download.
Leleux said, “This is the first app that actually does this function I know of that currently exists so far in the world. It can actually track each hunter, and you don’t have to know each other.”
The app allows you to log in and enter your status. That status could be a particular stand on your private hunting lease that you climbed in to or a location on public land you plan to hunt.
Say you’re turkey hunting. Any hunter who also has the app can go to “hunter tracker” and locate you anywhere from 300 to 1,000 yards away. Once the hunter is aware of your presence, he or she can look and see what your status is.
For example, your status may read, “Hunting until 10 a.m. or scouting.” Whatever the case, it allows the hunter checking your position to think differently and be more cautious, knowing another hunter is close by.
“Not only will it provide your status but will give your exact yardage away from me,” Leleux said. “A hunting club can utilize an I.D., which allows them to actually go beyond 1,000 yards. You might click, for example, ‘BIGBUCKS123,’ and if everybody in the club puts a code in, you could go to New York City if you wanted and they could scale out and still find you.”
A tragic boating accident that cost his brother-in-law his life several years ago prompted Leleux to do something about outdoor safety. As a result, Leleux’s AmmoCamo Company is the epitome of safety awareness.
Leleux said, “AmmoCamo is three different things. It’s in field use. It’s safety awareness. And it’s proper storage of firearms. That’s the three main points I focus on for the brand. I took ammunition, which obviously is an important element of a firearm, and turned it into a pattern making AmmoCamo to represent those three safety factors. That’s what constitutes the use of the app; it’s where it came from. I wanted to get users of the app a product that would carry that message.”
Another feature of the app is the ALERT button. In the event of an accident, injury, breakdown or some other emergency, users can click on the alert button and immediately be connected with whomever’s contact details are placed in your device.
By pressing the alert button, the contact person also instantly knows exactly where you are.
“It gives the person the ability to see there’s an emergency,” Leleux emphasized. “It eliminates you having to call somebody and explain where you are. It speeds up the search and rescue efforts.”
One of the things Leleux points out is the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Hunter Safety Program is only eight hours of training. Moreover, the AmmoCamo owner says by industry standards, hunter education is a paltry few hours by comparison.
Leleux said, “When you look at safety and safety awareness in the oilfield, when you look at it in any industry across the country, or on a world scale, it’s at top notch levels. You’re exposed to safety meetings. You’re exposed to safety hazards. They give awards for safe hours worked. There are hundreds of hours and an abundance of resources focused on safety. When you look at safety in the outdoors, it is lost. When you look at boating safety, ATV safety, firearms safety, all of these that belong in the outdoors, most of us have never taken a safety course in. Hunter safety is eight hours, and that’s the only requirement, for life.”
For those interested in downloading the $3.99 app or more information on AmmoCamo, visit www.ammocamopatterns.com or the company’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Ammocamo
If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story you wish to share, you can contact John K. Flores at 985-395-5586 or gowiththeflo@cox.net or www.gowiththeflooutdoors.com