Here in NC, hunters are required to take a 10 hour Hunter Education Class prior to being allowed to purchase a hunting license. This seems excessive to me, am I the only one?
I'm a fairly experienced sport shooter who has spent a good deal of time and money on instruction including gun safety. I wanted to try phesant hunting with a guide on a private preserve earlier in the fall. It was then that I discovered I would need to attend a 10 hour class to obtain a license. And all of the classes happened to be full.
I can understand requiring a 1 hour rundown of regulations and basic safety. However, I fail to understand how spending 10 hours learning about topics including tree stand safety is going to make me a safer upland bird hunter.
A 10 hour class seems like an excessive obstacle to new hunters trying the sport. I may not have ever tried fishing if such a class were required. And my 2000 lb bass boat that will do 70 MPH is every bit as dangerous if misused as anything in hunting.
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
Pete, this has been discussed fairly thoroughly on this forum in recent months. Hunter Education has always been seen as a necessity by many, and those who did grumble about its inconveniences did so quietly. But I think a lot of eyebrows have been raised since the recent hunting survey that showed the Hunter Replacement Ratio in America is only .69:1 (only .69 hunter to replace every 1 retiring hunter) and that the HRR is significantly lower in states that place strict regulations on youth hunting (requiring hunter safety courses and/or prohibiting youths from hunting until they reach a specified age).
The immediate response was the formation of a new organization "” a cooperative effort by the NWTF and others "” to encourage states to relax hunter education requirements. These organizations carry a lot of clout and I don't think they will be ignored. What remains to be seen is whether enough hunters will get behind the effort (out of concern that our sport will die a slow death if we don't re-engage our youth in hunting) to make it work on a state-to-state basis.
I don't see hunter education as an anti-hunting roadblock; it is kept alive by well-meaning folks, many of whom are hunters themselves, who see it as a necessity to keep everyone safe from hunters and hunting.
My personal opinion on hunter education is that it is not needed. How can you possibly teach hunter safety in an eight or 10 hour course?? And isn't it ridiculous that it is easier to get a driver's license than it is to get a hunting license?
Unfortunately, I don't see my state (Tennessee) doing anything to relax hunter ed requirements anytime soon. I have spoken to a number of folks in our state DNR and they're not interested in relaxing it. And our state also now has boater's education requirements. At least, though, Tennessee does not have an age restriction on youth hunters.
__________________
We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
Exactly.... Take me for example.... I am a "late bloomer" to hunting. I am in my 4th year of hunting and am 44. That's right... I sat in the hunter education course here in VA and was probably the oldest guy in the class at age 40!
My opinion for whatever it's worth - it was a joke. But I kept my mouth shut and sat through it. I easily aced the thing with 100%. I mean, come on... I am retired military and qualified on both the M-16and the Gov't 45 (M1911-A2) pistol!
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
My son could have passedthe testwhen he walked in the door. Think they would be better off holding introductory classes for women and kids to give them an interest in the outdoors.Sort like what the NWTF and a couple other orgs do.
The instructors are giving up their free time to try and helpm so you really can't say anything bad about them.
I think their time could be used in better ways. Basically siminars to get people interested in the outdoors.
__________________
You're only one post away from a federal watch list.
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
Quote:
The immediate response was the formation of a new organization "” a cooperative effort by the NWTF and others "” to encourage states to relax hunter education requirements. These organizations carry a lot of clout and I don't think they will be ignored. What remains to be seen is whether enough hunters will get behind the effort (out of concern that our sport will die a slow death if we don't re-engage our youth in hunting) to make it work on a state-to-state basis.
Well, count me in for my support. There's a decent chance I'll never try hunting until these (in my opinion silly and excessive) requirements are reduced.
Regarding Butch's post, I too am a "late bloomer". There seems to be talk of how to give youths a chance to try the sport but none about adults. I'd feel very foolish if I sat through a 10 hour class only to decide that hunting wasn't something I enjoyed.
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
There are many ways tosatisfy the Hunter's Education requirement. Do it on line. Do it in a live course. Go to a neighboring state and take it there (I took it with my son in Oklahoma while visiting my in-laws one weekend -- our home is in Texas).
There is a lot of good information besides safety that is provided in this course. I learned a lot about the role of hunters in restoring species that had been nearly gone extinct such as turkey, pronghorn antelope, and elk. I learned a lot about the role of hunters expenditures on ammunition and firearms being funneled into habitat and species preservation under the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1933 (please correct my citation if I am wrong, I'm not sure I have the name of this important legislation correct).
To me it seems making arrangements to take a 10 hour course to qualify to hunt is a small time investment. I'm 49 years old. I'm a manager. I have three children. My time is strictly limited. It is a matter of what your priorities are. I took the course when my son took the course two years ago, though I was grandfathered in many hunting areas. Hunting is worth a 10 hour investment once in a lifetime. I plan to make the investment of time again when I take a friend of my son's to the hunter education course in 2006. I'll probably learn something new that I didn't learn the first time.
I just don't buy that hunter's education course requirements are a major cause of reduction of hunter regeneration. If this is the case, somebody isn't spending the time with their kids -- taking them to hunter's education course -- that they ought to be. It seems much more likely to me that thelack of affordable hunting grounds, continued migration of people from rural to urban areas (I grew up on a farm and now live near Dallas. As a kid I hunted pheasant just walking out the back door and into the fields. Now I have to drive more than 100 miles to get to hunting ground), and the hectic pace of adults lives are much more likely culprits.
RE: Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
I sat through this class in CA about 6 years ago because I needed a replacement HS certificate to hunt out of state. The instructor was a good guy but I also had some suggestions for improving the class. IMHO, the class is necessary because it does provide instruction about hunting safely, safe gun handling, basic weather precautions, etc. I think that there should be additional classes offered for people who want to become better hunters and learn more about how to do it, where to do it and become more involved in our sport. I also felt that the class was geared towards youngsters trying to get their hunting license in their teen years. Perhaps offering a separate adult class would be a better way to do it. One key thing I had was I specifically took a 1-day (8 hour) course because I didn't want to waste 2-4 days going through the course. I think the multiple days for this course is simply ridiculous and does make it too much of a burden on people.
__________________
Jesus Christ--The reason for the season!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
Hunter Education Class = Anti-Hunting Roadblock?
