ABM, you know the flip side to it and have seen it!

I agree, it aint perfect, and education alone isnt helping! Peoples "NEED TO KILL" is some of the biggest problem! The class and the shooting portion is not ment to fail! Its ment to educate, and when you look at it, even if you could NEVER pass this class, it limits you to what....5% of all of alaska MAX? (top of my head)

Instead of picking out the bad its time to pick out the good, many new archers/bowhunters take the test. For the seasoned bowhunter, the class room is a joke! IE "whats the difference between antlers and horns?" One of the toughest questions on the hole stinking thing!

Now I hear the complaint on the shooting range deal, mandatory proficency at someone joe snuffy's idea of the avg effective range of MOST bowhunters. No its not perfect, but also look at some of the folks taking the class! Walking in with tags on bows, walking out and pulling arrows out of a kmart display case, using someone else equipment (the fella in front or behind them), absolutly clueless to whats right and wrong, heck even admitting they have never shot before and are only there because they had to be, now unleash them all on animals and see what the areas become like! I think the hole idea isnt to LIMIT, or DISCRIMINATE, its to EDUCATE that it isnt right! Sit at one shoot, you'll see, heck help out and run the blood trailing portion, no one fails it, its to help teach, and btw, some of the instructors make blood trails that look so real you full expect to walk up on a dead moose/bear/caribou or what have you (jus make sure to bring your own rubber gloves, take that one from experience)! There is good and bads to everything! Its time we take the good and try and "fix" the bad, or make better what we feel isnt right!

I'll tell you, there are very very few that are in this "15 yard boat" that CANT pass this class considering 2 targets are over 20 yards, none over 30! Of those 2 targets, on has both shots over 20, the other has 1 the rest are 20 yards or less! Quite frankly I have YET to meet one who cant and claims this 15 yard gig yall talk of, be it at the ranges, bizaars, classes I help teach, Mn, Mo, Wy, and Ak, where ever! No one has ever complained it effected them that way! Most say its to easy, others say dang I knew never that, now i KNOW what is expected of me as a bowhunter whether or not they choose to shoot/hunt an animal at 20 yards is there choice! Do we need to make it harder, nope, easier, maybe, like I said, we aint TRYING to fail anyone, or discriminate against anyone! Lord we discriminate, next thing well be getting sued!!!

I really feel we should make it a trad card or compound card. I feel if you can prove your proficency with a longbow/recurve, or a compound you'll be able to switch to a different bow of the same type, say ya buy a new one or ya have 11 like me and want to hunt with one for keepsakes reasons, needing to recertify because the serial numbers are different is assinine at best! You'll find many folks re painting numbers so they dont have to recert......On the flip side, I feel its a joke many folks going to trad, or trad guys who are not proficent enough, and I say that lightly, and to put it mildly cant hit the ground if it jumped up and bit them on the head LITERLY, take the test with wheels to get it out of the way kinda thing, then hunt with stickbows. Its mainly showing they know how to shoot a compound but cant with sticks....


As for your funding. The class costs a measly 5 bucks. The doughnuts and coffee costs more. The 3d's are cheap due to the reason we get a good discount usually, the state supports it also, so some of our robert pittman money goes to good use and not creating wildlife viewing areas as they are talking of doing with a few mil the state "HAS to find a way to get rid of" this coming year...GASP! Thats the head of our state fish and game dept for ya...anyways. Costly no, hassle no, easy yes!

The test can be retaking whenever there is a class or at any approved ranges. You can however not retake the test the same day! btw ours consists of 4 targets, 8 arrows, 5 out of 8 kills max 30 yards (actual longest 28 yards at an elk target!) and one blood trail IF there is enough instructors to run the BT.

Speaking of the "old timers" if youw will. Most states have adopted the laws (grandfathering in), but havent limited all to needing the class expect for the bowhunting classes from what I have seen. Reason, its hard to ask a life long trapper 50 some years old, growing up to take a how to trap and "trapping proficency test" now would it! The guy could probably teach the test! Give it a few years, you wont be asking that question again!

it would be nice to see classes for all the other weapons, right now we have muzzleloader classes required for all muzz only areas! It may not stop all, but if it helps one the class is worth it!

As far as using minimum weight bows hunting requirements for the class mandatory. I dont feel thats a good thing. Reason, your son, wife, or friend, may want you to teach him how to be a bowhunter. The class has some great albeit outdated knowledge, not to mention guides, longtime hunters or many different weapons etc etc, taking the class or teaching it. The person taking it can sap all the knowledge he can get and hopefully retain some, not to mention meet other bowhunters, something many people look for but cant seem to find! You show someone THE RIGHT WAY to do things, and they are 10x's likely to follow that. You however show them the unethical route and that is what they were taught from square one, that is how they are probably going to hunt for the rest of there lives....We know someone like that now dont we Arcticbowman, 17 counts of game violations if I remember right! Anyways, it will still allow the kid to LEARN, but yet he cant HUNT till he meets the weight requirements which may be that next fall or the following spring. We can only hope his mentor will walk him the right path but not allowing him/her to shoot would be a big time bad! Not to mention wives, friends or anyone for that matter! Someone wanting to become a bowhunter, realizing they cant hunt till they hit say 40lbs, and needs a class but they cant take it till they hit 40lbs, will more then likely never bowhunt! It will be to cumbersome for them to bother. Yet if you allow them to start the learning process BEFORE they have the chance to hunt, they know what is expected of them. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink theory.....start them on the right path, and they are more then likely to follow it!

As for you deer problems and overrun Krisken, what do you think of a registration hunt stopped when a certain quota is reached. They start the hunt on day X. The fish and game service knows they have a max allowable harvest of XXXXX deer (or whatever critter at hand). You already have to register your dang deer to begin with so the only thing you would have to do prior to the hunt is register which could be done over the phone before the season starts. When the quota is reached, the hunt is finished. If any deer are left, they are given out on a first come first serve basis, with a end by date for the hole hunt. If the numbers are not met by date XXXX , the hunt is done. If there are surpluss animals or they really want to reduce the heard, the season could be longer etc etc. I dont know how you could get it into your state fish and game but put out feelers, I'd bet it would work quite well!

We talk about policing our own, and most seem to agree on it, this is one way to do so in the edumacation department! I wish it would never break down but unfortunatly it happens! Thats must my life savings on it, and I hope to fix some of it in the future, for now its what we got and have to deal with it!