Not everyone has a mentor. There really aren't enough to go around. How many on herereally had a mentor to teach and help them with bowhunting? I know I started with no help. I bought a bow that had a draw lenth 2 inches too long. I had 4 different sized arrows with different broadheads on them. I never shot a broadhead into a target for the first 5 years I bowhunted. There was no internet. I didn't know Bowhunter existed until I was out of town and saw one at an actual large bookstore. There wasn't anyone that I knew in my surrounding area that bowhunted. I learned with no real help. I would guess this is a common scenario around here.

Just look at some of the posts that show up on here during hunting season. Should I take a head shot, should I take a frontal shot, I shot at a deer and not sure where I hit it. What does it mean if the arrow is green. I found half my arrow with blood on it, looked around for a few minutes and can't find the deer, etc. Need I go on? These threads pop up every year and I don't think most of them are jokes. The common reaction these get is basically you are a slob or an idiot an shouldn't be hunting with a bow. Nice mentoring guys. The people that actually need help get belittled. These same people may have been on here showing a picture of a deer they shot rather than asking a stupid question had they been required to take a course on the basics.

Many here think the courses are stupid, to you that have been in the woods your whole life, yes they may be. I would bet every single person on this message board would learn at least one thing if they took the class. One of the things critical to the survival of our sport is recruiting more people to participate. Once again, a lot of these people have no knowledge of archery equipment or hunting and there aren't enough mentors to go around. The courses are very helpful to this type of person. Helpful to the kid who doesn't have a dad to teach him and his mother doesn't know anything about it. I think it helps with out image as hunters as well and that is NEVER a bad thing.

So go on and belittle the classes and what they may teach the same that you will belittle the people who really need them next fall. That is a constructive solution.