RE: ARE YOU QUALIFIED?
I worked for the hunting program for 9 years here in VA on a local Military base. This base is 19 miles from Washington DC and is an Archery Only Base.
We have almost always required 2 things.
1. You must have had an IBEP class or equivilent, Hunter Ed does not count
2. You must qualify every year, qualification consists of shooting 2 out of 3 , 9 inch circles from 20 yards, 3 seperate circles shooting at circle 1 first, whether you hit it or not you must shoot for circle 2 and so on, shooting for # 3 if needed.
then you remove your arrows and step back to 30 yards and repeat.
16 years old and younger only need to qualify from 20 yards.
you must shoot broadheads or what ever your hunting set up, if mechanicals are used they MUST open when impacted or that shot does not count as a hit, even if inside the circle.
This test I gave Tues and Wed of each week prior to bow season and continued to the opening of fire arms season.
It was given at an Indoor range on the base with 12 lanes and no more than 3 shooters at a time. The targets were 3 , 3 feet tall by 16 feet long and 2 feet thick stacked on top of each other.
I thought it was a awesome idea, after qualifying more than a few thousand people over the years, you'd be surprised at the number of people that could not even hit a 9 feet high 16 feet wide blocks of foam. there are still broadheads burried in the wooden frames that hold the foam blocks.