RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

Man i am a 15 year old kid, and i agree with you completly, i was lucky enough to find a free hunter saftey course at our local gander mt. i think that this is a good thing, unless you have already take your hunter saftey course, our course had a good section on bowhunting, we had to shoot a bow in our course.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

For it. If nothing else it touches up on safety and proper procedure for going about it.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

One big difference I see between a lawn mower and wildlife in this country...one is private property and one is common domain (i.e. one is owed by the individual and the other by all of us). Personally, I do not see an issue with mandating proper stewardship of that natural resource. Do you need a driver's license to drive on your private property? How about public roadways?I, too, believe in stopping unnecessary government intervention. But, in my opinion, I would rather have proficient individuals caring for MY wildlife than boneheads. Some form of hunter's safety is necessary.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

The Mandatory part is my concern. I'm a libertarian at heart. It would be great if everybody would do it. Landowners could make it a requirement to let people hunt on thier land...public could do the same.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

i am against bowhunter education but i do think that Hunter's ed. should focus on bowhunting just as much as they do firearm. the place i took hunter saftey was about 95% firearm and 5% bow

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

Really? They had Bowhunter mandatory education 50 years ago? I don't think we were discussing Hunter education with firearms, were we?

If I am wrong and they did pass Bowhunter madatory education legislation 50 years ago I am glad I live in a more liberty minded state.

Also, how is my voice loud? Did I type in caps? Does my view of less government and more individualliberty make me short sighted (myopic) or a studious observer of history? How could more freedom and less liberty harm you? Are you ultimately responsible for you or is your government?

What happens if a state says " you need a proficeny test to hunt in our state ". You however don't live in that state and are planing on hunting there while on vacation with the inlaws. Your vacation times do not line up with thier testing times very well and you don't get to hunt due to bureaucracy.[:@]

Thats ok you say, one states examshould be good in all states. Mystate bowhunters merit badge should count in the other states. Except in practice, in the real world this will probably not work as intended. You would think Concealed handgun licenses should be reciporcal in all states but in practice they are not. How much government in practice is VERY differnet from the theory and good intentions that were in mind when the laws were created?
Why would any reasonble hunter want to make it harder for any new hunter to get into the sport, enjoy the sport in other states and give alarmist liberals any more ammo? (if *bowhunting* is so dangerous and threatening you need to pass tests to do it legally, then maybe it deserves more scrutiny) Think that arguement won't be raised someday? Think again.


This is very much like the arguement, "all guns owners or guns should be licensed". Many people believethe government knows better than the people how to live your lives. Some people believe thatbecause there was an accident to 1 person,millionsneed to change the way they do things and the government shoulddevelop programs, pay for staffing and add more bureaucracy to monitor the activities of thier citizens in order to prevent any further possiblities of an accident? Trying to legislate safety and security into our lives at what cost?

Once again I believe the class is a GREAT idea and wholey support lots of additionaltraining but to make it mandatory....no. If that makes me myopic then so be it:D

BTW, I own a hunting lodge and before anyone can hunt there I make them pass a proficiency test!

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

Private property is one thing, common domain is another. The wildlife is not owed by the individual landowner-it is not livestock. It belongs to each and every one of us.Think about it for a second. If you own a lawn mower, are you going to allow every John, Dick and Harry the right to operate it without proper training? What happens if they break it and it's use is lost forever? So are "we the people" going to allow just anyone to use our natural resources without the proper training? Seems silly to me if we all said yes. Your individual rights are not being stepped upon. Nobody is forcing you to hunt (I pretty much agree it is a priviledge). Nor is anyone telling you you cannot hunt. "We the people" are saying if you want to hunt, you must first learn how to properly use our equipment (analogy). And, you must demostrate that you fully understand. We take it a little further by asking that you understand the inherent dangers of hunting. This is done so that you do not become a burden on society. It is a very small price to pay to play. Frankly, I'm all for hunter's safety courses. I certainly do not see it as an erosion of my individual rights. Maybe we should let every John, Dick and Harry into the cockpit of an aircraft also (another analogy). Heck, anyone can walk off the street and fly an airplane, right? It's their right!

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

I was going to leave this, but, I asked my neighbors brother this evening who works for our DPW, and yes in fact they do have to have safety courses in all of their equipment ie; Lawnmowers, weed wackers, and the like. Hard hat, gloves, glasses, steel toed boots. It has nothing to do with rights, it's about safety. And, like I stated earlier, I "have" no proof yet, but maybe injury claims and law suits against the state, may have played a originating role in the decision to adopt the mandatory courses.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

Those are public employees, not individuals mowing their back yard. Big difference. Employers have an obligation to ensure a safe work place. The state does not have an obligation to ensure that individuals safely trim their hedges.

RE: For or Against Mandatory Bowhunter Education
 

That is what currently existing mandatory classes are for (whichI support). Hunter's safety courses are already mandatory...at least partially in order to ensure good stewardship of public resources. Adding another mandatory course for a different (less dangerous) weapon is not necessary IMO.