Illinois Apprentice License
 

Anyone know what the rules are regarding how close you have to supervise someone hunting on an apprentice license? Not talking about a minor, rather, someone over 21 who just hasn't got around to taking his hunter safety course yet.

There is no such thing. I can't believe you had to ask this. Everybody born in 1980 or later has to attend a safety course before they can buy a license.

Believe it:

"The purpose of the Apprentice License Program shall be to extend limited hunting privileges, in lieu of obtaining a valid hunting license, to persons interested in learning about hunting sports.

•Provides that an Apprentice Hunter License may be issued to a person of any age.
•Youth under the age of 18 years old must be supervised by a validly licensed resident or nonresident parent, guardian, or grandparent.
•Provides that a person with an Apprentice Hunter License who is 18 years of age or older must be supervised by a validly licensed resident or nonresident hunter who is 21 years of age or older.
•The Apprentice License shall be a one-time, non-renewable license that shall expire on March 31st of the following year."

http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/...ceLicense.aspx

Apprentice hunting licenses are available through vendors with online licensing terminals, and do not require completion of an ILDNR Hunter Safety course. Illinois Apprentice hunting licenses are valid for only one year, and cannot be renewed.

http://www.illinoishunter.com/idnr_n...e_license.html

Can't believe you didn't know about this; I think this program has been around since 2006.

Jeff, I bet if you called 5 different CO's about it, you'd get 5 different answers. Seriously. That's been my experience with questions like that. The more laws IL crafts, the more questions they create.

Yes there is a such thing ...........My nephew got one this year.
Info can be found on the IDNR website
Thiink if you got to hunting..licences.....then to getting started section you can find info on it.

From what i read it can be obtained by a child or adult.
It can be obtained WITHOUT taking a hunter education course. The person holding an apprentice license(regardless of age) must be under supervision of a licencsed hunter over 21 years old.

To me it seemed like a way to get a license and hunt when no hunter ed courses are offered for awhile.

"Jeff, I bet if you called 5 different CO's about it, you'd get 5 different answers. Seriously. That's been my experience with questions like that. The more laws IL crafts, the more questions they create."

That's about what I figured.

I can believe he asked because there is such a thing.

Personally, I think it depends on what type of game you are after. Deer, I bet you would have to be in the stand next to them. Small game, I bet you would have to be within 10 to 15 feet to help them determine if the shot is safe.

What type of game were you thinking about going after?

Deer & maybe Pheasant at a put & take site. Took him out deer hunting during the first CWD season last week-end. Stayed pretty close since guidance was difficult to come by as far as what "supervision" meant. By next year, he'll have his safety course done. I haven't seen anything to indicate that the type of game you are hunting matters.

i too would bet 5 different CPOs are likely to give 5 different answers.

This much is made clear:
* The purpose of the Apprentice License Program shall be to extend limited hunting privileges, in lieu of obtaining a valid hunting license, to persons interested in learning about hunting sports.
*Provides that an Apprentice Hunter License may be issued to a person of any age.
*Youth under the age of 18 years old must be supervised by a validly licensed resident or nonresident parent, guardian, or grandparent.
*Provides that a person with an Apprentice Hunter License who is 18 years of age or older must be supervised by a validly licensed resident or nonresident hunter who is 21 years of age or older.
*The Apprentice License shall be a one-time, non-renewable license that shall expire on March 31st of the following year.

Regardless of the apprentices age, they must be supervised. As in many Illinois laws there is room for interpretation. So what exactly is "supervised"? I have read thru every bit of material made readily availalbe to the public and there is no definition provided by the IDNR.

Here is more from the Illinois Administrative code. However, this does specifically address Youth hunt activity while using an apprentice license so legally I don't think it would be applicable in a season other than the youth season. (But what I think most CPOs are going to go with on apprentices is that they are under "immediate control")


Each hunter participating in the Youth Deer Hunt while using an Apprentice Hunter License must be accompanied by a non-hunting, validly-licensed (Illinois hunting license) parent, guardian or grandparent. All other hunters participating in the Youth Deer Hunt must each be accompanied by a non-hunting supervisor (parent, guardian or responsible adult) who has a valid Illinois hunting license or who has in his or her possession a valid Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) Card. The non-hunting supervisor must wear the orange garments required of gun deer hunters, and must remain with the hunting youth so as to have the youth under immediate control. Each supervisor may only accompany a single youth at any given time during the hunt. The supervising adult shall be criminally liable for the actions of the youth in the hunting party, and be subject to the criminal penalties provided by law.

(The above paragraph was in the deer hunting requirements. Strangely - but not really for Illinois - I couldn't find any similar stipulations in the waterfowl hunting requirements!)


You can read more of the administrative rules here:

http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/adrules/Pages/default.aspx

Personally, I had my 11 year old son out in November for his first firearm deer season on an apprentice license. We say on the ground in a 2-man chair blind which really couldn't have been more of an immediate control situation.

Worked out real well. We were both successful and harvested wonderful deer within about 5 seconds of each other.