BuckAlley

First off these courses spoken of are called HUNTER EDUCATION & BOWHUNTER EDUCATION Courses. They are about educating new hunters on several aspects of hunting including safety. I see absolutely nothing wrong with some hunting education. In fact the last thing this country needs is less education!! So what in petes sake is the big deal about taking 12 hrs out of your life to learn something you may not know. Trust me I've assisted at a few education courses, and there are many that are very uneducated in many aspects of hunting. Some even need help on the tests. Not everyone is as educated or have the common sense as some of us do. Not every youth that attends a course is raised educated by their parents on hunting. I've seen many in attendance whose parents have never hunted a day in their lives. I honestly wish this state would adopt hunter education in our schools, but I don't see it happening. I truly believe less education would be disasterous to this sport.

Fletch NY

Personally if you can not spend 12 hours once for gun and 12 hours once for archery one time in your life to pursue this sport I really have no desire to be in the woods with you or near you.

Does everyone need all of it? No, some people have parents and family that have trained them for years.Some people have a whole lot of common sense and a whole lot of people have less than some common sense. But, I am sure you will certainly learn a couple things in the course and if you are so advanced consider it volunteer work and offer to help out the instructor or bring a youngster with you to help. You would be doing more for the sport that way.

If it keeps any of the yahoos that make us look bad out of the woods I am all for it. And I do not think taking the course has hurt a person yet!!

I hope you change your mind and take it.

nyorange

Just to let you all know, someone heard the complaints and did something about it. Just realized that New Jersey now lets you order a videotape and manual which you review at your leisure and fill out then yousign up for a 1 hour course/exam/target shoot. Their education course should satisfy NY or any other state and help out anyone who doesn't have 24 hours to give up on weekends. If they are doingit I am sure NY will do it in the future also. Take care all.

jimbodwb

I think they should just combine the 2 courses into 1. A hunter education course should be just that "Hunter Education". It does not matterwhether you use a gun or a bow, you should treat every weapon with the utmost respect and safey. My son will be old enough to hunt small game next year (finally)and I do believe he needs the hunter education course but why can't he get it all done at 1 time. I do not believe he should have to sit through practically the same course twice just so he can shoot a bow. Teach total safety for all weapons in the course. If they were to do this then I do believe10 -12 hours would be understandable.

diamondhunter88

i think everyone should have to take it...i learned ALOT more in my archery course then i did in my gun course

Ed McDonald

Well , how's this ? y youngest son took the Archery Course and passed with flying colors . The week before bow season , he went for an Archery License . He was denied because he hadn't taken the Gun Hunter Safety Course as he had no intention of hunting during gun season so he was SOL for the season ! [:@] [:@]

ButchA

Ed, I can't believe NY would not honor the bowhunting course. That is utterly ridiculous! [:@]

God, I am so glad I moved away from NY. I feel so sorry for you guys up there having to deal with Hillary, Schumer, and Pete Grannis as head of the DEC. [&o]

SteveBNy

They would and do honor the bowhunting course.
But in NY, you cannot buy just a bow lisence - you have to purchase a gun lisence 1st and get the bow endorsement.
I am not saying it is right, but it is the way it has always been, and is not hidden in any way.
I am sure it was covered in the bow course he took, so I do not understand the surprize.

Steve

Steve863

You know everyone was freaking out over Pete Grannis when he was appointed. I actually think he has done a better job with the DEC than most of his predecessors. We currently have more areas open to bear hunting and rifle hunting and I think improvements have been made in issuance of deer management permits. Not that he could take credit for all of this, but things just about NEVER changed before he became the head of the DEC. At least some changes for the better have taken place under his watch compared to practically nothing with his predecessors.

fmedic5

well there are some definitely strong opinions here. I took the class last year, I had licenses in three states - all three required it. I thought it overlapped the Hunter Safety Course a bit, but personally, I found it more applicable since I only intend to Bowhunt, if they could combine both courses and you add a few hours for bow hunting specifically for those interested, that could reduce the # of hours, but all in all, it was a good course and there were several seasoned hunters in the class that really claimed to get a lot out of it. I was new and took both classes back to back. One last thing, perhaps you all just had a poor environmentset-up for the class, we spent a lot of hands on time, including 3D target shooting (why wouldnt you want to spend more time shooting?) and doing actual tracking as well as tree stand safety & set-up. If you havent used them before the class helped.