Western MA Hunter

I was informed recently that an archery course is now required to bow hunt NY or CT. I have not hunted either state in years. Does anyone know of any bow hunting classes being offered in Eastern NY or Northern CT anytime in the next several months?
Thanks.

charlieb

Western MA Hunter - for the info that you are looking for, go to the NYS DEC web site, http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/huntfish.html.

nyorange

I'd check out each state's course to determine which takes less time to fulfill. I was going to take New York's course but it entails two full saturdays, alot of time. Then I saw neighboring New Jersey's course consists of a video and booklet which you send away for and then view it and fill out booklet on your own time then sign up for a course which will only last two hours including test and archery accuracy test where your supposed to hit a deer sized target at some predetermined range with three arrows. Two hours on a weekend is much better then two whole saturdays. IF I wasn't able to take new jerseys test i would even consider buying a license from some state where they are real cheap and older shooters(37yo) are grandfathered in without requiring a test if such a state exists and then using that permit to grandfather myself into new york. two whole saturdays is a lot of costly hard to come by time for me to spend sitting down with 13 year olds who have never seen a deer and listening about what to do if you get lost in the woods. Its a real shame that they hassle people so much on alleged safety when the course is far more encompassing. From what i have gathered the courses consist of about ten minutus of safety and then a whole lot of time on ethics, legal issues, game biology, (+ in NJ a bunch of crap about the organization of the game and fish political system) and a whole lot of stuff that has nothing to do with safety, which I consider namely making sure you don't shoot anyone/thing not intended or cut yourself on a broad head and don't fall out of treestand. may be great for kids but to force an experienced hunter who took the gun course over 20 years ago to sit through that stuff in the name of safety is a waste and a deterrent. IF you are an experienced hunter and have done any sort of research and reading on archery i think they are a real waste. Just an opinion.

RayC

Ct bow hunter class schedule:

Ct Bow hunter classes

MA Jay

You could take a Mass class just as easily and the certificate works for both NY and CT. The list classes on MassWildlife, it's a 1 day (Saturday) class.

Western MA Hunter

Thanks guys,
MA Jay, I took your advice. I scheduled a class in Colrain MA for mid April. I just want to get this out of the way so I can hunt my CT hotspot!