justnorth posted on July 24, 2007 14:18 :: 1307 Views
Every year, about two weeks before the gun deer season, Department of Natural Resources Tim Lawhern gets a flurry of calls from people trying to find a hunter education course. The problem is, they are too late.
“More than 98 percent of our courses have already been offered before deer season each year,” Lawhern says.
Because so many new hunters plan to take to the woods to participate in the various hunting seasons, hunter education classes tend to fill up in a hurry.
Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, must pass a hunter education course to buy a hunting license. Wisconsin’s corps of nearly 5,000 volunteer hunter education instructors offer 1,200 hunter education classes throughout the year.
“In Wisconsin, we’ve reduced hunting accidents by 90 percent since the program began,” Lawhern says. “Hunting is safe and getting safer because of the volunteer instructors that teach hunter education.”
The basic hunter education course features a DNR-certified curriculum that covers the history of hunting and firearms, firearm safety, hunter responsibility, wildlife conservation, management and wildlife identification. Game care, introduction to bow hunting and other specialty hunting, survival and first aid and water safety are other topics covered in the curriculum.
An Internet version of hunter education is also available. Students who take the class on-line are also required to pre-register for and attend a hands-on field day to test their knowledge and skills before receiving their hunter education certificate. Because field days are limited across the state, prospective students should consult the DNR website for the dates and locations of available field days before taking the Internet course.
More information about hunter education and bowhunter education classes is available on the DNR Web site or contact your local DNR service center.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim Lawhern, DNR hunter education administrator - (608) 266-1317
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