VERMONT FISH & WILDLIFE
Press Release
If you or someone you know would like to go hunting this fall but have never taken a hunter education course, this is the time to act. Vermont’s volunteer hunter education instructors are now holding a limited number of courses throughout the state.
A person must pass the basic hunter education course before they can purchase their first hunting license.
“Most of these courses are held in August and September,” said Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s Hunter Education Coordinator Nicole Meier. “All of our instructors are volunteers. They teach because they are passionate about hunting and want to ensure that Vermont’s safe hunting legacy continues. We credit Vermont’s strong safety record with our volunteer instructors.”
“Volunteer instructors are the backbone of the Vermont Hunter Education Program. They are vital to Vermont’s strong record of safe hunting. Hands-on and in-person learning from an experienced instructor are the best ways to become familiar with the skills associated with safe hunting.”
“Courses are available in basic hunter education, bowhunter education, trapper education, and combination hunter-bowhunter education. We expect more classes to be posted throughout August and September, so check our website frequently.” “Beginning on September 1, you must be 18 years old to take the online hunter or bowhunter education courses.”
The courses will be listed as they become available on Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s website www.vtfishandwildlife.com. On the Home page, click on Hunt and then Hunter Education and Find the Right Class for You. To register for a course, go to this link: https://www.register-ed.com/programs/vermont
A Vermont hunter education card entitles you to hunt in all 50 states, as well as some international locations.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, experience level, sex, or gender identity. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities are available on request at no cost to the student. Please include a description of the accommodation you will need and include your contact information. Requests should be made as early as possible. Please send an e-mail to: Nicole.Meier@vermont.gov 802-828-1193 (voice), 1-800-253-0191 (TTY).
Categories: Press Release
I don’t hunt and never have, but many of my family members and friends do so there were guns in almost every house I was ever in while I was growing up. I took hunter safety when I was 12 and I think it’s important for every VT kid to take this course, even if they never go hunting, just to get the information they need to be safe around guns. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
These safety courses need to include a direct warning to firearms owner cautioning them NOT to tamper with their firearms by doing stupid things like making a hair-trigger and other modifications. Newbies are not gunsmiths. The internet has all sorts of mods available, but that doesn’t mean the public ought to mess with something as dangerous as modifying a thing that could potentially kill someone.
I was with a hunting-class grad who did a hair-trigger mod on a high cal rifle and one of us could have been killed b/c when a round didn’t go off, he thought his rifle was empty… until it was put in its case. And yes, that also meant that the shooter DID NOT check his breach before packing up to leave.
Unfortunately, classes won’t save us from neglectful shooters. Even those who are grown adults and supposedly “really smart” people.
Please drill this info into your students. Do not decide to be do-it-yourself Mr or Ms Gunsmith and never think your gun is empty just because a round didn’t go off. Thank you.