WA Hunter Ed Legislation 4/15 Update

[ghosthunter]

I like it.....  I am not sure there should be an age limit to take the class.  If you can pass it and handle firearms in a safe manner then have at it.  If you are not you fail.  Parents should know when there kids are ready.   My daughter will be ready at 7.  My some.....probably not til 8 or 9????only time will tell.   

I like the fee.  For those who appose the fee; how are you gonna get this youth a tag  and license?  That is far more expensive.

Jrebel

I can tell you from experience that leaving it to the parents in most cases is a mistake.
And here is why. Two brothers one 7 one 11. The little guy wants to take the class because big brother is taking it. The 7 year old is not ready, but dad works late so mom enrolls them both.
Your 12 year old wants in the class but there's no room because little Johnny who will not pass is taking up the seat. Most the time the 7 year old will not even get to the test the parents see their error and leave him with someone. But it's too late class is half over and a seat was wasted.

[danderson]

  Bob, Pittman Robertson money collected from the sale of sporting goods from across the nation amounts to millions of dollars back  each state for among other items education, we get a fraction of the money collected back to education, its mismanagement from our lawmakers to expect sportsmen and woman to cough up another user fee when we have already paid our FAIR share. Politicians need to do there job and stop creating new fees every time they need to fund a program that has been successful in its operation since its inception.
  I understand how the system works, the way we do things in the future depends on being able to adopt to new challenges, funding state programs like hunter education is and should always be a priority to anyone that has a steak in the future of hunting. With all the shootings that have taken place in the last few months public education should be at the front lines of our argument for more safe gun handling classes, and I'm afraid the 20.00 fee for registering will have a negative effect on enrollment, poor families wont enroll there kids and thus history repeats itself.

 Pittman Robertson Act money is used to fund Hunter Education, we receive a fraction of the tax dollars collected, we have already paid our fair share

[JoeE]

Some of the changes look good.. The only thing I would change is the age from 8 to at lease 10, and then to totally exempt ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY from hunters ed.

Hunterman(Tony)

I disagree with this. MILITARY does not mean that you are familiar with weapons. I was in the Marine Corps infantry, we handled weapons everyday, worked on patrolling through various terrain with these weapons, trained how to safely handle and shoot these weapons in close proximity to other Marines. Army infantry is the same way. Now, when I would come across non-combat arms Marines (POGS) in the field or during range training I could not believe what I was seeing. Like they had no idea what they were doing. Totally unsafe and acting life the rifle and its safe handling was completely foreign. And these are Marines I'm talking about. Lets not even get started on Navy or Air Force personel who have never even handled a weapon. So no, exempting the military is a bad idea.

[ckr]

 
But I would not mind paying a small fee to help cover the time of the instructors or to reserve a spot in class

Also the problem is with the parents and not these young kids who take the classes but don't pass.  The state has made it very easy now with the online program but the parents need to be extremely involved.  It took months of drilling gun safety into my 7 yr olds head before I would even sign him up for a field day test.  He was able to read and take the written test on his own.  It seems to me that SOME parents either don't put enough time to set there child up for success or don't fully understand how tough the class can be.  Either way if the kid is young, parents have to be more involved

[JoeE]

My son was barely seven when he passed. He did fine but like has already been mentioned. It took months of practicing with firearms before I felt he was ready to take the course. I quiz him from time to time on some of the hunters ed questions and he's still about 100% on the important stuff.

[bigtex]

The Senate version of this bill was introduced today and is sponsored by Senators Sheldon, Erickson, Tom, Kline, Fraser, Hatfield, Billig, Delvin and Rolfes

[lokidog]

Why does the person accompanying a young hunter have to be a licensed hunter??  This is BS!  I can understand the adult accompanying, but I would also say they should be able to be accompanied by a family member 16 or older, if under 18, I would have no problem with the family member haqving to be licensed and therefore having passed HS.

[bigtex]

Why does the person accompanying a young hunter have to be a licensed hunter??  This is BS!  I can understand the adult accompanying, but I would also say they should be able to be accompanied by a family member 16 or older, if under 18, I would have no problem with the family member haqving to be licensed and therefore having passed HS.

I am not ignoring your question. But in the dept's view it is a safety issue.

[bobcat]

I don't think the adult should be required to have a hunting license. It should be a Hunter Education card OR a hunting license.

[lokidog]

So, it's not safe to have a kid, who has passed hunter safety hunting with grandpa, who may not have taken a HS course but has been hunting for 60 years but doesn't have a license? 

Again, a bunch of BS!!  This seems like another way for the state to force people to give them more money, ie. anyone that wants to hunt with a youth has to buy a license whether or not they plan on shooting anything themselves.

A big ole pile of cow pies!

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

I don't think the adult should be required to have a hunting license. It should be a Hunter Education card OR a hunting license.

what if grandpa retired from hunting but wants to take the grand kid out and show him a thing or two? I don't see why he would need to be licensed.  they weren't required to take hunter safety back then either.  Seems like a money grab pure and simple.
 

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

So, it's not safe to have a kid, who has passed hunter safety hunting with grandpa, who may not have taken a HS course but has been hunting for 60 years but doesn't have a license? 

Again, a bunch of BS!!  This seems like another way for the state to force people to give them more money, ie. anyone that wants to hunt with a youth has to buy a license whether or not they plan on shooting anything themselves.

A big ole pile of cow pies!

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that.

[bearpaw]

Minimum Age
I don't like a minimum age for taking the class or for hunting alone. I know 6 year olds who are far safer with guns than many older hunters I have taken hunting. I hunted by myself all the time when I was 12 to 14, I do think there needs to be discretion. I would agree with a rule that said anyone under age 14 must either be accompanied by an adult or be carrying a signed note from their parent or guardian saying they may be hunting in that area that day. I think of all the times my family and I hunted doing drives and stands and I was alone during the hunt. I also think of going out the door at night after school or on weekends and hunting on my own on timber company and state land behind our house.

Hunter ED Fee
I don't agree with this either. There are already a million reasons that young hunters are not getting recruited. I see this as another reason that fewer hunters will be recruited. Hunter Education should remain free for anyone. Raise the price of my license but keep hunter ed free for anyone. Everytime you add another rule or cost to involving new hunters in hunting you are going to reduce recruitment.

Hunter Ed Instructors
I volunteered last year to do range days for online students. Even though I am a NRA certified rangemaster, the state wanted me to attend classes in another part of the state.  This state would have more instructors if they really wanted to have them. They wanted me as a volunteer to go to another part of the state to take classes, no thanks. I think the WDFW should send someone to teach potential instructors in different areas of the state. More instructors means more hunter recruitment, that is a real bottleneck that is costing our sport. That is the problem with government, poor customer service.

[bobcat]

I don't think the adult should be required to have a hunting license. It should be a Hunter Education card OR a hunting license.

what if grandpa retired from hunting but wants to take the grand kid out and show him a thing or two? I don't see why he would need to be licensed.  they weren't required to take hunter safety back then either.  Seems like a money grab pure and simple.

I agree. I guess there would need to be some sort of additional exception in there for that scenario.

[lokidog]

Minimum Age
I don't like a minimum age for taking the class or for hunting alone. I know 6 year olds who are far safer with guns than many older hunters I have taken hunting. I hunted by myself all the time when I was 12 to 14, I do think there needs to be discretion. I would agree with a rule that said anyone under age 14 must either be accompanied by an adult or be carrying a signed note from their parent or guardian saying they may be hunting in that area that day. I think of all the times my family and I hunted doing drives and stands and I was alone during the hunt. I also think of going out the door at night after school or on weekends and hunting on my own on timber company and state land behind our house.

Hunter ED Fee
I don't agree with this either. There are already a million reasons that young hunters are not getting recruited. I see this as another reason that fewer hunters will be recruited. Hunter Education should remain free for anyone. Raise the price of my license but keep hunter ed free for anyone. Everytime you add another rule or cost to involving new hunters in hunting you are going to reduce recruitment.

Hunter Ed Instructors
I volunteered last year to do range days for online students. Even though I am a NRA certified rangemaster, the state wanted me to attend classes in another part of the state.  This state would have more instructors if they really wanted to have them. They wanted me as a volunteer to go to another part of the state to take classes, no thanks. I think the WDFW should send someone to teach potential instructors in different areas of the state. More instructors means more hunter recruitment, that is a real bottleneck that is costing our sport. That is the problem with government, poor customer service.

I agree with all but the minimum alone hunting age.  I would be fine with 12 and it should be voice or visual contact which would cover your drive situations.

I also think that if the accompanying person is a family member, the minimum age should be 16 as long as that person had also passed HS.  18 or over accompanying, should not need HS or a license.

And I also agree that the state seems to go out of its way to discourage peope from staying in the HS instructor cadre or even start it.  I have a Masters in Teaching and was told that I had to go to the teaching how to teach classes which were not nearby.  Also, the requirement to teach a class every year is ridiculous as the curriculum doesn't change that rapidly.