WA Hunter Ed Legislation 4/15 Update

[bearpaw]

Actually it would not hve covered the hunts we did. I think if the young hunter has parental permission they should be allowed to hunt on their own, perhaps it would be acceptable if they were required to be part of a hunting party involving adults if under 14.

[Bob33]

Hunter ED Fee
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.

The issue is not so much recruitment of students to hunter education, as it is to retention.

Right now most of the hunter education classes in the state are full. Many fill up within days of registration opening. There is a shortage of classes, not students.  As you've probably noticed, some of the recent changes to the program have resulted in a loss of instructors, making the situation worse.

What is more troubling than recruitment is that a significant percentage (close to 50%) of students that pass hunter education do not purchase a hunting license the year they pass. Worse yet, within three years a majority of graduates have dropped out of hunting permanently.

If there is no fee, there will be an even larger number of individuals who sign up for classes, but don't show. We already have a problem with that; making the class free will make it worse.

[huntingfool7]

"-Hunters under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a WA licensed hunter that is 18 or older"

I'm over 40 now but this line would have prevented me from getting into hunting.  Either that or I would have had to find "WA licensed hunter" to accompany me that my parents approved of.

MY parents took me to hunter safety class and took me deer hunting.  Neither of them had any interest in hunting or ever bought a license.  If they hadn't of done that for me before I got interested in girls, I probably wouldn't have been buying licenses for the last 30 years.

[bearpaw]

Hunter ED Fee
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.

The issue is not so much recruitment of students to hunter education, as it is to retention.

Right now most of the hunter education classes in the state are full. Many fill up within days of registration opening. There is a shortage of classes, not students.  As you've probably noticed, some of the recent changes to the program have resulted in a loss of instructors, making the situation worse.

What is more troubling than recruitment is that a significant percentage (close to 50%) of students that pass hunter education do not purchase a hunting license the year they pass. Worse yet, within three years a majority of graduates have dropped out of hunting permanently.

If there is no fee, there will be an even larger number of individuals who sign up for classes, but don't show. We already have a problem with that; making the class free will make it worse.

I believe you are thinking in reverse. The goal should be to put as many kids through gun safety as possible. The reason classes are overfull is due to a lack of classes, a lack of instructors, a lack of WDFW to recruit instructors and make it easy to become one. Make hunting more accessible and easy for people to participate and you will also have more hunters.

I think HE should actually be taught in the schools as part of the curriculum.

[huntrights]

I believe this forum is a good place to bring new legislation and changes to existing legislation to the attention of the forum participants and viewers.  It is an opportunity to become more informed in a timely manner, and it is also an opportunity to discuss/debate whether the proposed legislation is beneficial or detrimental to the hunting and gun-owning community.  The discussions/debates and resulting communications to our representatives may help them consider changing or amending the verbiage or to continue to support the proposed legislation as-is.  Although opinions will vary, these discussions and debates are good and may help prevent bad legislation from being signed into law.

That said; I would like to share some input and concerns brought to my attention related to HB1199 as written and introduced.

Concerns have been raised regarding the age restrictions and course fees that would be placed on our youth, as well as the fee for the one license year deferral of hunter education from the department.  Kids mature at different ages; some 12 year olds are less mature than an 8 year old.  It is the parent who should be making the decision on when to bring their child into hunter safety.  We should be encouraging new hunters to enter into the hunting community, rather than proposing restrictions that could result in discouraging them.

I would recommend that the sponsors and co-sponsors of the legislation, along with the WDFW, pursue and encourage an open dialog with state organizations that regularly and judiciously review such proposed legislation and that represent our hunting community.  While seeking individual input from the public is necessary and encouraged, individuals may not always have the insight into some of the legislation to fully understand the implications, good or bad.  Sometimes we, as individuals, need to seek the guidance from the organizations that represent us because they tend to be more ‘seasoned’ in the workings of our political landscape. 

[bearpaw]

To elaborate on my comments about making HE instructor training more available.

Myself and another local friend went to a day long class to become NRA certified rangemasters. The class was offered only 30 minutes from my town. There were about a half dozen of us that did it. I mistakenly assumed it would allow me to help with HE.

There is even a shortage of HE instructors in my area, yet there were 6 of us there to get Rangemaster training for a full day. I bet the state would have similar success at recruiting HE instuctors if they were more customer friendly like the NRA. 

[300rum]

Absolutely right and that is the problem. 

If one kid doesn't take HE for $20 then that is a shame.  Yeah, $20 isn't a big deal to me but add $20 to the first year license, a new gun maybe that fits right and it just all adds up.  There are other places to cut and or open up opportunities for people to volunteer before we need to start charging kids $20 to take the class. 

To elaborate on my comments about making HE instructor training more available.

Myself and another local friend went to a day long class to become NRA certified rangemasters. The class was offered only 30 minutes from my town. There were about a half dozen of us that did it. I mistakenly assumed it would allow me to help with HE.

There is even a shortage of HE instructors in my area, yet there were 6 of us there to get Rangemaster training for a full day. I bet the state would have similar success at recruiting HE instuctors if they were more customer friendly like the NRA. 

[huntrights]

To elaborate on my comments about making HE instructor training more available.

Myself and another local friend went to a day long class to become NRA certified rangemasters. The class was offered only 30 minutes from my town. There were about a half dozen of us that did it. I mistakenly assumed it would allow me to help with HE.

There is even a shortage of HE instructors in my area, yet there were 6 of us there to get Rangemaster training for a full day. I bet the state would have similar success at recruiting HE instuctors if they were more customer friendly like the NRA. 

Hunter education and gun safety go hand-in-hand.  In light of recent events and the opportunistic attacks on the 2nd Amendment, I believe the WDFW and our state should be encouraging increased participation in the Hunter Education course with a parallel effort to recruit new Hunter Education instructors.  The Hunter Education course would also be good for people who do not hunt; it would teach them about gun safety and help them to understand hunting and hunters.


I would like to point out to the readers and participants in this forum.  Many of the comments can be thought provoking and also provide you with talking/writing points when you communicate with your representatives. 

[Bob33]

Hunter ED Fee
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.

The issue is not so much recruitment of students to hunter education, as it is to retention.

Right now most of the hunter education classes in the state are full. Many fill up within days of registration opening. There is a shortage of classes, not students.  As you've probably noticed, some of the recent changes to the program have resulted in a loss of instructors, making the situation worse.

What is more troubling than recruitment is that a significant percentage (close to 50%) of students that pass hunter education do not purchase a hunting license the year they pass. Worse yet, within three years a majority of graduates have dropped out of hunting permanently.

If there is no fee, there will be an even larger number of individuals who sign up for classes, but don't show. We already have a problem with that; making the class free will make it worse.

I believe you are thinking in reverse. The goal should be to put as many kids through gun safety as possible. The reason classes are overfull is due to a lack of classes, a lack of instructors, a lack of WDFW to recruit instructors and make it easy to become one. Make hunting more accessible and easy for people to participate and you will also have more hunters.

I think HE should actually be taught in the schools as part of the curriculum.

"The reason classes are overfull is due to a lack of classes, a lack of instructors, a lack of WDFW to recruit instructors and make it easy to become one".

I completely agree. As you pointed out, right now there are not enough instructors and classes. Making the classes free now, without first addressing the lack of instructors/classes doesn't make sense to me. If there comes a time when there are empty spots in classes then I would be more inclined to support making them free.

[bearpaw]

Hunter ED Fee
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.

The issue is not so much recruitment of students to hunter education, as it is to retention.

Right now most of the hunter education classes in the state are full. Many fill up within days of registration opening. There is a shortage of classes, not students.  As you've probably noticed, some of the recent changes to the program have resulted in a loss of instructors, making the situation worse.

What is more troubling than recruitment is that a significant percentage (close to 50%) of students that pass hunter education do not purchase a hunting license the year they pass. Worse yet, within three years a majority of graduates have dropped out of hunting permanently.

If there is no fee, there will be an even larger number of individuals who sign up for classes, but don't show. We already have a problem with that; making the class free will make it worse.

I believe you are thinking in reverse. The goal should be to put as many kids through gun safety as possible. The reason classes are overfull is due to a lack of classes, a lack of instructors, a lack of WDFW to recruit instructors and make it easy to become one. Make hunting more accessible and easy for people to participate and you will also have more hunters.

I think HE should actually be taught in the schools as part of the curriculum.

"The reason classes are overfull is due to a lack of classes, a lack of instructors, a lack of WDFW to recruit instructors and make it easy to become one".

I completely agree. As you pointed out, right now there are not enough instructors and classes. Making the classes free now, without first addressing the lack of instructors/classes doesn't make sense to me. If there comes a time when there are empty spots in classes then I would be more inclined to support making them free.

Maybe I am misunderstanding, are you saying there is currently a charge for HE? It was free for me and for all my kids when they went, as far as I know they are still free.

[Oldguy]

There is even a shortage of HE instructors in my area, yet there were 6 of us there to get Rangemaster training for a full day. I bet the state would have similar success at recruiting instructorsors if they were more customer friendly like the NRA. 

   

The WDFW doesn't do anything to recruit new instructors. I have suggested to higher ups in the program that booths at sports shows, info tables at outlets like Cabelas and so on and was told that they preferred that new instructors come from recruiting by active teaching instructors.meaninganting that the effort is too much for them to consider. They also do zilch in finding teaching facilities.

[Bob33]

"Maybe I am misunderstanding, are you saying there is currently a charge for HE? It was free for me and for all my kids when they went, as far as I know they are still free."

It is not currently free in any class that I'm aware of. The maximum a class can charge is $5. Most classes charge a bit more ($20, for example) and then refund the $15 to the student at the end of class. This works to minimize the no shows. We give our students the option to donate the $15 back to the program or keep it. I would estimate that 90%+ donate the $15 back to the program.

[bearpaw]

"Maybe I am misunderstanding, are you saying there is currently a charge for HE? It was free for me and for all my kids when they went, as far as I know they are still free."

It is not currently free in any class that I'm aware of. The maximum a class can charge is $5. Most classes charge a bit more ($20, for example) and then refund the $15 to the student at the end of class. This works to minimize the no shows. We give our students the option to donate the $15 back to the program or keep it. I would estimate that 90%+ donate the $15 back to the program.

Wow, news to me, I never heard of any charges in my area, guess I am behind on this. If this is fact that all classes are charging, then I guess I would support a $1 increase of license fees to have free HE for all. I would also support legislation forcing WDFW to revamp it's failing HE program, specifically it's failure to recruit HE Instructors when I know for a fact there are people who want to help teach HE.

[bobcat]

My wife took the class 7 or 8 years ago, and I remember there being a small fee. I think it was $15 or $20, and was fully refundable if you showed up for class.

So really, the class is free. They just hold onto your money for a while, and then give it back.

[Bob33]

Regarding a minimum age: Washington is one of the few western states that does not currently have a minimum age. In Wyoming, for big game the minimum hunting age is 12. Oregon is 12. Idaho is 10 for turkey and 12 for big game. Montana's rule is "In order to carry or use a firearm in public, a youth under 14 years of age must be accompanied by a person having charge or custody of the child, or be under the supervision of a qualified firearms safety instructor or an adult 18 years of age or older who has been authorized by the youth’s parent or guardian, as per Montana law."

The initial intent in Washington was to make 12 the minimum age. This was fought. There are numerous studies that conclude the younger a hunter starts, the more likely he is to continue. The minimum age discussion ended up at 8 as the proposed minimum age. As an instructor and a parent, I can accept this. My son passed hunter education at age 7 with a perfect score, and is an exemplary and safe hunter. Some students are too young even at 12. In my experience there are very few (but some) children under age 8 that can safely handle a firearm, and are mature enough to understand safety and regulation considerations.