WDFw limiting online hunters Ed to 18 and above

[h2ofowlr]

Does anyone know why wdfw is now limiting the opportunity for youth to get hunting license? I have done speculations but just saw this.


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They are only placing age restrictions on the on-line portion as to many adults were taking the course for their kids.  They saw this as they had 3 year olds passing the course initially and then they had to up the age restrictions to I believe 12.  Now being 18 will be more likely the actual student doing the work.

[huntnfmly]

So if a kid is signed up today, they will not need to do the field day? But if they were signed up tomorrow they do? How long does the online course take? I am going to have my kids go through it this summer, but I was waiting for baseball to be done before I signed them up.

It takes about 20 hrs
My grandson did it in the last part of March

[Rainier10]

Maybe I read it wrong.  So just for clarification.  The online course is still available to all ages, but 18 and older must do the in person field day that was required before covid?


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Starting June 1st, 17 and under must do the in-person field day.

[Bob33]

I think most younger students would benefit more from a traditional course rather than an online course. There's a lot of knowledge exchange between students and instructors that doesn't occur in an online course.

[HikerHunter]

I think most younger students would benefit more from a traditional course rather than an online course. There's a lot of knowledge exchange between students and instructors that doesn't occur in an online course.

I 100% agree. I would encourage everyone to do the full in-person course, but especially 17 and under.

[Rainier10]

Because of the increase in online learning we do mostly field certification of online students once a month from April through October.  We do two traditional classes a year in the summer.  Kids are out of school so staying up until 9pm is easier for them and it allows parents to bring them after work.

Because of covid and the confusion about the online field certification test versus the in person field certification test we have had multiple students show up at the club for field certification, go through the process and just before the written test when we are explaining the hunter ed card they will get in the mail they tell us they already have that card.   A couple of questions and we find out they did the online field certification.

All have said that the in person field certification is way better than online and they felt way more comfortable handling a firearm.  They also say that the in person instruction we do over the course of 4 hours is very helpful and not covered in the online learning.

I would highly suggest some sort of in person learning while doing the course. If the one week in person works that is great.  If online with an in person certification is all you can commit to that is great also.  If all online is all you have time for that will work but the other two options are a much better learning experience in my opinion.

[Wunderlich33]

My daughter was 8 when she passed her huntress-ed. This was in the early fall of 2021 when COVID restrictions were in full swing.  Due to her age she not only had to pass the on-line test we had to schedule an in person test at the WDFW Office in Millcreek in which she completed and passed while being observed by a hunter-ed instructor.

After passing the in person written test they had everything set up for a walk through including rifles and shotguns with the different actions: Bolt, lever, pump. She had to show that she knew how to operate each action properly and with muzzle control.  After that she had to explain where to find the barrel stamp for caliber on each weapon, then go over to a tupperware filled with rounds of ammunition all different types of caliber and pick the correct one for each weapon. Making sure to read casing stamp on the bottom of each.

Following that, they had a walk trough with decoys of different shot angles and proper weapon handling while crossing fences.

She passed with flying colors... @Rainer10 was a tremendous help as I was keeping him in the loop of her progress and he provided me with insight on how to make her successful

Funny thing is, I have a friend who just got into hunting. He is 45yrs old and just recently took the course and my daughter scored higher that he did on his final test