Hunter Education

LAST EDITED ON May-03-17 AT 07:44PM (MST)[p]Thoughts on online vs in person for kids?

Depends on the kid. Have had some go each way. I'm the real teacher of my kids gun safety. But one of my sons went through the online class and field day last week here in Oregon. The field day guys were great. I kinda wish my son could have spent more time around them. Either way they just get a bit of a taste and the real culture of being safe comes from you.

DZ

I'd certainly go in person for a kid. Last year I tried to go through the on-line version with my daughter because we were just too busy to get to a course at the time. She had just turned 11.
It started out fine and i was going through everything with her and we were having fun. But it takes a lot of time...and there are exams at the end of each section that you have to pass to move on. My one rule for her was that she had to pass the exams all on her own without any help.
Well, in the middle of about the third section we had to take a break and didn't get back to it for a few days, and when she finally took the test at the end she didn't pass it...Which means you have to go through that section all over again. That just burst her fun bubble and she just lost excitement for it after that.
We ended up eventually finding a course in person that we could make work and she had a great time and learned a lot.
So, for kids, I highly recommend the in person course. The course we took was really directed toward kids and teaching them and was great.
If you do the on-line course with a kid, make sure you try to finish each section you start on the same day. Kids forget things pretty fast and that will make the exams easy.
good luck

LAST EDITED ON May-16-17 AT 01:44PM (MST)[p]If you've been teaching your kids proper weapons safety, hunting and shooting ethics for a while, and your kids are proficient with weapons I think the online course would be the better route. I know for myself, when I was a kid, hunter's ed wasn't necessary because I grew up in the treestand with my father and grandfather. My step-father was a weapons sgt and instructor in the Army for many years, and he drilled firearm safety into me starting around the age of 6.

If your kids don't have confidence with weapons, I think a classroom setting could help with that. As a Hunter's Ed instructor myself, I've seen a number of kids who had confidence issues overcome that barrier by learning with peers in their age group.

Regardless, most of the responsibility in developing a child's hunting ethics and safety relies on the parent or mentor. Hunter's ed is simply a foundation to start with.

"The man on top of the mountain didn't fall there." -Vince Lombardi