"REACHING OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS THROUGH OUR NETWORK OF OVER 350 WEB SITES"
Hunter Education Broken
May 22 2007
| Written By - Jeffrey Guerin - 05/22/2007 | |
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Link to Original Article here |
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Well this pages title says "news AND editorials" so here is a not so often posted editorial.
The subject Hunter Education Classes. Good or Bad???
Hunter Education classes are now manditory all across the country, hunting related death are down all across the country. A couple of days of classes is a small price to pay for this result right!!! Well maybe... maybe not. Is hunter education requirements killing something else... hunting itself.
Sounds strange that a program widely endorsed by hunters across the country could be a threat... even the biggest threat to the right to hunt itself.
But how could this be! Am I just some super duper right wing nut that wants to do away with any government interference in our lives. Hardly. I will let the numbers speak for themselves. Hunter numbers are dropping due to low hunter recruitment. Hunters are just not being replaced as fast as they are leaving.
In the short term you might think this is a good thing... via less crowded wma's and less competition for a limited resource. But that view is shortsighted and can only be embraced if you don't realize the danger this trend poses for all hunters.
First let me explain why hunter numbers are adversely affected before we get deeper in the issue. Hunters always try to rebuff my arguments by saying that they love hunting and having to take the hunter education course wouldn't keep them from doing something they love. Ah but there is the catch. LOVE!!! Sure they love their sport wether it is ducks or deer. But the fact that they LOVE it mean that they have already done it. You can't LOVE to hunt if you have never hunted.
They would counter with "But minors can learn to hunt from their parents and then take the course when they get older"! Sounds logical on the surface. But the problem is that this only allows people that already hunt to pass on the tradition to their kids. What about kids (like me year ago) who's parents don't hunt!!! Can't love what you don't know!!! And you probably aren't going to go through the hassle of taking a hunter education course on the possibility that you just might like hunting even though you have never hunted before and currently DON'T love it.
So what is the answer you ask, NO HUNTER EDUCATION, go back to the days of yahoos shooting at anything that moves?
Before I give my solution to the problem let me just state that Michigan has just passed to bills SB 1105 and HB 5192 which are both designed tor try to counter the low hunter recruitment numbers they have due to restrictive hunting laws that are barriers to people joining our ranks.
My proposal would be for hunter safety courses to be implemented totally online. The cost should be zero.
Certainly this isn't going to be the same as hands on instruction face to face with a person but video demonstrations and online test could go a long way to educating new hunters and teaching them to respect the weapons they will be handling.
I believe that online courses could be even more effective if done properly and certainly could save the states money in the long run. You can learn a lot from reading and watching educational video's that is why both have been a part of modern eduction ever since they have been available. I see no reason why hunter eduction couldn't be done exclusively online!
Without new hunters our political power will continue to diminish. When that happens long enough hunters will someday cease to be a voice to be reconded with. Once that happens you know what will happen next. The anti-hunters will have won!
The subject Hunter Education Classes. Good or Bad???
Hunter Education classes are now manditory all across the country, hunting related death are down all across the country. A couple of days of classes is a small price to pay for this result right!!! Well maybe... maybe not. Is hunter education requirements killing something else... hunting itself.
Sounds strange that a program widely endorsed by hunters across the country could be a threat... even the biggest threat to the right to hunt itself.
But how could this be! Am I just some super duper right wing nut that wants to do away with any government interference in our lives. Hardly. I will let the numbers speak for themselves. Hunter numbers are dropping due to low hunter recruitment. Hunters are just not being replaced as fast as they are leaving.
In the short term you might think this is a good thing... via less crowded wma's and less competition for a limited resource. But that view is shortsighted and can only be embraced if you don't realize the danger this trend poses for all hunters.
First let me explain why hunter numbers are adversely affected before we get deeper in the issue. Hunters always try to rebuff my arguments by saying that they love hunting and having to take the hunter education course wouldn't keep them from doing something they love. Ah but there is the catch. LOVE!!! Sure they love their sport wether it is ducks or deer. But the fact that they LOVE it mean that they have already done it. You can't LOVE to hunt if you have never hunted.
They would counter with "But minors can learn to hunt from their parents and then take the course when they get older"! Sounds logical on the surface. But the problem is that this only allows people that already hunt to pass on the tradition to their kids. What about kids (like me year ago) who's parents don't hunt!!! Can't love what you don't know!!! And you probably aren't going to go through the hassle of taking a hunter education course on the possibility that you just might like hunting even though you have never hunted before and currently DON'T love it.
So what is the answer you ask, NO HUNTER EDUCATION, go back to the days of yahoos shooting at anything that moves?
Before I give my solution to the problem let me just state that Michigan has just passed to bills SB 1105 and HB 5192 which are both designed tor try to counter the low hunter recruitment numbers they have due to restrictive hunting laws that are barriers to people joining our ranks.
My proposal would be for hunter safety courses to be implemented totally online. The cost should be zero.
Certainly this isn't going to be the same as hands on instruction face to face with a person but video demonstrations and online test could go a long way to educating new hunters and teaching them to respect the weapons they will be handling.
I believe that online courses could be even more effective if done properly and certainly could save the states money in the long run. You can learn a lot from reading and watching educational video's that is why both have been a part of modern eduction ever since they have been available. I see no reason why hunter eduction couldn't be done exclusively online!
Without new hunters our political power will continue to diminish. When that happens long enough hunters will someday cease to be a voice to be reconded with. Once that happens you know what will happen next. The anti-hunters will have won!
