Florida FWC Offers Hunter Safety Course in Okaloosa County
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is offering a free hunter safety course in Okaloosa County.
The course is at the Okaloosa County Extension Office, 127 NW Hollywood Blvd. in Fort Walton Beach. Instruction is from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 10, 11, 12 and 13. The range portion of the class will be Sept. 15 from 8 to 11 a.m.
An adult must accompany children under age 16 at all times. Students should bring a pencil and paper with them to take notes.
The hunter safety course is required before anyone born on or after June 1, 1975, can purchase a Florida hunting license. The FWC course satisfies hunter-safety training requirements for all other states and Canadian provinces.
People interested in attending this course can register online and obtain information about future hunter safety classes at MyFWC.com/HunterSafety or by calling Hunter Safety Coordinator George Warthen at the FWC’s regional office in Panama City at 850-265-3676
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
