Sign Up for New Hampshire Hunter and Bowhunter Education Classes
OutdoorHub 02.22.13
Hunter or Bowhunter Education courses are underway around the state, so get your 2013 hunting seasons off to a great start by logging onto the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department website to sign up for a class.
“We urge people to try to get your course in early in the year, especially if you want to go turkey hunting in May,” said Hunter Education Coordinator Josh Mackay. “Don’t delay, because spring classes and online field days are filling up fast.”
To sign up for a class, visit http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed.htm. Under “Find a Class,” click on the link for traditional hunter education, online hunter education or traditional bowhunter education courses. Scroll down and use the handy calendar search engine to find classes using your zip code. Once you find a class, simply click on the event to preview all the details about the course and register. After you sign up, you will receive a confirmation email. If you need help using the online system, call the Hunter Education office at 603-271-3214.
To accommodate the increasing number of people taking the online Hunter Education course – more than a thousand people completed the online course in 2012 – the program will be offering additional field days this year. Those taking Hunter Education online must complete their testing and hands-on requirements at a structured field day event.
Who should sign up for hunter education? New hunters applying for a license, and hunters without a previous hunting license, must first take a hunter education course. (An exception is those purchasing an apprentice hunting license; learn more at http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/apprentice.html.) If you’re age 16 or older, you need a license to hunt in New Hampshire; youth are encouraged to take hunter education between the age of 12 and their 16th birthday.
To meet this requirement, Fish and Game offers Hunter and Bowhunter Education classes around the state, as well as Trapper Education. To receive a certificate of completion, participants in these programs must be 12 years old by the end of the course. Courses are available from February through October, but they fill up fast, so don’t wait until fall, or you could miss out!
Last year (2012), trained volunteer Hunter Education instructors presented 65 traditional Hunter Education courses, with 1,886 students certified; 37 Bowhunter Education courses, with 1,084 students certified; and 26 online Hunter Education course field days, with 723 students certified. Overall, the program certified 3,935 new hunters in 2012!
Find out more about Fish and Game’s Hunter Education Program, made possible by federal Wildlife Restoration Funds, a user-pay, user-benefit program, at http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed.htm.
