• Revisiting Hunter's Ed

    Way back in 1985 I took the basic hunter's education class at Sabre's Gun Club in Lima, OH at the ripe old age of 11. At that time there were no digital records kept by the state, no unique # issued to you for Wildlife Officers or agencies to call up to verify you took the course - all you got was a business sized card stating you completed the course with your name on it, the date and location you took the course, and the certified instructors name.

    Being a young kid at the time, my dad naturally put said card somewhere for safe keeping and I never really thought about it again as I never needed it. At that time, here in Ohio just showing them your old expired license was sufficient to get your new license. It's also always been the practice if over 18 years of age and a resident of the state, all one needs to do to purchase a general hunting license is state they previously held an Ohio hunting license or had completed a hunters ed course. I always thought that a bit odd that they don't require some kind of proof of having taken the course, but that's another topic for another day.

    Fast forward to the present and most states now require proof of your having taken and passed a certified hunters education course to be able to purchase a non-resident hunting license and/or associated tags. Not having my card wasn't a problem getting a non-resident license in Nebraska back in 2004 as they accepted my current Ohio license as proof I wasn't a complete idiot, but I don't know if that would fly today or inn other states. With my dad having passed away back in 2016 and no clue what ever happened to my card, I figured I best retake the course and get a new card in case I wanted to do any out-of-state hunting in the future.

    Enter Hunter-Ed.com

    About 8-10 years ago Hunter-Ed.com came into being and provided a means to take the hunters education course online. I remember thinking it was a great idea at the time as it's not always easy to find a class close to home when you need it, and even if you do they're typically limited in size and seats tend to fill up fast. The online course eliminates those roadblocks as it can be taken anywhere, at any time, and at your own pace. You can sit down and burn through it in a single day, or break it up into 1-2 hours an evening if that's more convenient.

    The downside of course is that they charge a fee to take the course online. Now I can't specifically recall if the local gun clubs charged a fee to take the class in person, but I don't believe they did nor do I think they do now - at least not that I've heard of here in Ohio.

    The fee for the online course is $24.95 for the standard textbook-style course like you would take in person at a local club, and that course takes about 8-hours to complete. If you are so inclined, you can also opt to "upgrade" to an interactive online course for $49.95 that can be completed in just 3-hours time.


    Pages from the textbook style course

    Included in that cost you will be mailed an official card issued by the state wildlife agency indicated you had completed and passed the course. This is a simple heavy paper card presumably similar to the one I received back in 1985. If you wish (and I would highly recommend), you can choose to get a permanent card made of plastic similar to a credit or debit card for an additional cost of $12.99/ea. and you can order as many as you like. The benefit here is the card won't fade or wear over time, nor will it turn into dryer lint if you accidently run your wallet through the washing machine as I've been known to do from time to time. I chose to order two of the permanent cards, one to keep in my wallet and another to keep safely stored away with my other important documents.

    The Course Itself

    Since I had previously taken a hunters education course I opted to pony up the extra cash and take the shorter 3-hour interactive course for the sake of my sanity. The best way I can think to describe the interactive course would be to say that it's very much oriented to kids rather than adults in appearance and it's akin to navigating through a kids mobile educational game on a phone or tablet. While a little dull and boring for an adult such as myself, it makes sense for kids and their much more limited attention spans. The course is a combination of text-based data providing the information one needs to learn, followed by either series of questions on that material requiring you to put the images in the proper order, picking the correct image representing the answer to the question asked, or selecting true or false based on an image shown or question asked. It's truly set up so simply that a 6-year old could easily navigate it.


    Left side of image shows progress meter and some of the sections of the interactive course.
    Center of image shows one of the interactive quizzes.



    The course is broken down into several sections and sub-sections making it easy to stop and pick back up where you left off at your leisure.

    Now I will say that I found a couple inconsistencies in the course where the textual information didn't match up to the following questions posed. One example was for the process of safely unloading a firearm. In the text given the first step was to point the firearm in a safe direction, and the second step was to engage the safety. Then in the following quiz those were reversed. Another example was on the final test of the course regarding what to do first if getting ready to carry a firearm onto a boat with possible answers of engage the safety, unload the firearm leaving action open, hand firearm to person in boat, or place firearm in rear of boat with muzzle facing forward. Now for most every scenario like this dealing with safe firearm handling, the first step is always to engage the safety. However, the correct answer here was to unload the firearm leaving the action open. Now I don't know about you, but if I'm going to be racking shells through my shotgun to unload it I think I would first want to make sure the safety is engaged - especially if it's an older shotgun that permits slam firing. But I digress...


    As noted there is a final test at the end of the course that one must pass to be issued their hunter's safety certificate/card. The test in this case consists of 80 questions and one must score a 75% or better to pass. While I could claim I aced it as a seasoned hunter, that would be a lie as I missed five questions for a final score of 93%. An "A" is an "A", though I suspect whomever setup this test had help from the DMV as several of the questions had multiple answers that could technically be correct depending on the specifics of the situation posed.

    In Closing

    All in all I think the online option for hunters education is a positive thing - not only for new hunters, but also for us well seasoned hunters who could do with a basic refresher course but don't want to sit through what is equivocally an eight hour lecture. As has always been the case, the hunter's ed course isn't meant to be an end all, be all education in all things hunting, but rather instill the basic fundamentals of firearms safety, hunter safety, basic first aid, and animal identification. It gives hunters a safe working foundation to build upon through mentorship and experience as they progress into what will hopefully become a life-long hobby of hunting.

    While the price is a bit steep - especially for the interactive version, for those who don't have easy access to a local club offering a class or who just don't have time in their busy schedule to sit through an 8-hour course, the online route is a very convenient alternative. The cost of the permanent cards is a little steep as well in my opinion, but considering Ohio's DNR will charge you $5 for a replacement paper card I guess it's not too horrible. Like most things in life it all boils down to what's worth more to you - your time or money?

    At present Hunter-Ed.com has online courses for 45 of the 50 States. The five states which haven't partnered with them are as follows: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oklahoma.

    For more detailed information on the available courses, pricing, etc. please visit Hunter-Ed's website at https://www.hunter-ed.com/