Hunter Education Course

There will be a Hunter Education Course held in Morgan County at the Warm Springs Middle School on September 24, 25 and 26 from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

This is a 10 hour course and students must attend all sessions to be certified.

In attempt to lower the hunting incident rate, legislation was passed during the 1994 session that requires any person born on or after January 1, 1975 to present proof of certification of an approved Hunter Education course to the license agent each and every time a hunting license is purchased.

The course is open to the public and is free of charge. Anyone who completes the course will receive a certification card which is recognized in all 50 states, the six Canadian Provinces and the country of Mexico. Students under the age of 12 years old must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult. Anyone under the age of 10 years old will not receive a permanent certification card. This year eight and nine year olds will be given the Hunter Education class. They will take the entire course, except for the written test, and will be issued a temporary certification card which will be valid for three years from class date. Sometime before the expiration date they will be required to complete the entire class again.

Persons traveling to the western states to hunt need to plan far enough ahead to take the course because class space is limited and you may not be able to take the course when you want it. Students need to take their social security number to the class with them.

Subjects covered during the course are: Hunter responsibility, hunting ethics, hunter/landowner relations, safe firearms handling, preventing negligent shootings, survival, first aid, handgun hunting, archery hunting, black powder hunting, special hunting concerns and current WV hunting laws.

Call 304-258-2430 ext 20 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to register for the course. Students must register for the course as a class space is limited in most courses. Instructors for the course will be certified Volunteer Instructors and West Virginia Conservation Officers.

The course is sponsored by the WV DNR Law Enforcement Section.