Hunters Education Poll

There seems to be a lot of discussion on various forums, especially since the recent changes.

I don't have an issue with it. Not everyone has an uncle, brother, dad or friend to take them. Does it help? Not sure, but it can't hurt. A lot of unsafe idiots out there and some have taken the class and are still unsafe idiots.

^^^^^ what he said

I'm old, so not a problem!

Couldn't agree more with the last part. The course isn't gonna make anyone safer or less an idiot.

Of course it can hurt, when it's required by law and used as a personal weapon against hunters. It should be voluntary. Heck I'd even make it available to insurance companies to design and administer for liability insurance discounts.

Carrots always work better than sticks.

Im betting most of the "unsafe" people out there know what the correct answer is to take and pass the test... no class or test will make them responsible.

Simple fix make us like Colorado and some of the other western states where you can't get a licenses until you provide it.

Yep, same with idiot drivers.

One of my sons and his best friend got to go to a GW camp years ago for a week. Besides earning their hunter safety they were taught game laws, fishing laws, taught how to build safe campfires, and all around hunting and fishing safety. Six are seven days of fun and festivities he still talks about twenty years later.

That would be much better than using it as a stick. But I still don't see the overall value.

What are the recent changes?

I remember when I took HE they said ALWAYS carry your HE card with you.... no maybe this or that... always... so mine has been laminated and sat right next to my license ever since

I cary mine too, but I think its bs to get a ticket for not having it when your not hunting.

I have a buddy that got a ticket for incorrectly filling out the log on the back of his license on a fishing trip after season was over. Sometimes its a little much.

As a Hunter Education instructor, allowing adults to complete the process by taking the online course has been a positive. I now have fewer people in my classes who feel they don't need to be there because they already know everything. Parents who take the class with their kids, especially when they don't need it, are never a problem and can add much to the discussions.

For that matter, why give drivers education and issue a drivers license? You can't change an idiot and irresponsible drivers so whats the point of giving them a drivers education? Why train a 12 year old child to handle a rifle properly or cross a fence properly while hunting? Why teach a 12 year old to identify what he is about to shoot at before pulling the trigger vs. why teach a 15 year old to stop and look both ways before pulling out into an intersection? all seem like pretty common sense things. But not everyone grows up with parents to teach them how to drive or how to hunt.

Because of my bowhunter safety class, I started to wear a safety harness. I never did before. It may save my life some day.

5 yard penalty - Common Sense in a NO Common Sense zone!

While we are following the letter of the law to the T and dotted "i's"... doesn't it say somewhere your not supposed to laminate it? Mine is too, but I'm pretty sure it says not to.

I think they did away with that. Cannot find anything on that anymore.

I consider a key part of my classes to be the time I take to read incidents taken straight from the TPWD Hunting Related Accident Reports. Lessons learned through the careless actions of others can be an excellent driver behind changes in behavior.

I was informed this morning that you can just take a picture of it with your phone and it will suffice. This is probably one of the best solutions as I always carry my phone in case of an emergency.

Dont understand why people wouldnt carry it WITH their hunting license. The phone photo is a good idea.

I think it should be a prerequisite to show at the time you purchase a hunting license- then you are good- don't have to carry it on you. Also, I think more emphasis on stewardship of the habitat is needed during the course. I see way too many colorful shell hulls everywhere I go on public land. I swear if I reloaded shotshells I wouldn't need hulls for decades... PICK THEM UP!!!

P.S. I do pick up piles of them every time I see some slob idiot left them.

I am a former marine and have been hunting 40 plus years incident free. Been around firearms my whole life. This last march I shot myself in the hand with a snub nose 38 revolver trying to release the hammer slowly. Cocked the hammer to cycle the cylinder cause it was stuck from being in the nightstand sitting idle for so long. Light trigger and the gun fired. The edge of my palm was slightly over the muzzle due to short barrel. All my other handguns have longer barrels. I wasn't paying attention and being careless. This happened in my bedroom and thank god I was alone and it hit a ceramic lamp after pass through and didn't shoot the wall of the room. The longer you deal with firearms the more comfortable and/or carefree you get. They are a tool. It's just human nature. Accidents can and will happen even to the most experienced. Back to topic I am for HE even though I never took it. In my opinion you can't have enough training/practice in safety and marksmanship for our young ones even if you can't fix stupid in some. I showed the stupid in myself but like grandpa said never trust a carpenter that still has all of his fingers. He is not experienced enough. HeHe

Not sure if they still do it but when I joined the military I had to pass a basic reasoning skills test. I think that would be alot more useful.

In the several states where I have seen statistics, there is a strong correlation between HE/HS classes and a reduction in the number of "incidents" despite, in some cases, increased numbers of hunters.

Back during the Rem 700 unsafe rifle debates (on another forum) after the expose came out on them, one of the posters noted that all of the folks in the expose and that he could find online that shot themselves or shot somebody else with a Rem 700 (the incident blamed on the Walker trigger) and sued Remington had NOT been involved in such programs. The point being made was that for injuries and deaths to have resulted (almost all were in pre hunt, hunt, or post hunt circumstances) were readily avoidable. Whether or not the discharge was truly the fault of the rifle is immaterial as the injuries/death related to unsafe handling during hunting-related situations. As noted with the example above, many of the incidents were by life long shooters and hunters with decades of experience.

Overall value is safety in the field. If you look at the data before Hunter Education and post hunter education the number of hunting accidents has dropped. For quite some time most hunting accidents have involved those that have not taken in the course due to being grandfathered and not required to take the course or those that have not taken the course. The rest well you cannot fix stupid.

Here's a link to the 2013 Texas Hunting Accident Analysis. The first few pages have some basic stats on hunting accidents back to 1966 and discuss pre and post hunting ed numbers a bit.

https://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_rp_k0700_1124_2013.pdf