If you’re looking to purchase your first hunting license in New Hampshire this year, it is mandatory that you complete a hunter education course before you can hunt. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department offers hunter and bow hunter education classes around the state, as well as trapper education. Tom Flynn, Hunter Education Coordinator for Fish and Game says, "This is a busy season for hunter education courses. If you want to go hunting this fall and need to take a hunter education class, you had better sign up for a class soon." 

The basic Hunter Education course averages about 16 hours of classroom instruction and field experiences, often including firing on a shooting range. Courses are taught by trained and certified volunteer instructors according to national guidelines and state standards. They cover firearms handling and safety, hunter ethics and responsibility, introduction to muzzle loading and bow hunting, wildlife identification and management, game trailing, recovery and care, outdoors safety and survival skills, hunting laws and map and compass skills.

Photo courtesy of Tom Flynn, N.H. Fish and Game Department

Each year, the N.H. Fish and Game Department holds about 130 classes for basic hunter, bow hunter and trapper education around the state taught by more than 550 trained volunteer instructors. About half of the classes for 2007 have already been completed. More than 3,000 people participate in hunter education every year in the state. Hunter Education instruction and course materials are provided free of charge. However, instructors may charge up to $5 per student to cover the use of facilities. To receive a certification in basic hunter education or bow hunter education, participants must be at least 12 years old by the end of the course. To find a class and date, go to: www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/hunter_ed_schedule.htm or call (603) 271-3214.

In addition to the traditional classes, Fish and Game also offers a Home Study option of its basic firearms hunter education course for completing the Hunter Education requirement. This option takes about the same amount of time as a classroom course, but preparation is done at home. Then, participants attend a required field day, involving a written exam and field skills testing.  To participate, individuals interested in this option must be at least 15 years old before the completion of the required Field Day. Anyone under 18 years of age must have a parent or legal guardian complete and sign the registration card prior to or on the Field Day. Besides the written
examination, there is also a field exam, given on the same day. Both require a passing score for a student to receive his or her certification of completion of the Hunter Education Course. A minimum score of 80% must be achieved on the written exam. The field exam is pass or fail.
There are specific deadlines for signing up for the home study option and space is limited. For a list of home study sessions, readers may call (603) 271-3214 or visit the Fish and Game Department’s website at: www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/hunter_ed_homestudy.htm.

"Over the years, New Hampshire’s Hunter Education Program, coupled with the voluntary use of Blaze Orange clothing, has dramatically reduced the number of hunting related firearms incidents in the field," Tom Flynn stated.

I became an NRA Hunter Safety Instructor with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department when the course was run by the National Rifle Association, under the auspices of the N.H. Fish and Game Department, back in 1964. I was Chief Instructor for the courses held in Derry, N.H. I held the position for seven years. I believe it was 1971 when Fish and Game passed the law making hunter safety mandatory and set-up it’s own course and instructor certification requirements. Back before then, our courses ran two hours per class, one day a week for six weeks, including range time.

A few years ago, a doctor friend of mine decided to obtain his first hunting license. He asked if I would be willing to take the course with him. I wasn’t required to take the course, but my curiosity as to what the course was like today, compared to when I taught it, got the best of me. We took the course given in Hillsborough. It was just too impressive. The subjects covered were awesome and many more topics were covered than in earlier courses. The courses in hunter safety today are so interesting and well covered, they are really worth taking, even if you took a course many, many years ago. A refresher never hurts. Interestingly, many non-hunters take the course, more specifically because of the very interesting survival and map and compass segments given.