Proposed Bill Looks to Change Hunters Ed Requirments

A Missoula lawmaker thinks Montana can bolster youth hunting by easing hunter education requirements in the state.

House Bill 382 would allow first-timers to go out with an experienced hunter instead of attending a hunter education course, which is now required for anyone born after 1984. The hunters would have to take a safety course within five years, but Rep. Robin Hamilton, D-Missoula, said his bill would allow parents and grandparents to more easily get youngsters in the family interested in field sports.The bill was heard Tuesday in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee.

Supporters of the bill echoed Hamilton’s assertion that the bill would get more youngsters into hunting and the outdoors.But many others n including many hunter education instructors n are opposed to the plan, in part because it would allow kids of any age to participate in the program and removes hunter education requirements.
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“There’s no age determination,” said George Golie of the Montana Wildlife Federation. “Does that mean a 7-year-old can have a .30-06 out there hunting?”“This bill guts the mandatory hunter education requirements,” said Ron Moody, a hunter education instructor from Lewistown.

Hamilton and other supporters attempted to calm fears that the program would make hunting less safe.“Modern hunters are so different and consciences of safety. The data doesn't bear out those fears,” Hamilton said.

A bill resembling HB382 has passed in 27 states, Gray said.“The mentored hunter, as a block, is the safest group of hunters,” Gray said. “We’ve had no incidents that involved an apprentice hunter.”

Underpinning the bill is a decline in hunters nationwide, a decline that’s largely to blame on fewer young people getting into the sport.According to the Families Afield Coalition n a group that is promoting legislation like Hamilton’s nationwide.

Montana has a 56 percent “replacement rate” for hunters. That means for every hunter taking up the sport, about two hunters are hanging their rifles up. Steve Gray of Families Afield said in other states, the mentoring programs they’ve helped create have worked. Nationwide, 208,000 people have gotten hunting permits under the programs, Gray said. He could not say how many of those hunters would have otherwise entered the sport by other means, but said he is confident it is helping to reverse declining numbers. “This is a proactive approach to ensure hunting well into the future,” he said. Opponents challenged that hunter education requirements are impeding young people’s interest in hunting. They pointed to changes in social norms and private property concerns. “Let’s get to the heart of the problem, which is access,” said Golie. The committee did not take immediate action on the bill.

We at SportsmensAccess.com disagree with Golie's point of view. New and young hunter numbers are declining not because of lack of access but because of video games, cell phones, ipods, and kids that aren't being recruited into the sport. There is solid data showing this from a study at the National Shooting Sports Foundation.