Hunters’ education courses lined up for April start

Whenever we say good bye to January, several parents start thinking about a Hunters Ed class for their child getting old enough. The Abbotsford Sportsmen’s Club group of Hunters Ed Instructors started thinking about the upcoming class this spring right after last spring’s class ended.

“Every three years instructors need to take a recertification course hosted by the WI DNR,” Jenny Hinker, the lead instructor of the group told me. “Quite a few of our instructors took this course recently. These classes seem to generate renewed energy and ideas for the course.”

This year’s class starts Tuesday, April 2. The class will then run every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday until Saturday, April 13 – the field test day. Weekday classes run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; the class on Saturday, April 6 runs from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. On the Field Test Day, class starts a bit later and all students get assigned a time to arrive that morning. Students need to attend the Field Test Day to pass the course.

Registration for the class takes place on Tuesday, April 2 from 5:00 p.m. to 6 p.m. when the class starts. To register the student must have a DNR Customer Number when they arrive. Registration cannot take place without that number.

A number can be obtained via the DNR Website - Go Wild Wisconsin, by calling 888-936-7463, or at a hunting license retailer. There is no pre-registration available and the class is first come first serve. The instructor group recommends that students be 11 years or older because younger students often struggle with the test. All classes are held at the Abbotsford Sportsmen’s Club.

“We’re eager to try out some new equipment we are borrowing from the DNR that’s designed to enhance the hands on portion of our class,” Hinker said. “I love the very hands on course that we hold,” she continued. “But unfortunately, we aren’t getting any new instructors stepping up and our current instructors are only getting older. If we keep trending this direction, the number of students we can accept will have to be lowered or possibly no course offered at all in the future.” This year’s class is limited to 25 students. The DNR set parameters for student to teacher ratios many years ago. They dictate how many students an instructor can work with at one time on the field test. They also dictate the number of hours and time frame that a class can run. Another parameter is the students to instructor ratio for class time instruction and live fire instruction. To most, one to one instruction with live fire makes sense. Several students will fire a firearm for the first time at a Hunters Ed class. All that creates a formula of how long it takes to run a course based upon how long it takes to teach a student a concept hands on, verses just lecturing. The number of instructors available per class day determines class size. The volunteer instructors work schedules, business hours, and personal lives determine when and what times they can volunteer.

Combine that with the calendar and facility availability and the time frame and class size emerges. “With Easter being early this year, we are able to hold our class in April,” Hinker told me. “This makes me hopeful we can spend more time outside with the students.”

Instructors prioritize the live fire experiences and woods time in hands on teaching. Feedback from students over the years told them that the students really enjoy those parts of the class. Time constraints caused by fewer instructors over the past several years forced the group to remove several hands on experiences that students enjoyed. Things like archery shooting, simulated blood trail, climbing up into a tree stand and pulling a rifle up into it, hunting dog demonstrations, and even shotgun live fire. The instructors struggled with needing to eliminate those opportunities for the students.

They thought about all this last summer and you can bet they thought about it when sitting in their stands this past hunting season. They do this simply because of those young excited kids taking their Hunters Ed class. That energy affects an instructor and it creates strong emotions.

To become an instructor, you must have completed a Hunters Ed Class and then helped teach a couple classes. Anyone interested in becoming an instructor should reach out to Jenny Hinker at 715-223-5688 or talk to any of the group’s other instructors.

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