Hunter Safety

[Calif. Hunter]

I took my 10-year old son to the state hunter safety course this weekend. It is 10 hours minimum - this course ran from 6-10 PM on Friday night and it ran from 9 AM to 4 PM on Saturday. It's much more involved than the course I took 30 some years ago, since it includes archery, muzzleloading rifles, conservation, info on funding, etc. That's a long time for an antsy 10-year old.

He was nervous about going, and convinced that he would not pass. I told it was no big deal - if he didn't pass, he can take it again and again until he does.

I sat through it with him, and was pretty impressed with the quality of the notes he took. He even drew pictures of a 20 ga shell in a 12 ga barrel, the chamber and rifling in a cut-away view of a rifle barrel, etc.

He was really shook up when they announced that it was a 100 question test and that you had to get 80 right to pass.

The instructors let me sit with him and explain the words he did not understand on the test. I didn't give him any answers, though. He scored 93 out of 100, better than most of the adults taking the test!

Of course, we had to run right out and buy him a hunting license. He is on cloud 9 and tells everyone about his license. I'm pretty proud, too.

 

[JB]

thats great Cali!

congrats to him.

my son is taking it for the second time.....he missed it by 10 points last year.
he's was only 6 at the time.....he might pass this year, I hope.
Maryland is kind of twisted on its laws.....here, you need to pass the test before you go on a adult supervised youth hunt.....but if you pass the test you can hunt on your own any day but youth day....twisted I tell ya!

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Thanks, JB!

California is the same way. You must have a license to hunt anything, and you must have a hunter safety card to get a license. He can hunt on his own now - legally anyway - except for the junior or apprentice hunts. Of course, I'm not going to let him!

Michael has been shooting and accompanying me on hunts since he was 5, and he's helped me reload by seating primers and working the handle of the press. So he already knew all the parts of the guns, how to unload them, parts of the cartridges and so on.

He is going on the prairie dog hunt with me next month, and is really excited about it. He has already laid claim to the heavy barreled .223 and the bull bag.

 

[JB]

aww shit....those prairie dogs are gonna be in a world of hurt!
looking forward to the pics.

 

[jabber]

Congrats to your son and also to you. Looks like you are doing it right.

 

[Nut]

Congrats Rick

 

[hntrjohn]

Congradulations to your son.
My daughter wants to get her license now.

Does orange County have 4-H?
Stanislaus County does, Target rifle, air gun, trap.

 

[Moosie]

Dude.. Congrtats to the Arma'dillo hunter

O-town jsut went through it too. " http://lifeatthewilliamsons.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-04-06T17:30:00-07:00&max-results=7 " Scroll down to March 19th.

We're gunna have to get the little guys on a trip togther. I'm thinking next year taking him on a trip somewere. Not sure yet where ?!!?

 

[heelerdog]

My daughter passed, now she's in the draws. I really hope she gets a tag. Her best odds are antelope, 1 in 63 chance. California really sucks in that regard, not making tag draws any easier for the young ones. We went turkey hunting this spring, but no luck. Too cold, and too much precipitation, I guess.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Yeah - the draws here suck. He will go with me for prairie dogs this month in AZ, but he got his certificate too late, I think, for NM javelina. I should have put him in the CA draws so he'd start getting points this year, but screwed up.

 

[scottymack]

Did you get the Heritage stamp from the instrctor? If so it helps in the apprentice bird hunts. If you didn't get one let me know I have plenty.

 

[heelerdog]

Scotty whats is the Heritage stamp, and why would it help with the apprentice bird hunts?

 

[mdcrossbow]

Calif, that's great. We don't give a kids enough credit. I went through it 3 times with my son's.

Calif, don't pass up the opportunity to -