Missouri Hunter Education has two portions, a knowledge portion and a skills session.
WINONA, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announces a hunter education skills session at Twin Pines Conservation Education Center March 31 from 6 to 10 p.m. The Hunter Education course has two parts: knowledge and skills. Both sessions must be completed to earn the certificate. The knowledge portion must be completed prior to the skills session either online or by obtaining the hunter education workbook and completing the end of the chapter review questions.
“Hunter education has reduced hunting accidents and deaths by more than 70 percent since it became mandatory in 1987,” said Reva Dow, MDC naturalist. “This is why MDC recommends all hunters become hunter-education certified, to build a foundation in hunting safety and ethics, instill responsibility, and improve skills and knowledge.”
The hunter education program also encourages interaction between beginner and veteran hunters.
Missouri’s hunter education course is required for any hunter born on or after January 1, 1967. Anyone who plans to hunt during a Missouri firearms season or is acting as an adult mentor must first complete an approved hunter-education certification program and provide proof of completion.
Exempt from the hunter education requirement are those 15 years or younger hunting with a properly permitted adult mentor 18 years of age or older, those born before Jan. 1, 1967, persons who’ve received a disability exemption from MDC’s protection division, individuals who hunt under Apprentice Hunter Authorization, or landowners or lessee’s hunting land on which they own or reside. Additionally, those who can prove they completed an approved hunter education course in another state are not required to take Missouri’s Hunter Education Course.
The Missouri Hunter Education Course covers hunter responsibility and ethics, how firearms work and firearm safety, wildlife identification, game care, survival, and first-aid skills, firearm-handling skills and hunting techniques, awareness about wildlife conservation and management, and rules that are unique to Missouri. Anyone 11 years old or above may attend.
To complete the knowledge session, hunters may choose either an online option or a self-guided study.
Hunter Education Online – $15.00 fee (paid to online course provider)…Do we need to say for 16 years or older? The convenient online/mobile course is adapted to those with sight and hearing difficulties. It includes text, audio, images, graphs, videos, and interactive animation to help the hunter complete all the chapter reviews. All the chapter reviews must be completed to receive the skills-session qualifier certificate, which should be printed or saved on a mobile device for admittance into the skills session.
Self-study guide — Free Study guides can be ordered online or picked up at a MDC office. Hunters will study the illustrated manual, complete all chapter review questions, and present the manual to the instructor at the skills session.
Those who wish to attend the skills session at Twin Pines must register in advance at www.mdc.mo.gov/ozarkevents. The skills session includes a mandatory 35-question, multiple-choice final exam. After successfully completing the skills session, hunters will receive a temporary certificate to be presented when purchasing a permit and while hunting.
For more information go online to www.mdc.mo.gov/ozarkevents or call Twin Pines at (573)325-1381.
