Outdoors in Alaska: Winter is the time to take a hunter education course

This is one squirrelly winter! One day it’s 40-plus degrees with rapidly melting snow and the next day it’s necessary to shovel four-to-six inches of new snow and dress for single-digit temperatures. I generally don’t mind the snow because I don’t have to drive in it until after the road crews have cleared it. However, I’m not thrilled about the cold temperatures. I guess that’s all part of the aging process?!?

Now that we’re in the so-called “dead of winter,” folks are looking for things to do indoors to stay warm and keep busy. There are several gun shows coming up and there’s hunt planning to start for the spring and fall hunting seasons. Part of that hunt planning for many folks involves getting the necessary hunter education certification to legally participate.

So far, the 2020 Hunter Education class schedule for the Mat-Su Valley shows 30 classes covering all four HE disciplines: basic, bowhunter, muzzleloading, and crossbow. The first class is scheduled for February 25 and the last class for the year is scheduled for November 16. The schedule of classes is a fluid one with the ability to add or cancel classes as the situation warrants. Most of the classes are of the online variety with a few being the all-day, “traditional” versions.

The online class requires the student to do all the classroom work online and do the written test online as well. If the student successfully passes the online work and testing, they will receive a small certificate they must print out and bring to a scheduled online class field day. These field days last about four hours and cover a review of material and the proficiency shooting portions of the class.

The “traditional” classes last all day and cover classroom work, written testing, and field and proficiency shooting activities. There’s a workbook involved which must be filled out completely prior to your class attendance. I prefer to teach this type class because it allows for more interaction between the students and the instructors.

The bulk of the classes scheduled are of the basic hunter education iteration with the second most popular being the bowhunter class. Only a couple of muzzleloader and crossbow classes are scheduled because many hunters wishing to use these implements have already been certified and the demand, generally, isn’t that great for these certifications.

So, who needs a hunter education certification? Anyone born on or after January 1, 1986 and wishing to hunt in Game Management Units 7, 13, 14, 15, and 20. These GMU’s effectively encompass the major highway corridors between Homer and Fairbanks. If you’re a bowhunter or wish to use a crossbow to hunt big game, you need the appropriate certification. If you hunt on military lands, you need the appropriate certification. If you plan to hunt in any weapons-restricted hunts or on specific game management areas or wildlife refuges listed in the hunting regulations booklet, you are required to have the appropriate certification.

I don’t have the break-out of numbers for the Valley for 2019, but I do have the statewide numbers. The total number of basic classes was 151; the total number of bowhunter classes was 45; for muzzleloading, 18 classes; and for crossbow hunting, 13 classes. This adds up to 227 classes held statewide in 2019.

The number of students certified were: 2051 for basic; 465 for bowhunting; 78 for muzzleloading; and 61 for the crossbow certification. That’s a total of 2655 students certified for all four disciplines statewide. The numbers have been steady for the last few years because the program has been in place for 30+ years.

Originally, only basic and bowhunter courses were taught. Even with the limited disciplines, between 3000 to 5000 students were getting certified each year in the early days. As the public got caught up with the required courses and the two newer course offerings became available (muzzleloading and crossbow), numbers have fluctuated some but stabilized around the current figures.

Get a copy of the current hunting regulations and read the hunter education requirements section. If you need one or more of the certifications stop by or call in to the Palmer Fish and Game office to ask about schedules for the various disciplines, to get signed up for a course, and to inquire about materials needed for the course in question. Depending on whether you sign up for an online or traditional course, your course materials will be online, or you will need the appropriate packet.