As we head into spring, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is gearing up for hunter education courses to take place around the state. MTN's Chet Layman tells us the first round of those courses in Region 3 is taking place this weekend in Belgrade.
BOZEMAN — This coming weekend, a building in Belgrade will become home to a tradition for many Montana young people as hunter education classes begin.
“What I love about our hunter education program is that it’s a really dense learning experience in a safe environment,” said Morgan Jacobsen, information and education manager for Montana FWP Region 3.
“Where, you know, people from all skill levels and experience levels come together to focus on the basics and fundamentals of safe and ethical hunting good sportsmanship, good relations with landowners, all these things, and folks walk away from these classes with a lot of tools in their tool belts to be able to to do all those things,” he continued.
These courses give a broad range of knowledge and experience to the newest members of the Montana hunting community. Hunter education is more than that, however; for many young people, it becomes the first big step towards adulthood.
“Hunter education in Montana is a rite of passage for new hunters where after going through this course and beginning your hunting career, hunting now becomes your tradition and it’s a great way to kick that off,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen also notes that students 11-17 taking online hunter education will need to sign up this year for a field day experience before they can become licensed hunters.
You can head over to the FWP website to find out about registration for the Belgrade course this weekend, a course offered in April in Bozeman, and a March field day opportunity.
