Lake County Hunter Safety Course Description

Lake County Hunter Safety Courses (Field Days)

Our Hunter Safety field days comply with state law and DNR regulations ¹. These require/mandate:

The pre-scheduled field day shall be a minimum of 4 hours.

Students arrive

Materials Review

Laws and Ethics

Exam

Hands-on Portion (Explain, Demonstrate, Teach/Coach)

We confirm knowledge of material already studied before the field day, and augment it with hands-on practice. Our goal is to promote safe behavior including the safe handling of firearms. Most students pass, but a student who is not ready or able, will not receive a Hunter Safety certificate. This happens in cases of failure to complete the prior study or pass the exam, or, based on an instructor's judgment.

Points 1 through 4 above, are kind of self-explanatory. The hands-on portion involves the following ²:

Walking in groups while carrying firearms safely.
Practice handling and operating special/custom non-firing training weapons.
Getting dirty! We kneel, sit, and crawl in the dirt and/or snow.
General outdoor health and safety such as appropriate dress, footwear, nutrition, and hydration.
Crossing over and under fences with firearms.
Climbing into and out of raised blinds, tree stands, and/or boats, with firearms.
Shooting live firearms: .22 rifle, light shotgun/skeet (.410 and 20 gauge), and deer rifle (.30-30).

Our shooting is not intended to produce expert shooters, but to ensure safe firearm behavior, and accustom students to live ammunition and a representative variety of firearms and actions. Also it's fun.

Our ideal field day is active from start to finish. Our chapter reviews, question-and-answer sessions, and instruction occur in-field, on-station and/or during activities; for example while walking, during exercises, or between rounds of shooting. Students may (logistics permitting) complete the written exam while standing, or at a shooting station. Snacks typically consist of pocketable, in-field fodder such as venison sausage, cheese sticks, and bagel quarters.

To attend and succeed in a field day, and get their Hunter Safety certificate, students must:

Apply for the field day by filling out and sending in a standard application form.
Complete either the Hunter Home Study course (no charge for this, study materials provided by us), answer the review questions, and bring them to the field day, or, complete an approved online course (these cost $25), and bring the certificate of successful completion.
Participate fully in the field day and fulfill all the requirements. This includes:
Dress appropriately! Students dressed inappropriately for the weather will not be allowed to participate. If for reasons of cost or recalcitrance this may be a problem, contact an instructor.
Be able to sign their name - state law/DNR regulations require that they sign their certificate.

Students who successfully meet the requirements and complete the field day will receive their Hunter Safety certificate on the spot. They may then (outside of/after class) use it to buy a hunting license, etc.

¹Regulations quoted from DNR publication IC5189 (Rev. 11/22/2013), "Hunter Education Sample Field Day Outline"
²When possible we may add other activities and drills.

Author: Leo Heska
Revision: January 23, 2017