Seventeen students recently completed the Wisconsin Hunter Education course that was held at the Owen-Withee Public Schools. The class took approximately 19 hours to complete, ended on June 25, and covered the following topics: Responsibilities of hunters, firearms safety in the home and in the field, knowledge of firearms and hunting equipment, wildlife identification and management, marksmanship, survival and outdoor skills. Volunteer Instructor hours totaled approximately 155 hours (including about 50 hours of preparation time) when combined for all participating instructors.

These students were successful in completing the class: Miles Anaday; Nevaeh Clark; Annaleis, Oakley and Lilli Anne Schwantes; Brooke Frese; Evelyn, Johnathon. Jr. and Lilly Goessl; Siddhesh Gupta; Bailey Ladewig; Evelyn Olson; Dale and Lillian Rinka; Cole Vetterkind, Jr.; and Dana and Kevin Zimmerman.

Certified DNR Hunter Safety Instructors conducted the course. They included: Mr. Gary Lindgren, Mr. Mark Nosko, Mr. Danny Bakke, Mr. Lance Batchelor, Mrs. Heidi Bower, Mr. Mike Kessling, Mr. Aaron Ruggles and Mr. Noel Barteck lead instructor.

Students successfully completing the course received a distinctive embroidered emblem and a hunter safety graduate certificate, and a gun lock – compliments of the Owen-Withee Police Department and Project Child Safe. The instructors, and students, would like to sincerely thank the Lublin Legion for providing the 12 ga, 20 ga and .22 ammo which would have been used in the range firing (had the weather not forced us to cancel the shooting portion of the class).

The DNR is no longer mailing certificates to graduates, rather each student is to access their Go Wild Account and print their certificate from the internet. A printed completion certificate is handy if a student wants to hunt in another state or province, since it is the proof that would be needed to show that the individual is a hunter safety graduate.  Any Wisconsin warden can access the student’s Customer ID Number and other pertinent information on their field computer once the DNR has entered all the class data into their computer.

The hunter safety certificate is valid in lieu of a small game-hunting license for the coming fall season, and each student is also entitled to a free bonus deer tag for this fall’s deer hunt. It also is a lifetime certificate which is required for hunting in many states and provinces. Certified students will be able to hunt and use firearms without a parent or guardian present when they reach age 14. Any hunter who has not completed Hunter Education must be a mentored hunter while hunting. All youngsters between the ages of 10 and 12 must be mentored hunters even though they have passed Hunter Safety. All youngsters between the ages of 12 and 14 who have completed Hunter Education must be accompanied (within sight and sound contact) by an adult while hunting. Any hunter who has completed Hunter Education, and is 14 years of age, or older, is permitted to hunt alone.