• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

How much is the hunter safety course?

knight_308

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
173
Location
Renton, ,
imported post

I looked on the state website, but all I can find is the schedule, not how much it costs. Thanks!
 

oldkim

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
375
Location
Kent, Washington, USA
imported post

Cost vary but typically run about $10-25. It's mostly a down payment to ensure you come and some will refund you half or so after completion. Check with the area you are wanting.

Several spots in the Puget Sound Area.

Tacoma Sportsman's Club in Tacoma

Paul Bunyon in Tacoma

Renton Fish and Game Club in Renton

Black Diamond to name a few. Call a club and get their schedule and cost.
 

joshmmm

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2007
Messages
245
Location
Bellevue, Washington, USA
imported post

Have fun at the course... I have to say it was one of the most eye-opening and scary things I have ever witnessed (on top of being really boring).

The average intelligence level in the room of 100 or so people when I went was shocking-- they actually spent 1.5 DAYS (8 hrs per day) reading us a30-40 page pamphlet. I read the whole thing in a bit under 30 minutes, word for word.

The best part was at the end, there was a test, about 60 questions or so... they actually had an area for people who couldn't read it where they would read it to you. This test took no more than 2 minutes to complete--- I was first done, but many more were done in under 5... the rest of the room seemed like they might be there a long while! Then, to make it even better, you only had to get like an 80%... but any answer you got wrong, they would let you change it! (I only missed one, which they had stated no more than 10 minutes before the test that the answer was the one I chose, not the one in the pamphlet--go figure...)

All in all, made me quite scared to venture into the woods knowing that a lot of these people might be hunting in the same woods... and what a horrible feeling for a guy who believes in the right to carry for all... be ready to have your eyes opened, and to walk away feeling like you wasted two days you will never get back... I am just very thankful for this smart group of responsiblegun owners!
 

kparker

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
1,326
Location
Tacoma, Washington, USA
imported post

If I remember correctly, the "fee" is 100% deposit to ensure you come, and must be refunded to you upon completion of the course if you ask for it.

That's certainly how we do our courses at TRRC: $25 refundable deposit to hold your place, then we return your check at the end of the class if you want. Most people leave it with us as a donation, but some don't and that's OK.

For a complete listing of all classes, Fish and Wildlife's web site has it all on one convenient page:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/classes/basic.php
 

kparker

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
1,326
Location
Tacoma, Washington, USA
imported post

joshmmm,

You certainly don't need to expose the guilty if you like, but I can assure you that TRRC's courses are not like that!

Also, you make no mention of a field day at the end; we of course include that. It's a 5- to 6-hour block on Saturday that includes a walkthrough simulated game trail, with shoot/no-shoot targets based on wrong species/sex or unsafe to shoot (e.g. animal on ridgeline), a survival lecture, actual shooting of rifle, shotgun, and handgun (the handgun was required this year, previous years it was optional), and a field-dressing lecture.

I was on the firing line last weekend, and walked about 30 students through their rifle firing. Virtually all of them did the chamber-empty check on picking up their rifle off the rack without any prompting from me; that's how well we drum it in during the classroom component. Ditto for mainting muzzle safety; no reminders or prompts were needed at all.

To top it off, this weekend's course had an extra bonus feature, at no extra cost: somewhere in Pierce County someone hit a small deer, and the responding wildlife officer knew we were doing the course and brought it by. So one of the instructors did a real live (err, dead, actually, but you know what I mean) field-dressing demo!

Finally, though there will be some variation from class to class, and instructor to instructor, the overall success of the program is revealed in the long, slow, steady decline in hunting-related accidents.
 

joshmmm

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2007
Messages
245
Location
Bellevue, Washington, USA
imported post

It was not at your location... and yes, they did the walk-around some fake animals and the rifle line(that was the second half of the second day, after the really long boring reading of the state issued packet).

I think we fired 5 or 10 shots each... this was two years ago so I can't exactly remember... and we certainly didn't learn anything cool like how to dress a deer...

I'm not against the hunter safety courses in any way whatsoever... Judging by many of the attendees, especially the ones who had to have the test read to them, I am VERY thankful we have it and that we have comptent people willing to teach it!
 

Trigger Dr

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2007
Messages
2,760
Location
Wa, ,
imported post

I have been a hunter ed instructor for over 15 years. There is no "official" cost. The classes are free, but some instructors are allowed to chrge a small fee to cover the cost of securing a class room.
 

dsgray0604

Newbie
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
1
Location
yorkville il
field day

I took my coarse but due to work schedule couldn't schedule field day. I'm now trying to do it and my field day voucher expired in October. I logged onto the hunters ed and it still says I have completed the class but HOW DO I RENEW THE VOUCHER!!
 

golddigger14s

Activist Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
2,068
Location
Lawton, OK USA
I signed up for the one at the Lacey Cabela's, and it cost $25 which was totally refundable. Suggested donation. I ended up not taking the class (born before 1972, so grandfathered anyway).
Couple of weeks later I got my certificate in the mail anyway.
 

mnrobitaille

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
374
Location
Kahlotus, WA
Hunter's Education in Tri-Cities

My wife & I did the Spring Break course last year at Grigg's in Pasco. It was ran by the Richland Rod & Gun Club. There was no costs for us to take it, just donations suggested. The field day happened out at Tri-Cities Metallic Silhouette Association.

Being that we did the Spring Break Hunter's Ed class, we were the oldest students there, though a few parents also signed up & participated.

As part of us taking & passing the course, we are invited to participate in a Pheasant Hunt on Saturday, February 17 out near Mesa, with clay shooting to happen beforehand at Connell Gun Club.
 
Top