My daughter and I decided to sign up for the local hunter education classes put on by the Indiana DNR. Saturday we sat in a 5 hour class that discussed different styles of hunting guns and also the difference among pistols (revolver and semi-auto).
So far it seems pretty generic, although they tell you what to know for your test that will be administered after the second five hour session next Saturday,the hands on consisted of safe passing of a weapon between two persons, and safe carrying of a hunting weapon, wearing an FAS when sitting in a tree stand, different styles of tree stands an ground blinds.
Our local sheriff came in and discussed some different gun laws that pertains to hunting as well as when it is okay to open carry, really hitting on this Walmart, Walgreens, stc. "banning" open carry. Now in the past, a couple of officers for different departments have told me that signs forbidding weapons (except in federal buildings) is unenforceable, or more specifically that most police officers do not acknowledge the weapons ban by businesses BUT, once the business tells you to leave, you MUST leave, for whatever reason,and if you refuse, then you can be charged with trespass. This sheriff told us if they tell you to leave because of your visible weapon then you can be charged with carrying a weapon in a forbidden location....he said, "just carry it concealed, they have not banned weapons outright, just don't want to see them".
I do not have to have a hunter education course to hunt, but Jade does, and I am all about keeping up with current laws and regulations so although I said it's been pretty generic so far, I recommend taking the course (free if you take it in person, $20 if you take it online), I still forward to the next class, and glad that Jade and I are taking the course together. Going to push my oldest son to sign he and the oldest grandson up for a free class soon, Bass Pro will have free classes on the 21st and 22nd. My grandson has in the past said he wanted to deer hunt and it would be a good bonding experience for them ( Josh was born a month before the requirement for hunter ed was established in Indiana), and get both their noses out of their phones.
We have a very weak class, meaning there were only about 20 people signed up, mostly younger Amish kids just old enough to take the course without an adult with them, but there is a couple English dads there with their sons. The instructors said it used to be that it was difficult to find seating for all the folks who signed up for classes the first 25 years or so, but now they cannot fill a class, the seating capacity for this session was 50. And they have taught classes that were mostly court ordered persons caught poaching or caught breaking some other laws or just being unsafe when carrying their weapons and observed by DNR officers.
One class they taught several teenagers who had loaded up together with other teens from three different counties that would just drive around shooting the biggest bucks they saw and just leaving them lay, some in front or side yards of peoples homes, and they had killed about twice as many deer than what the DNR and state police recovered, and not even one set of antlers or head taken, they just were out to kill as many deer as they could.
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