Guest hunting in the US?

Do you have to be in any particular shooting position when you shoot to get 5 shots in the 30 cm ring?

Oleson said:

In Norway, you must have a hunters course. (jegerprøven)
It consists of nine classes/evenings, one range day and a final exam.
The exam is fifty multiple choice questions, and you must have at least forty right.
For hunting big game (roe deer and up) you must pass a shooters test each year.
And to be able to take the shooters test, you must have at least thirty training shots logged, this have to be from two different days. (so maximum fifteen shots logged pr. day)
No matter what you hunt, for each hunting year you must pay hunters tax.

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You may encounter a bureaucratic problem in that some states may stipulate that they will recognize hunter education courses from other states, but they might not have thought about other countries. I'd check in advance with the appropriate authorities and find out if what you have is acceptable.

I also agree that it would be much simpler if you could borrow a rifle here in the U.S.

In Maryland you are required to have taken a hunter education course. You are not required to have taken an American hunter education course, so your Norwegian certification would work.

LD

I think your training certificate is valid in most states. Some states have small game lic for non residents for hunting birds, varmints, squirrels and rabbits. Some also have non resident big game lic over the counter for deer. Minnesota is one of those and we have plenty of Norske here as well. There are lots of public hunting areas.
There are also game farms for hunting Pheasants or other game birds. You can rent guns and even dogs. There is no license required, you pay a fee and are good to go.

It sure is, my wife is Norwegian and some of her cousins from Norway have visited several times. They like shopping here.

It almost sounds like foreign hunters are discrouraged from hunting in the US. Not because that was the intention but rather just because hunting is so well regulated that it becomes a barrier for foreigners.

Don't you have privately owned tracts of land in the US where the land owner controls the game population through commercial hunting?

Here is it common for land owners to establish a "hunting farm". It needs to be fully "game fenced" to stop migrant free ranging animals from entering. The farmer will allow the species to naturally breed and will control animal popultions through hunting which provides a revenue, apart from the accomodation etc.. The farmer is licensed and shooting may occur all year round as the stock belongs to the owner and not the citizens of the country. Few farmers allow for year round shooting as one does not want pregnant ewes and cows shot, in any event the animals need time to relax as they get very skittish toward the end of the season.

I would have thought that a system like or similar to this would be common in the US? In fact I would estimate that more hunting takes place on these farms than on government tracts of land. It makes hunting a really sustainable industry.

Andrew Leigh said:

It almost sounds like foreign hunters are discrouraged from hunting in the US. Not because that was the intention but rather just because hunting is so well regulated that it becomes a barrier for foreigners.

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Well every state within the U.S. has a Game Commission or similar with different rules from other states, so you must start at that level. The only barrier I see after reading this thread would potentially be if states would recognize a foreign hunting license, or hunting course to get an "out of state" hunting license. Therefore an email or phone call to the specific state's game commission may be in order if it is not addressed on the commission's website.

Game animals in the US are generally "owned" by the citizens and regulated by state game commissions or in some cases federal regulations. Landowners do not own the game animals on their land and must abide by the state hunting regulations. Landowners can, however, charge people to hunt on their land. Most public land can be hunted on by anyone with a hunting license during the proper season. Some states have a lot of public land and others very little, so hunting access opportunities are very variable. Oleson's hunter education seems much more extensive than any US state hunter safety courses I've ever heard of, so I doubt he would have any problem obtaining a state hunting license. He probably should call or email the game commission of the state he is interested in hunting. Additionally, he should go online and explore the game commission website of the state he is interested in to familiarize himself with the license rules, necessary game tags, seasons and dates, sporting arms allowed (rifle, bow, shotgun, muzzleloader, etc.), proof of sex on some big game when quartered, caliber mimimums, etc. Some game animals such as deer can be hunted with a general license in most states, but some require entrance into a lottery drawing for a tag, which is not always assured. I'm sure that bringing a sporting rifle into the US for a hunting trip is possible as well, just would take more research to discover and comply with any regulations.