Hunting License/Hunter's Safety dilemma

[Birdmang]

I need a hunting license in IL for an upcoming hunt. I have hunted since i was a kid, but I never took a hunter's safety class and I have never gotten a license. My grandfather taught me everything about shooting and hunting, and he didn't think we needed a license to hunt on our own land, so we never got any licenses.


Now I am over 18 and realize that I could get in some trouble hunting without a license, so I refuse to do it. I also grew up in an affluent (liberal) Chicago suburb where it wasn't normal for kids to go to Hunter's safety classes, so I missed out on that also.

I am going on a hunt soon and need a license, in IL you can get a license if you have:

a) held a license in another state

or

b) taken a hunters safety course

My work schedule ABSOLUTELY DENIES me from having time to take a hunter's safety course.

Does anyone know of a state that I could purchase a license from online, without a hunter's safety course, and print out the license, in order to get around having a hunter's safety class in IL?


Please don't tell me to take the course, I don't need to and i don't have time. I would like to, but I cannot.

I need help here, not a moral lesson.

 

[jbkebert]

http://dnr.state.il.us/safety/online.htm

I tried looking to see if Illinois had a apprentice program but I can not find anything. In the state of Kansas persons over the age of 16 may purchase a apprentice tag and license but are required to hunt in the prescense of a indivdual with hunter ed. The above link is for a internet based course where you can take the bulk of the course on-line including the test. Once the test has been taken you can sign up for a 5-7 hour field day to complete the course.

Please don't tell me to take the course, I don't need to and i don't have time. I would like to, but I cannot.

I need help here, not a moral lesson.

Your killing me. This is a piss poor excuse. I get the same lame reply about 50 times a year. Since I am a hunter education instructor I am constantly getting phone calls about how people don't need the course. Or that they are to busy or that they are a veteran. So the heck what I am a veteran as well uncle sam doesn't teach hunter ed. If you are busy take the on-line course or make plans courses are available all the time.

 

[Birdmang]

Available all the time?


There are about 2 field days in Northern Illinois in the next 10 months.

Thanks for the info, I wish they had an apprentice program!


EDIT: I found an apprentice license on the IL dnr website but i cant find where to buy it. This will work as my friend has a license and is over 21.

 

[jbkebert]

http://www.hunter-ed.com/in/index.htm

I cannot say that I agree with the State of Indiana. However this is the only state that I know of that you can get a hunter eduction certificate completly on-line. Most states will accept a out of state certificate and long as it is one. In know that Kansas will accept one of these and I assume the Illinois would as well. Not sure of the cost but it is usually around $20 for a on-line course.

Now if this works by god you owe us all pictures of something grilled.
Good luck

 

[Birdmang]

You seem to be better at google than I am. Thank you. I will send you some meat on ice if I get lucky!

 

[jbkebert]

Don't know about being good at google. I have been fighting tooth and nail against Kansas going to something like that. I guess I am just old fashioned and like to have students in the field.

 

[Pacsd]

far be it from me to abet a self proclaimed affluent rich kid looking for advice on how to circumvent the laws of common men. This is a question that screams for ethics.

 

[jbkebert]

While I don't agree with not taking a hunter ed course. I would rather see someone take a on-line course and hopefully take something away from it than to completley break the laws and hunt without it.

The fact that most states allow apprentice hunting without end bothers me. It basically says that as long as your buddy took hunter ed and you within 100 yards of him your cool. Wether I like it or not more and more states are allowing internet assisted courses. The state of Kansas the fur harvester education class is all over the internet.

The only saving grace is that Indiana has a timer on the web pages. You cannot just skip the sections and go to the test.

As parents put more and more prefence towards athletics and thier own jobs. Having the time to devote to hunter education is hard. The class I teach is a Wednesday night from 6:30-9:30, Saturday from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm and Sunday from noon to 5:00 pm. Our classes went from 200+ students to around 85-90 over the course of 10 years. The fact is we need hunters and state have come to the realization that they must change in order to keep hunter numbers up. I hate it but that is what we are facing. Parents are appaled at the fact that thier kid may miss a hour of practice or a game or meet on Saturday to complete hunter education.

While I will fight it as long as I can the fact is that hunter education instructors will become a thing of the past sooner than later.

 

[AR-yoter]

have you checked into your deferal, most states will let you have a temperary licence with some stipulations of course but it gets you in the hunt

 

[Sunray]

"...grew up in an affluent (liberal) Chicago suburb..." And? You think you should be exempt from the law? Presenting a licence from a State where you've never lived is fraud.
You have a FOID? Or do you think you're exempt from that too?
"It is unlawful to possess any firearm or ammunition without a valid FOID."
"...on-line course..." Still requires a 'Field Day' and a final exam.
I'm with you all the way, jbkebert. Ontario has an apprentice program. It's sort of a graduated thing. Has more to do with our stupid fireams laws than anything else. IE: One firearm that is shared with the over 18 licenced hunter. No matter what you're hunting. We get to pay a tax to be able to buy a licence too.
If you're interested. http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/Publication/MNR_E001275P.html
"...Students are now required to spend a minimum amount of time on each course page before proceeding to the certification exam..." That is stupid. Mind you, given the level of literacy I've seen in some posts here and on other forums it's not surprising. But it's still daft.

 

[Davek1977]

Publically asking for a workaround of the hunter safety course is something people are bound d to have opinions on. You stated you didn't want a moral lesson, but perhaps some better wording on your part would have made that less likely to occur. As posted, it sounds rather arrogant "i don't need no sticking safety course, despite everyone else being required to have one". My opinion? Anyone who has the time to go hunting has the time to take the course. If you don't need the course....you don't need to hunt. You need to demonstrate at least basic safety procedures to get a driver's license....why is it absurd to require the same for a hunting license? "i've been driving for years and know how to do it" isn't going to fly when you apply for your DL, nor should it for a hunting license. no matter how smart you may be, no matter what experience or education, theres no disadvantage to taking the course. You'll mee the legal requirements, get a refresher on things you know, and maybe actually pick up some useful tidbits you didn't know. You may make new friends, or establish new contacts for hunting areas. The possibilities are endless, and will never be realized if you just continue to try to work around the system.


As for the 2 field days in the next ten months.....Can't you request time off for one of them if you know about it nearly a YEAR in advance?

 

[jbkebert]

As for the 2 field days in the next ten months.....Can't you request time off for one of them if you know about it nearly a YEAR in advance?

I am not really sure how Illinois works. We generally have 2-3 field days set up for the calender year. However if I get at least 10 people interested in doing a field day I will schedule another class. One on One instruction is not allowed nor should it be a class must have at least 10 people in it for the state of KS. The first link I posted gives contact info for the DNR who could certainly be of some help.

Like I said before hunter education has become more about priorites than anything. The mere thought of spending 2 1/2 days learning about hunting sends people into fits. Which tells me they probably won't hunt anyway. Parents come to the course kicking and screaming and spend the whole time on cell phones and interupting the course. We have had more than one instance with a dad sitting in the car drinking beer all day.:banghead:
Perhaps I have become more than a little jaded on the subject. I donate somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 hours a year probably more to hunter education. It is important to me and the rest of the volunteer instructors who come together to make it happen. I am self employed, I have a wife and 4 children. So if I can find the time by gosh you can find 5-7 hours to do a field day.

Then again sometimes you have to cut your losses and help those who want to be helped. If hunting is a priority I want you in the class; if your to important to come. I don't want you there so I can focus my energy on those who do.

I am not griping about the just the OP I know nothing about the young man. As a whole this kind of thinking drives me nuts.

 

[jbkebert]

EDIT: I found an apprentice license on the IL dnr website but i cant find where to buy it. This will work as my friend has a license and is over 21.

If they have one you should be able to purchase it on-line or at Wal-mart for the that matter. When they go through and ask the questions it should be asked if you do not have a HE certificate#.

 

[Grumulkin]

I have some moralizing for ya'll. What is it that makes the old guy safe without a hunter's safety course and the young guy unsafe without it? There are, believe it or not, old guys that don't handle guns safely and young guys that do.

I'm old enough that in the vast majority of states I don't have to take a hunter's safety course; Colorado is an exception. Not that I'll ever hunt in Colorado but I think I'll take Indiana's online course just because.

 

[Birdmang]

Yeah it came off bad but I meant it more of, I grew up in a place that wasn't gun friendly and kids normally didn't take hunter's safety. Not, I have money I don't need safety classes. If that were the case I would just hunt and not care about tickets and fines. But thanks for the ethics course.

I guess anyone born before 1986 in IL that didn't take a hunter's safety course and learned from family doesn't know anything about hunting and is unsafe in the field. They should all take a class as well.

 

[Art Eatman]

Keep in mind that there's a reason for the whole hunter safety deal: The demographic shift from rural to urban meant that there was far less "growing up, hunting" than in the past. We did have a couple of decades of rising accidents in camp and mis-identification of cows and other hunters as being game critters. The 1970s and 1980s finally saw the hunter safety course laws come about--rather too late for some poor devils.

My cynical view is that somebody who can't figure out how to get a day off to take the course likely has a life full of other problems.

 

[zoom6zoom]

I guess if you're too busy to take a class to fulfill the legal requirements, you're going to be too busy to go hunting anyway. Problem solved.

 

[pat86323]

Hunters safety courses are a good thing, i grew up hunting with my dad and i didnt have to take the course to hunt here in az. I took one anyway and i actually learned alot. What job do you have that ABSOLUTELY DENIES! your ability to take a class? As much as you said you didnt want anyone to say this MAKE THE TIME AND TAKE THE CLASS! I personally think everyone can benefit from one regardless of how long they have been hunting, what they know, ect. My dad took one and enjoyed it and learned some things and he had been hunting for decades before he took his class.

 

[rajb123]

I had to make time to take the course; three nights at 3 hours per night.

Its been over 20 years now and during the course I learned some very valuable lessons.

Take the course and enjoy it - your safety, and those of others, may depend upon it.

 

[rajb123]

I have recorded the program about the so-called defective Remington M700 rifles on my DVR. The documentry discusses many "accidents" where people are mamed and killed. I just watched it again last night.

Yeh, maybe some of the rifles discharge improperly.

One thing is certain, however. The incidents where injuries or death occurred could have been avoid if the owners had followed some basic saftey rules...

These rules are taught in hunter education courses and they should be followed at all times.

 

[788Ham]

I've been around firearms my entire life, 62 years come June, took NRA Junior rifle training at 8 years of age, tracked behind my Pop until I was old enough to hunt, then "had" to take the Hunter Safety Course to buy a hunting license. The state mandates you have a HS card, or you don't get the license, plain and simple, no other way around it. Now you come along, and because of life's trivial problems, "not everyone had a chance, guns were abhorred" you should be exempted? You want some more cheese to go with your whine? If you don't have the time to go get the course, and do whats needed to go hunting, then go sit in the priest's lap and stay out of the woods, more folks without knowledgeable aspirations, we don't need!! Stay home!

 

[41]

Presenting a licence from a State where you've never lived is fraud.

How is that a fraud. You can purchase an out of state hunting license, and then you would have had a hunting license in another state.

However I do agree that everyone should take a hunters education class.

 

[rajb123]

I hunted quail in SC a few weeks ago. You only need a HS course for a hunting license if you were born after 1980.

....kinda weird.

My SC license specifically says, "Hunter Education - NO", since I was not required to prove I had taken the HS course in NY. I assume this is to prevent people of age from buying a SC license and using it as proof of HS in another state.

 

[jbkebert]

WOW 1980 in KS you have to be born before 1957 to be exempt.

 

[Pacsd]

788HAM, we are on the same side this poor little rich kid that don't want to meet the requirements "by the numbers". I wonder if there is a way to forward his "pity me" plea to his states DNR. If his attitude is such to dodge the system, that makes me wonder what he'd be like in the field with a loaded gun. I wouldn't want to be around him. No wonder some of that state's residents are refered to as FIB'S/FISH