Misleading California hunter education advertisement?

[losangeles]

Supposedly, if you want a hunting license, you have the option to take an Internet course, per the California Dept of Fish and Game, at http://hunter-ed.com/ca/ca_internet.htm.

The advertised idea is supposed to be a time-saver, in which you take the Internet course and after paying $15, passing an online test, get a pre-certification. Then, you are eligible to take a 4-hour live course of instruction instead of the usual full-day or two-day course, to get your license.

The problem (for Los Angeles and Orange County areas) is that there are no 4-hour live courses available. None of the instructors want to offer it, and instead are only offering the full-day or two-day course.

This renders the online course as useless, not to mention a waste of your time and money ($15 to receive pre-certification), so if you want to get the hunter license, you have to do it the old-fashioned way anyway--- full-day or two-day course. So if you've already invested time and money on the pre-certification, you're screwed.

I complained to the CA Fish & Game about this. I received a response that the Internet class is new and they don't have enough instructors certified for the shorter class. WTH! Anyway, I'm waiting for them to give a referral on an instructor who can do this. Man, I sure hope it's not some solution like fly off to another city to take the 4-hour course, and maybe available once or twice in the year, like after the summer, or something!

Man, this really sucks!

 

[exoduster18]

Wait a second......The country of Kalifornistan allows hunting? Oh. now I've heard everything. First they take away Second Amendment rights but now they allow hunting........Sheesh, will they ever make up the people's mind for them?

 

[carebear]

If the state is allowing the private market to provide the classes (which they should) then it will take a bit before one of those instructors gets over their fear of the new and realizes there's money to be made in offering it.

If you want to get the state involved, be my guest, but it will hurt you in the long run. Let the private market work, or get your own certification and start rolling in the cash.

Personal responsibility not socialism.

 

[Standing Wolf]

A two-day course for a hunting license?

Waaaaayyyyy too much government!

 

[losangeles]

If you want to get the state involved, be my guest, but it will hurt you in the long run. Let the private market work, or get your own certification and start rolling in the cash.

Personal responsibility not socialism.

I agree with you on the private market part. But in order to hunt here, you need a hunter's license from the state. And to get that license, you need to take a test after taking a (private) hunter's course.

My beef is that I complied with their educational requirements and took the Internet option. Which now seems like a waste. Because the Internet option requires you to finish up with a 4-hour course. Which is not available in my area.

 

[carebear]

Ohhh, I misunderstood.

You're right. You'd think they might check on availability before offering something as an option. It shouldn't take much for someone in the office to mass-fax all their licensed instructors.

 

[No_Brakes23]

Wait a second......The country of Kalifornistan allows hunting? Oh. now I've heard everything. First they take away Second Amendment rights but now they allow hunting........Sheesh, will they ever make up the people's mind for them?

Cali is definitely in the bottom 10 as far as RKBA, but we are not the worst. We have a .50 cal ban and EBR bans, restrictions/registration on handguns, and inconsistent CCW.

But we have hunting, and some CCW, and only one anti-handgun city, (And that might not last very long.) We also have no length limit on concealed folding knives, (Except on school grounds where it is 2.5".) Boston, MA; NJ; NYC, NY; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; HI, and DC are are almost as bad or worse. I guess that makes us somewhere around number 5-7 on the worst gun states to live in.

California also has a HUGE consumer segment of firearms purchasers. We spend a lot of money on firearms. One year, (1996, I believe,) California purchased more firearms than any other state, (60% of all firearms purchased in the country, IIRC.)

It is far from an RKBA paradise, and what freedoms we do have are hampered by incredibly stupid laws, but it ain't the UK just yet.

For those of us in SoCal, AZ beckons for upland game, as they have an outstanding dove/quail season most years.

 

[slopemeno]

FWIW, my hunters safety training when I lived in MT in the '70s was longer than that.

 

[bigun15]

A two-day course for a hunting license?

Waaaaayyyyy too much government!

Done it.

 

[grimjaw]

It may have changed by now; high school was getting up on 20 years ago. I seem to remember they we were given hunter safety courses in high school as part of public education. I think we got it in the physical education classes. I don't think there was a training requirement to purchase a license, either. This was all back in Arkansas, though. I think the current governor still goes out for duck hunts.

jmm

 

[C96]

You do the class to get your safety certificate. Then you can go purchase your
hunting license. You need a hunting license to shoot ground squirrels or any varmints.

Get extra stamps for various game critters.

I, my wife and 12 year old son took it together. It was interesting, lots of game
and hunting law info. Just the very basics on gun safety.

That was a long time ago but I doubt they have changed it much.

allan

 

[waterhouse]

Given some time, hopefully this will work itself out. They have a similar system for the hunter safety course in Texas, where you can take the online class to "pass out" of several hours of classroom time, and it is a nice way to do things.

 

[losangeles]

Internet courses are well-executed here in California for traffic/driving school. When you get a ticket (speeding, traffic violation), you ordinarily get it put on your record, but you can prevent that happening by taking an all-day driving course --- which you have the option to take online.

I'm sorry to say I've had two tickets, but was able to erase any entry on my state driving record by taking Internet courses. It's a seamless process. I wish this hunting license thing would be the same, but apparently it's not.

 

[losangeles]

Given some time, hopefully this will work itself out. They have a similar system for the hunter safety course in Texas, where you can take the online class to "pass out" of several hours of classroom time, and it is a nice way to do things.

Yeah, you're probably right. I'll give maybe a week or two to follow up with the state on this. But after, I'll just give up and take the full-day course. :banghead:

Not worth the aggravation of fighting for my 15 bucks and insisting on having the state deliver on what they indicate on their website is an option.

 

[losangeles]

Well, I did get a voice message from the educational section of Dept of Fish & Game and was given one referral of a trainer nearby who can do the 4-hour hunter course for me.

I called and found out the instructor won't be doing it until April. It's now early January.

I'll just forget about that supposed pre-certification online course I took and dumped time and a little money on. You live and you learn I guess. Although there was no way to anticipate this. If I want my hunting license, I'll just go to the traditional live class.

 

[Molon Labe]

http://hunter-ed.com/ca/ca_internet.htm.

There's a picture of a guy shooting a scoped rifle under the word "California."

I am speechless.