First State Times

Online and In-person Courses Available

With the start of early 2022/23 hunting seasons approaching, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control reminds hunters born after Jan. 1, 1967 that they must successfully complete an approved Basic Hunter Education Course to obtain a Delaware hunting license. Early pre-registration is advised due to limited class seating, with classes filling quickly as the hunting season approaches for a number of game species, including deer, ducks, geese and doves.

Course dates, times and locations are available online at the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Hunter Education Program’s course calendar. Additional classes will be scheduled based on class demand. Classes are generally offered from July through February. Students must be 10 years of age or older to take any Delaware Hunter Education Program course.

The Basic Hunter Education Course teaches students safety, ethics, firearm types, safe gun handling, marksmanship techniques, specialty hunting techniques, wildlife management, wildlife identification, survival, Delaware hunting laws and regulations and many other hunter safety-related topics. All Basic Hunter Education Course participants must participate in a live firearm firing session with a trained instructor.

There are two options for taking the Basic Hunter Education Course:

• Traditional, in-person course offered at one of the classroom locations throughout the state. The in-person course is free of charge to all students.
• Online hunter education course with one of three private vendors listed at de.gov/huntersafety combined with a one-day in-person field day course to complete the live firearm firing requirement. A fee is charged for taking the course online; the field day course is free.

Registration for the Basic Hunter Education Courses can be made by visiting de.gov/licensing.

The Delaware Hunter Education Program was established in the early 1970s to help educate the public in safe hunting practices and to reduce hunting-related accidents. Since 1967, more than 39,000 Delaware hunters have completed hunter safety courses and received their hunter safety cards, which has substantially reduced hunting-related accidents.

For more information, contact the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Hunter Education Office at 302-735-3600, ext. 1.

Original source can be found here.