Hunter Education

By Colorado statute, everyone born on or after January 1, 1949 who applies for a Colorado hunting license must have successfully completed an approved hunter education course.
Why? --To make hunting safer.

Colorado hunters experienced an average of nine fatal and 24 non-fatal hunting accidents each year during the 1960s. Noting this, the Colorado legislature took action and passed the hunter education course completion requirement in 1970. The effect? In the 90s, the averages went down to 1.3 fatal and 11 non-fatal hunting accidents. The latest five years, through 2004, averaged 1.6 fatal and 10 non-fatal hunting accidents.
Hunting is safer in Colorado. Since 1970, over 600,000 students have taken and passed Colorado's hunter education course. And hunting is now safer across the United States, too, as all states have hunter education programs similar to Colorado's. (Canada does, also.)

The most basic purpose of a hunter education course is to teach safe, responsible firearm handling in the field, in the vehicle, and in the home after hunting. Through lectures, hands-on activities, and videos, students learn about firearms and ammunition, firearm safety, shooting fundamentals, and firearm and wildlife laws.
While hunter education courses enable safer hunting, they also help hunters be more successful in their hunts—and emphasize ethical hunting behavior. Subjects covered include hunter responsibility, wildlife identification and management, game care, outdoor survival, and more. Students also receive introductions to hunting with bows and black powder firearms.
Hunter education courses are recommended for anyone who spends time in the outdoors, whether or not they intend to hunt. Basic outdoor skills acquired in a hunter education course can be invaluable during any outdoor activities. For example, survival basics can help you prepare for and deal with emergencies. And wildlife management lessons provide insight into how and why wildlife agencies manage the resource, particularly by using hunting as a management tool.

To cover these topics adequately, courses consist of at least ten hours of instruction (as mandated by the law). A Hunter Education Card (or sometimes called a 'certificate') is awarded to students who have attended all classes and who pass the final exam and 'live fire' exercise.

Courses Scheduled for Grand Junction Colorado—For course information use the link on the left side of this page.

255-6100 is a local number for the Division of Wildlife Grand Junction office.