HUNTERS CAN LOG ON FOR EDUCATION

In a column several weeks back, I mentioned my hope that theDepartment of Game and Inland Fisheries would eventually launch anInternet-based hunter education course.

It turns out my hopes were unnecessary.

Hunter education volunteer Vernie Kennedy of Bedford kindlypointed out that the agency already offers the course. It's just thatthey haven't really put the word out on the new option.

In the retail and restaurant world they call that a soft opening -- quietly opening the doors to help work out the kinks before the madrush of new customers.

Sgt. David Dodson, the conservation police officer who overseesthe state's hunter education program, said the game department istrying to hold two of the "alternative delivery" courses in each ofthe agency's five regions this year.

Interestingly, one of the challenges is that the course requiresadditional volunteer instructors. That's because it's more than justa Web course, and the in-person training session has a heavy emphasison practical instruction.

Kennedy and his team are offering one of the courses to culminatein a four-hour session on Nov. 4.

Students first take an on-line course through the InternationalHunter Education Association's Internet site (ihea.com). As they workthrough the material, students take a series of quizzes.

Students can expect the on-line course to take about four hours,although some hunters will probably be able to complete it morequickly.

Armed with their completed quizzes from the on-line course, thestudents need to attend the session to take an exam and complete thepractical training session. The course runs 1-5 p.m. on Nov. 4 at theThaxton Community Center. Prospective students need to pre-registerby calling the game department's regional office in Forest at (434)525-7522.

"They start by taking the same test we give at the end of theregular course," said Kennedy, who recently earned the department'sprestigious William Dixon Morgan Award for his contribution to thehunter education program.

After passing the test -- and they must pass -- students move onto the practical instruction.

At five stations they learn about and demonstrate proficiency at anumber of things, including proper gun handling and tree standsafety.

Each student gets to handle a gun in the session, unlike in thenormal classroom course.

Kennedy said his group has been offering an alternative deliverycourse for the past few years, but the home study portion of thatcourse has been a workbook.

"It took 10 to 12 hours to complete that workbook," Kennedy said.

He's not exaggerating. A friend took that route and the workbookwas a bear.

So that translated to an even longer time commitment than theregular classroom course, which totals about 12 hours.

Dodson said the on-line option isn't intended to replace thetraditional course.

"And it isn't intended to be easier," he added.

But it certainly can be more convenient when compared to a coursethat otherwise takes up most of a weekend or, as in the case withmany Roanoke courses, four long post-work or post-school evenings.

The agency hopes to be able to offer more of the testing andpractical sessions to complement the Internet course in coming yearsas additional instructors are trained.

Those volunteer instructors, a force that numbers about 775, havebeen the backbone of the program since 1988, when hunter educationbecame mandatory for hunters ages 12 to 15 and for all others whohadn't previously held a hunting license.

The program, which will train its 500,000 student this year, haspaid off. Since hunter education became mandatory, hunting-relatedshooting accidents in Virginia have been reduced by 25 percent,Dodson said.

New regs for shotguns, rabbits

Most changes to game laws recently adopted by the Department ofGame and Inland Fisheries won't take effect until July 1, 2008. Buttwo rules will hit sooner.

Much sooner.

The department's board of directors approved extending rabbitseason through the end of February. Assured by game biologists thatthere was no reason not to implement the change immediately, that'swhat the board voted to do for the upcoming season, which opens Nov.3.

That means the season dates in the current game laws digest, whichlists a mid-February closure, are no longer applicable.

While hunters won't feel that change until February, another rulechange took effect Friday.

Hunters will now be allowed to use unplugged shotguns to hunt non-migratory game -- deer, turkeys, squirrels, grouse and cottontails,for example.

Shotguns must still be plugged to three-shot capacity formigratory game, including doves, crows, woodcock, ducks and allgeese, including resident Canada geese.

For those of us who use one shotgun for most of our hunting, therule probably won't make much of a difference. I have enough troublekeeping up with the interchangeable choke tubes in my Browning semi-auto, so the last thing I want to do is worry about whether my gun isplugged or not.

But for hunters who use specific guns for certain species, the newrule could give them an advantage if the action is fast -- or, Isuppose, if their shooting is really bad, and their targets arereally slow.