The NRA has implemented a program that started in 2015. Today we live in a society that allows us access to all the information that we could ever want to learn. You can look up the local weather from where ever you are for your next hunting trip, find out where the closest shooting range or firearms classes are being held, or find out just about anything you want on the internet. The key advantage to that freedom is a great opportunity to connect with friends, communities or organizations who share your specific interests. This is especially true with the advent of online courses.
The NRA’s Director of Hunter Services, Peter Churchbourne and his team have taken those concepts and helped to apply this idea to the hunting community. They are conceptualizing an exciting new way to help build a strong future for the hunting traditions. He states this is “the most encompassing and engaging Hunter Education course in the world.”
The NRA Hunter Education program is formatted in an online class that allows the student to choose any state to take the Hunters Education course. This can be done in the comfort of the student’s own home and the course is geared for any level of learning because the course can be taken at the student’s own pace. You can take the course all at once or complete sections as your time permits. Students also have the ability to browse back in the lessons if they have any questions or need to refresh the lessons. The NRA provides these courses not only for the home computer, there is also an app on their mobile devise.
This concept was developed in 2015 when coordination was established to set up individual state’s courses. In order to expand the program, it can be developed to the specific rules and regulations of each state without any extra cost burdened on the state. The NRA has at this time three states courses up and running at NRAHE.org. The course is ready to train hunters in Connecticut, Florida and Oregon. In the near future, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona will follow suit.
Churchbourne states, “Hunters are one of the most regulated sportsmen in the United States, so it makes sense to be as educated as you possibly can.” The NRA has always held this belief when it comes to firearms, the use of firearms and firearms safety. The course is designed to accomplish this task with a comprehensive and clear layout which is sure to some of the safest and most educated generations of hunters to date. For those who are visual learners, this is a dream come true. The course has videos, diagrams, images, audio recordings and interactive modules.
This course is being offered absolutely free of charge and introduces the best way of teaching future hunters the lessens that will no doubt stay with them for life. It also encourages would be hunters to take the first step and allows for experienced hunters to re-educate themselves. All students have to do is visit NRAHE.org and create an account.
With the creation of this new course, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has announced that state wildlife enforcement agencies may now claim a dollar value of the NRA’s Free Online Hunter Education Course. In other words the USFWS can ask for match dollars to access the federal Pittman-Robertson grant funds. This can be seen as a big win for the NRA and the state wildlife agencies because they rely heavily on the P-R money which is distributed by the USFW’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) Division. The money is used for their conservation programs. This will help to support and strengthen the states hunter recruitment and the NRA-supported R3 movement(Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation.)
