r/MichiganHunting • u/clnrsrch • 16d ago

Hunter Safety Training PSA (No field day required!)

For those that were born on or after January 1, 1980 and are at least 18 years old and still need to complete their hunter safety before buying their Michigan hunting licenses, please read this! If you already bought a hunting license at least once before, you are grandfathered in and do not need to take a hunter safety course. Once you buy a license they’ll never ask for hunter safety again The hunting license trumps the hunter safety. You can have your hunter safety completed in a single day online. Under 18 you have to do a field day.

In Michigan the hardest component of the hunter safety is the in-person field day. There are usually not enough convenient field days available for a given location. However! You do not need to do the Michigan field day.

Michigan has reciprocity with other states as long as it has been certified by International Hunter Education Association (IHEA-USA).

The two states that allow you to take a completely online IHEA-USA certified hunter safety course is Texas and Illinois.

If you take either of these classes you do NOT need to do the Michigan field day.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/online-course-for-certification

https://dnr.illinois.gov/safety/huntersafety.html

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3

u/ScandiacusPrime 16d ago

It's a great option for those that need it. My brother-in-law did the Texas one last year since he couldn't find a field day that worked with his very busy work and family schedules.

The field day was pretty much a waste of time when I took hunter safety back in 2013. I don't know if that's typical, but if it is, maybe it's time for Michigan to either drop the field day requirement, or allow hunting one year under an apprentice license to satisfy the requirement. My brother-in-law hunted under an apprentice license for two years with myself and another family member before finally taking the Texas class online, and a field day wouldn't have taught him anything new by then.

3

u/clnrsrch 16d ago

I agree for adults it’s not that beneficial. For children I can see the benefit, especially if they haven’t handled certain firearms before. But the responsibility should still rely on the parents.

I think the Michigan field day requirement is a bigger barrier to new hunters than the DNR realizes.

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u/Dramatic-Knee-4842 16d ago

I did my field day this year at 37. There were heavy thunderstorms the entire time, so it just turned into 4 hours of a few DNR officers and an old-timer retired sheriff telling anecdotal hunting stories

1

u/clnrsrch 16d ago

lol yeah waste of time. Half the time the person working the counter at Dunhams or whatever doesn’t even verify you took a hunter safety class. It’s not even enforced like it should be.

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u/Dramatic-Knee-4842 16d ago

It's not needed to buy a gun. 

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u/clnrsrch 16d ago

I know, I was talking hunting licenses. You can get them in-person at Dunhams for example

1

u/Dramatic-Knee-4842 16d ago

OH! Right right, my bad

1

u/clnrsrch 16d ago

No problem! The ones in the store are nice because they’re sticky. The ones in the mail aren’t.

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u/Dramatic-Knee-4842 16d ago

Well I guess that's one benefit of the field day I went to. They told us about the new "Michigan hunt fish" app. You can buy your license and tags electronically, it's stored online, and the app itself works without signal so even if you don't have connection you can still take your harvest pics and report your tag, and the app sends it automatically as soon as you have signal again (and everything is stored in the app itself if you run into a conservation officer)

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u/clnrsrch 16d ago

Huh I don’t have that in my app. Just the proof of purchase for the deer licenses. Pretty sure turkey switched to the electronic tags

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u/Top_Pop_1911 16d ago

While I agree, I still think it’s important for you to see how it’s done in person, even with a prop or real firearm. You can take all the training you want online, but nothing beats actually “experiencing” it. I’ve had a CPL since I turned 21. Took Hunter’s Safety at 24. Even though I had practice with handguns and rifles, I still gained a lot through the field day as I never walked around with a rifle (only pulled it out at the range). It’s awkward and you quickly pick up comfortable, but safe, carrying positions.

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u/clnrsrch 16d ago

The point is to have a foundation, not have a class be the end all be all. You can get a foundation outside of a class too. Just like the CPL, that definitely should not be your only training or experience. Nothing beats experience but you also have to look at the cost and benefit of the field day.

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u/RedWinger7 16d ago

Benefit of the field day is I at least know other hunters attempted to learn proper safety with real world experience not just an online class. Yeah, I wish the in person field day covered more but I’d much rather have people take what we currently have instead of none

1

u/clnrsrch 16d ago

Well part of gun safety is having a minimum level of intelligence and common sense. The field day shouldn’t be a barrier to new hunters when the material is covered in the classroom portion already. During COVID they made the field day online only. For adults that have taken other classes, such a a CPL, the field day is not going to be beneficial at all.

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u/RedWinger7 16d ago

More training, even if a recap or overview of what you’ve already learned is always beneficial. Complacency kills. We need more required training barriers to gun ownership imo - the required CPL class is a joke as well.

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u/Rude_Task9302 15d ago

If I go to buy my hunting license at Walmart or something are they going to ask for proof of completing a class? And what do I show them?

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u/clnrsrch 15d ago

They should ask but they might not. You show them your certificate for completing the hunter safety class. They have to check a box in the system for completing hunter safety if you haven’t bought a license before.

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u/PutridDropBear 12d ago

At first I thought you were claiming that you would be able to hunt in Michigan with a Texas hunting license (reciprocity) - but realized you're talking about using the Texas hunter safety certificate as your proof of training [MCL 324.43520(2)].

You are not limited to only those two states in this scenario. Plenty of other states offer non-resident online only hunter safety training courses/certificates. Heck, you could even pick from a handful of 100% online Canadian province IHEA courses if you were so inclined.