March 14, 2012
By Florida Sportsman Newswire
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will host free hunter safety courses, one in Broward County and a two-day course in Collier County, on March 17.
Students will learn about hunting laws, safe gun handling and hunter ethics/responsibility, among other topics, before taking the final test. The course also includes live-firing instruction on a shooting range.
People seeking certification must successfully complete the online portion of the course prior to taking the classroom course. To receive certification, they must bring a printed copy of the final Web report to the FWC classroom course on March 17. The Web report does not need to be notarized.
The Broward course, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 17,  is at the Markham Park Shooting Range clubhouse near the trap and skeet fields at 16001 West State Road 84, Sunrise, FL 33326. Participants can sign up at MyFWC.com/HunterSafety or by calling the FWC's South Region Office at 561-625-5122.
For the Collier County course, in Naples, attendance on both days is required for certification. Participants must successfully complete the online portion of the course prior to attending and bring the final Web report to the FWC course on March 17. It does not have to be notarized.
Classes both days (8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 8 a.m. till noon) will be held at the North Naples Fire District, 1885 Veterans Park Drive, Naples, FL 34109. Participants can sign up at MyFWC.com/HunterSafety or by calling the FWC's South Region Office at 561-625-5122.
A link to the online part of the course and a statewide schedule of hunter safety classes are available at MyFWC.com/HunterSafety.
Anyone born on or after June 1, 1975, must pass an approved hunter safety course before purchasing a Florida hunting license. Parents or legal guardians must accompany children under 16 years of age to all classes. To participate in live-fire exercises, children under 18 years old must present a parental release form signed by a parent or legal guardian.
