By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
Dove and white-tailed deer season are still a few months away, but now may be the perfect time for Texas youth to complete hunter education.
Hunters who were born on or after Sept. 2, 1971, must complete a hunter education course before hunting in the state of Texas.
“I strongly recommend people do that during the summer because when we get to the fall, because a lot of hunter education instructors are volunteers, it gets difficult around October and November to find a hunter education class,” Chris Mitchell, director of the Texas Youth Hunting Program (TYHP), told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.
People who complete hunter education during the summer are eligible to begin hunting as soon as the season begins and they have a valid hunting license.
Mitchell said there are several options to complete the course.
“If you’re under the age of 17, you can take a portion of hunter education online, and then you can go to a field course, and that’s only four hours long,” Mitchell said.
The field course puts participants in safety scenarios and shoot/don’t shoot situations.
Completing the educational course early also helps those youth who are interested in signing up for a TYHP hunt.
“All you need to do is go to tyhp.org, create an account and sign up for hunts,” Mitchell said. “You can sign up for as many hunts as you like, but if you’re a new hunter, be prepared because that’s how we choose hunters. We choose the hunters who have the least number of hunts.”
TYHP scheduled hunts will be posted in the fall.
“It’s a program that takes nine- to 17-year-old youth from Texas, and actually from out-of-state, on hunts, provided they’ve completed hunter education,” Mitchell said. “They have to come with a parent. Landowners donate access to their property.”
Last year, the program, which is hosted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA), hosted more than 230 hunts and took over 1,200 kids hunting.
The hunting section of the TPWD website and TYHP website have links to upcoming courses.