Gotta keep them rats with antlers under control.

Hunter Education Programs are a big part of the decrease of hunter numbers over the last 20 years. The best solution would be to completely get the state out of the Hunter education business and radically reduce the price of hunting licenses or de-list white tail deer as a game animal.

Where I am, the only animals that may be hunted are designated game species. ALL the others are protected species that cannot be hunted. Where do you live ?

I doubt i'll ever be a hunter, myself, but if I ever were to take it up I'd definitely want some good training from somebody or other before I set out. I'd be seriously worried about not managing a clean kill, otherwise, and/or getting the field dressing and suchlike all FUBAR so the whole effort ended up wasted. It's the sort of thing I'd be likely to make a mess of, if left to my own devices.

The state DNR may or may not be the best agency to run such training, but they've got a pretty good reputation here in MI from what I can tell. I think I'd trust them, and I certainly would think their training should be better than none.

(Finding some place to hunt on is another matter entirely. Hunting on public land has a bad reputation from the little I've heard, and unless one's already a hunter, I'm not sure how one'd go about getting permission from landowners to hunt private land.)

My experience has been that the class is a good place to start, and joining an experienced hunter is also helpful.

Experienced hunters tend to have a network of friends and acquaintances who help them get access to private land, or who know about good public land.