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Hunters safety course certificates...

wooly

By wooly,
in General Hunting

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wooly Newbie

wooly

Posted
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Do you know where yours is?

 

I was going to sit in on the hunters safety course with my sister this past weekend and just tag along to keep her company.

Prior to registration, at the beginning of the class, one of the instructors asked.... "who here HAS a hunting license but DOESN'T know where their safety course completion certificate is?"

 

A handful of attendees raised their hands including myself.

The instructor informed us that if we ever intended to hunt out of NY state, we may want to consider sitting through the course again and taking the test to obtain a new card.

Apparently not all states will recognize a NYS hunting license as a valid form of proof of hunters safety course completion, so you could run into some hang ups down the road if the opportunity ever arises to hunt outside of NY and all you have is your NY hunting license. In some cases you may actually need the safety course completion card.

 

Just thought I'd pass that along as it's something I wasn't aware of myself. It was a nice refresher for me anyhow, and the course has really changed since I took it many moons ago.

BTW- we both passed, and sis really impressed me by matching my score on the test!

The place was packed almost to capacity of 100 students, so that was good to see.

Can't wait to get out there with my new hunting partner.... c'mon May 1'st!

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rotorooter23 Newbie

rotorooter23

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You can call the Wildlife Division at your local regional DEC office and they can look your name up on the computer in the system and issue another certificate. We had a lot of calls like that when I was at the DEC. The archives only go back so far though, and I'm not sure how it works with the new system.

Edited by rotorooter23
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wooly Newbie

wooly

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You can call the Wildlife Division at your local regional DEC office and they can look your name up on the computer in the system and issue another certificate. We had a lot of calls like that when I was at the DEC. The archives only go back so far though, and I'm not sure how it works with the new system.

 

Good point....BUT

I'll bet there's a few guys that may not be in the system at all.

I know a few guys that "knew a guy" that issued them safety certificates for $20 years ago.

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beachpeaz Rookie

beachpeaz

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Someone is trying to squeeze you for extra money...lol.

 

I have NO clue where my certificate is.  I took that class 25 years ago.

 

I have hunted in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Canada, etc.  YES, they require you to know your hunter ID # to create an account and apply for a draw.  That is 100% correct.

 

However, they do NOT need the actual certificate, just the number off of it.  You can obtain that from your DEC office, just like I did.

 

If you have purchased a single license in NYS, then your number is on file.

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beachpeaz Rookie

beachpeaz

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Good point....BUT

I'll bet there's a few guys that may not be in the system at all.

I know a few guys that "knew a guy" that issued them safety certificates for $20 years ago.

 

Shame on them then.  They SHOULD have to take the class again. Cheating the system will always bite you in the ass.

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beachpeaz Rookie

beachpeaz

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Funny thing is NY accepted my New Hampshire Firearms license but had to show Hunter education card for archery

 

My brother-in-law who lives in Utah comes here whitetail hunting with me every year (in trade for me Mule Deer hunting).

 

In Utah, you do the hunter safety course, and you are good for ALL weapons.  Unlike NY with the absoltely RIDICULOUS need to make people take an extra archery class.

 

So, the first time he came here to bow hunt, we had to jump through a ton of hoops.  He has no "specific" archery ed certificate, just the general hunting one that is good for all hunting in UT.  He needed to bring his old archerty tag with him, with a letter from the DWS in Utah.....PLUS, and thankfully for this, I know someone at the local town office where you can buy licenses and she was able to assist us in the process.

 

NY makes EVERYTHING more difficultI (and expensive).

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wooly Newbie

wooly

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You can call the Wildlife Division at your local regional DEC office and they can look your name up on the computer in the system and issue another certificate. We had a lot of calls like that when I was at the DEC. The archives only go back so far though, and I'm not sure how it works with the new system.

 

Just checking the DEC website, and it looks like they can only track back to 1980 so the possibility exists they wont be able to recover many.

On the site, there's also a link to an interactive map with detailed out of state requirements for safety course requirements.

 

 

Call 1-888-HUNT-ED2. You will be asked for your name, date of birth, type of course you took and when and where you took the course. Certificates dated earlier than 1980 cannot be found or replaced. If you need a certificate and yours cannot be found, you will need to retake the course.

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wildcat junkie Contributor

wildcat junkie

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Good point....BUT

I'll bet there's a few guys that may not be in the system at all.

I know a few guys that "knew a guy" that issued them safety certificates for $20 years ago.

I never took a hunter safety course when I moved to NY State. I used my Indiana hunting license as proof.

I never attended a hunter safety course in Indiana either. I "grandfathered" in.

I believe a lot of states use your birth date to determine the requirement.

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Two Track Newbie

Two Track

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Don't think my dad ever had to take the course. The system came after many years of hunting with a license already.  Now he has aged out where he lives.  No purchase of a license to except for the extra's (Turkey, doe tags, federal waterfowl stamp).  You do have to take a madatory turkey class before you hunt turkeys there.

 

I covered mine with contact paper and I know where i keep it. My son's, idk if he knows where it is.

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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The last time I hunted out of state was Colorado about 15 years ago and back then you did need you original hunting cert. I was thankful to have still had mine back then. The deer hunting in NY state is so good now that I don't see me having any desire to hunt out of state again (I am mainly in it for the meat). I have to admit that the elk from out there are very tasty, almost as good as the whitetail we have here. I would never consider shooting another mule deer however. Even the outfitters out there didn't like eating them compared to elk or NY state whitetails.

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Red Experienced

Red

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My uncle hasn't hunted in almost 15 year's but wanted to hunt add again few year's ago he went to the local bait shop were he bought his last hunting license but they weren't finding anything in the computer they Told him that he had to take the course again before he signed up for a course i called the local dec they have me a number to call in albany they asked what year he took the course and in a few weeks he had a new card. I know a few older people that got their license by their friends signing their name on the sign in sheet at the course but that was ages ago before for i was even born

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Pygmy Experienced

Pygmy

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According to Colorado regs,you DO need a hunter safety certificate, and you DO need to carry it with you while you are hunting.

I don't know if they ENFORCE it or not, since Colorado is one of the few states/provinces I have hunted and have NOT been checked by a game cop, but I know that is the reg.

Colorado also requires that you have a certificate SPECIFIC to bowhunting, if you buy a bow tag.

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