Instructors say DNR decision to waive field tests creates unsafe hunters afield

Some hunter safety volunteer instructors around the state are angry that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources eliminated the need for students under age 18 to take a field course before getting certification to hunt on their own.

This means that thousands of young, first-time hunters could take to the deer woods this fall with no practical experience and no field testing. This hands-on testing often weeds out up to 10% of unsafe students who are putting their finger on the trigger or sweeping a rifle barrel at someone, longtime instructors say.

The DNR’s decision to no longer require a field test for online hunter safety test graduates came Oct. 15, primarily because COVID-19 restrictions were making it difficult for the state’s volunteer instructors to keep up with the demand for classes.

The state restricted class numbers to no more than 50 students and mandated a number of virus-related protocols for field classes.

Jon M. King, hunter education administrator for the DNR, said the hunter education program reopened in July after the initial statewide shutdowns by Gov. Tony Evers. Nearly half of all instructors indicated at that time that they would not be offering classes because of coronavirus fears.

“We waited until all instructors signaled their intent to offer classes, and we saw that there was not going to be enough classes to meet the pending need,” King said. “We still have 10,000 students that normally would have come to us for hands-on (instruction), and we only have classrooms for 1,700 students,” he said via email.

King also said that 95% of the states have made the decision to go “all online” during the pandemic. “I believe that hands-on education is the best for all students. I also realize some education is better than none.”

He added that initially, hunting accidents by hunters with no training were more common, but since starting internet classes around 1999, “we have not seen an increase in internet users causing incidents.” He said one person who completed an internet field day was involved in a hunting accident between 1999 and 2019, but no adult online grads were involved in a hunting accident from 2012 to 2019.

During the past 10 years, eight gun-deer seasons have not had any fatalities, King noted.

But Paul Piencikowski, lead hunter safety instructor for a group that teaches in Waupaca, strongly disagrees with the DNR’s decision, saying that the state is putting the value of a human life at $35 — the cost of an internet course and the additional $10 fee normally paid for the field course.

His group’s classes have certified nearly 4,000 students in recent years, and they have a consistent failure rate of about 10%, due to either a student putting a finger on the firearm’s trigger or sweeping someone with the muzzle during field testing. All internet field course students have already completed the online course.

Piencikowski added that during the earlier portion of the field course when students are learning, it’s very common for them to point a firearm at someone else or put a finger on the trigger — violating two of the most important “TAB-K” rules, which also include being sure of your target and what’s beyond and treating every firearm as if it were loaded. Then the testing begins after students have spent most of the day learning safe gun handling practices.

“If a student cannot control their muzzle for the duration of the field test (approximately 20 minutes), what makes me think they will practice safe muzzle control for the next 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 years of their life while handling firearms?” He asked in a letter to DNR Secretary Preston Cole. “My conclusion is that they won’t.”

During an October class just after the DNR decision, a parent of a student who had failed the field test by not controlling his firearm’s muzzle told Piencikowski that he would just have his child take the $35 option of repeating the online course.

“I did all that I could to convince the parent as to why that choice would be a poor decision. I hope I was able to change his mind, but that choice is now available to him, along with all other parents in Wisconsin,” the lead instructor wrote.

“If I have to choose between keeping a student and parent happy or keeping people safe, I will choose being safe every time,” his letter continued. “One bad decision can cause serious injury or death that could have been prevented. One bad decision can start a domino effect toward the public perspective of our hunting heritage.”

Piencikowski noted that it’s not just inexperienced youth under age 18 who scare him when they go afield without a field course. Adults can be a threat, too, because they are not mandated to take the field portion if they take an online course.

“Our experience has shown that adults have a history of poor firearm handling skills,” he said. “This is due to years of bad habits that have not been corrected. Many of our students who have needed hunter education in order to hunt in other states (each state has their own grandfather clause) have stated that they did not realize how many bad habits they had as each one was pointed out to them during our classes.”

At least two other instructors in Piencikowski’s Waupaca-based class — which won Hunter Safety Instructor Group of the Year honors from the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation — wrote similar letters to Cole.

King said the mandated field portion of online courses for youth would likely return Jan. 1 “when we see a positive change in what COVID-19 is doing statewide and when our amazing instructors become active and get their public classes posted.”

Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.