Same here, can be taken online if preferred. I'm glad the grandson wanted to go in person because they had great furbearer displays and great trapping instructors.

I've participated in five of PA's required Hunter Trapper Education courses so far; my own when I was eleven years old, three with my daughters and one with my granddaughter. There are two more grandkids I hope to be taking in the near future.

I'm glad we all did them in-person. I was sorry to see the live firing go away a number of years ago. I also took the required cable restraint classes several times.

Have you ever thought of becoming an instructor? I was one for 30 years when I lived in PA. For trapping, at least in Idaho, I don’t think on line instruction would work. Too much hands on instruction would be missed plus ethos can’t be emphasized enough on line. The main purpose of Trapper Ed. Is teaching ethics.

From memory Youth below age 14 don’t need Trappers Education in MN to participate. I believe they have to complete Mandatory Trappers Ed to purchase a Youth Trapping License at age 14.
A good portion can be completed online but they still have to complete a Field Day. The MTA has demos at the Convention that will meet the requirements of a Field Day. Each of the 8 Districts in MN is also asked to Host at least one Field Day so opportunity is provided. Some Districts hold several .
Actually any compenet Trapper can legally administer the Field Training , but most are Certified Instructors who took a short course.

It’s not perfect ! The new trapper has to take some initiative to complete the course. Individuals are also required to take firearms safety to purchase a Hunting license in MN. All 3 of my Grandkids some how managed to meet the requirements despite the small inconvenience.

If I voiced what I thought of trapper Ed is get kicked off this site.

2poor they need a license at 13.

What? You're gonna throw a grenade, then run off?

My memory of this forum goes back to January 2001. Trapper Talk has never been exclusively about trapping, either by practice or design. There has always been an occasional complaint about that too. You've posted nothing original.

Jim

No, I've never considered it. I do have a lot of respect for the folks that donate their time to teaching the classes though. I agree that the in-person experience is far better than taking an online course.

In PA the Hunter Trapper Education courses are geared towards the hunting side of things. Trapping is glossed over pretty quickly. My last course I asked an instructor if the safety zone ruling pertained to trapping as well as hunting. He didn't know nor did any of the other instructors or any of the students.

I informed them that the 150 yard safety zone did apply to trapping.

The Cable Restraint Certification courses are much more thorough with lots of hands-on practice and lots of study on the many regulations. I took my first one with my daughter at John Epler's (Epler's Furs) place in Orwigsburg the year they were legalized for use in PA.

Well, Jim you may not fit in with all those Conservatives in the lower 48 that love government mandates. Good job Grandpa, smokin out all the Jimmy Carter voters.