Hunter education courses offered at Randolph County schools

ELKINS -- The Randolph County Sheriff's Office and its Prevention Resource Officers have been helping prepare students for the outdoors by offering hunter education courses at schools throughout the county.

In an effort to make the courses more available to students, the classes are being offered during school hours. Each session takes place over a span of three days, and the most recent classes were taught at Harman School, where 14 students participated.

Randolph County's Prevention Resource Officers Rocky Hebb, Daniel Pennington and Ethan Carr are all certified hunter education instructors and have been conducting the courses.

"Our PROs have been doing the courses at different schools all over the county," Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon told The Inter-Mountain. "Harman was the last school they were at and we had good participation from the students there. They previously offered the courses at Elkins High School and Elkins Middle, and Tygarts Valley High School and TV Middle." 

All of the students participating at Harman School passed their examination at the end of the course. Each student received their Hunter Education Card, which is good for the remainder of their lives.

"I think it's great that we are offering these courses in the schools," Elbon said. "I took a hunter safety course when I was a kid, but I had to take it off site and away from school. So it's pretty cool that our officers are bringing it to the schools, where the students don't have to try and find a way to go somewhere and take it."

During the course training, Elbon said students are taught additional things that will help them while in the outdoors.

"They are taught things like how to build a campfire as well as other survival techniques," Elbon said. "That way they will know what to do if they are ever out in the woods and they get lost."

Elbon said offering the courses introduces students to something different they may not be exposed to elsewhere.

"A lot of kids are engaged in electronics and things like that," he said. "They're not exposed to outdoor things like they used to be years ago. When I was younger, there was nothing else to do but hunt, fish and do other things outside. But it's not like that anymore."

In West Virginia, anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1975, must successfully complete a certified Hunter Education Course before they can purchase a base hunting license. A certificate of completion must be presented when purchasing a hunting license for the first time. 

Topics highlighted during hunter education courses include gun safety, wildlife management, ethics, survival/first aid, game identification, and how to hunt safely and ethically. 

West Virginia Division of Natural Resource Police Corporal Greg Smith assisted the Prevention Resource Officers with the courses.