FWP News

What do you do if you are a hunter hunting with permission on private property, and you’re driving down a road toward an open gate when you see a bunch of cows running toward the gate?  Do you jump out and close the gate, or honk you horn and try to prevent the cows from going through?  Do you park in the middle of the gate and wait until someone shows up to tell you what to do?  Or do you drive on through and continue to hunt, since no one told you to close any gates?

 What do you do if you are a landowner and you don’t want hunters stopping at the house asking for permission to hunt during early morning or late evening hours?  

 Answers to these and other, even more challenging questions and exercises related to ethics, fair chase, private property rights, when to shoot or not and more can be found on a new 42 page Web-based information/education web site. The web site is part of a new Fish, Wildlife and Parks program designed to improve hunter behavior and landowner understanding of hunter perspectives as a goal of improving hunter-landowner relations. 

“We hope that this program will help hunters and landowners learn how they can build effective relationships based upon mutual respect and understanding of each others’ perspectives,” said Alan Charles, FWP Coordinator of Landowner/Sportsman Relations.

 The program is delivered through an interactive website utilizing questions, videos, and feedback, as well as opportunities for people to test their knowledge on 14 different topics related to hunter-landowner relations and responsible hunter behavior.

 Completion of this course may require three or more hours, depending upon a person’s reading skills, system functions, and working pace.  The website is designed to allow people to complete the course at their own pace, enabling a person to enter and leave the site without losing course material that has already been completed.

 Charles said the program was initiated based upon recommendations from the Private Land/Public Wildlife Council, as well as previous recommendations made by the Hunter Behavior Advisory Council  “Our goal in designing the program was to make sure we illustrated the common ground shared by hunters and landowners while also focusing attention and providing information on key issues that most typically arise regarding hunter behavior and hunter-landowner relations.”

 People who complete the program receive a certificate, and may also receive a free baseball cap and bumper sticker.  Verification of their completion of the course can also be linked permanently to their hunting and fishing license record on FWP’s automated license system (ALS).

 The voluntary program is available at no cost via FWP’s website: Click here for Hunter-Landowner Stewardship Project