FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- In preparation for bow season, nearly one hundred students took a hunter education course Saturday (Sept. 20) at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center.
"There are things that I didn't know that now I know, and that's a good thing,” Jade Banning said.
She has been hunting with her stepfather since she was 13, but now that she's 16, she needs a hunting license and to pass a hunter education course in order to hunt on her own.
"I thought it would be sad but it's really not that bad and it's a fun thing to do," Banning said.
She shot her first white-tailed doe last year, and this year she's expanding her hunting knowledge with help from instructor Chad Lowe and Sebastian County Wildlife Officer Ep Fletcher in a hunter education course.
"We cover everything from first aid and survival, to shot placement and animal I.D.,” Lowe said.
The students also learned about hunting ethics, and what to do if you get lost.
"Instantly when you're lost, you panic,” Banning said. “I've been lost in the woods and it's not fun. It's a real scary situation. You just gotta keep calm.”
But Lowe said the most important message of the course is firearm safety.
"[The] number one rule of firearm safety is muzzle control and we go over that, and over that and over that,” he said.
Banning is confident in her shooting skills and said hunting isn't just for men.
"At a skeet shoot, I can out-shoot any guy that comes up against me,” she said.
Banning and her brother and step-father are ready for bow season.
"We made a food plot for our deer, and we set up deer cameras,” Banning said. “And we've already got a couple of deer on our cameras and I'm really excited to see how it's gonna go."
The 87 students took a multiple choice test after the 10-hour course. They needed to get 80 percent of the questions correct in order to pass.
According to the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center website, "Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1969 must complete a hunter education course and carry a valid hunter education card to hunt in Arkansas. Youths under 16 may hunt without hunter education as long as they are under the direct supervision of an adult who is 21 years old."
Next weekend at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center, there will be an event for children ages five to 16 to celebrate National Hunting and Fishing Day.
They can compete in different categories including archery, wall climbing and shooting BB guns.