More than 100,000 hunters have completed the National Rifle Association of America’s free, award-winning NRA Hunter Education online courses since the program’s inception in 2017.
Designed and provided by the organization that built the first-ever hunter education program in the United States in 1949, the free NRA Hunter Education online course offers a fresh and fully comprehensive approach to hunter education. The 15-chapter sequence features attention-grabbing videos, eye-catching graphics and diagrams, interactive modules, audio recordings and dozens of action photos presented in appealing, easy-to-access online components that provide the best method for teaching future hunters.
“One of the purposes and objectives of the NRA is to promote and support hunter safety in America,” said Joseph P. DeBergalis Jr., executive director of NRA General Operations. “This free, online course was developed to make it easier for new hunters to get into the field. We are thrilled with the partnerships we have fostered with state wildlife agencies across our nation and the more than 100,000 of our fellow hunters who have completed this no-cost program.”
This free offering has saved American hunters approximately $2.5 million when compared to the fees associated with other online hunter-education providers. Additionally, with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) ruling in 2019, state wildlife agencies now may claim a dollar value of the NRA’s online Hunter Education course as in-kind match dollars to access federal Pittman-Robertson (P-R) grant funds. Had every state that offers the NRA online course utilized that match opportunity, it would have resulted in more than $7 million going back to the state agencies for other hunter education programs and/or range building/improvement opportunities. This is a giant step forward in bolstering states’ hunter recruitment efforts and the national NRA-backed R3 movement: Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation.
To take the NRA Hunter Education online course or learn more, visit NRAHE.org. Not available in your area? Contact your State Department of Fish and Game Agency to request NRA’s online Hunter Education be accepted in your state: fws.gov/offices/statelinks.html
