Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) has created an innovative online course - "Ethically Hunting Arizona" - that provides hunters 18 and older with an opportunity to earn a lifetime bonus point.

A bonus point is simply an accumulated credit (or point) that authorizes the department to issue additional computer-generated random numbers to a big game draw application, thus providing an applicant with an added chance of receiving a low random number in the draw and improving their draw odds.

The Ethically Hunting Arizona course was developed primarily for those hunters who are looking to acquire their permanent Arizona Education Bonus Point without having to compete for limited seating in the classroom-style structure of the traditional Arizona Hunter Education course. This new online course should help to free up seating for youths 9 to 13 who must complete a hunter education course in person to hunt big game. To register for the course, visit https://www.azgfd.com/hunting/eha/.

Note: If a hunter already has earned an Arizona Education Bonus Point by completing Arizona Hunter Education, a second bonus point cannot be obtained through the taking of the Ethically Hunting Arizona course. In addition, completing the online course does not fulfill hunter education requirements to hunt in other states.

Ethically Hunting Arizona is geared primarily for experienced hunters, including those who are nonresidents, new residents to Arizona, and longtime state residents. Statistically, 9 percent of hunter education graduates are nonresidents. Of those 18 and older, 76 percent take the course for this bonus point, and only 20 percent identify as new hunters.

Ethically Hunting Arizona's 10 hours of online coursework will cover the following topics:

• Responsibility, safety, skills,

• Conservation, Fair Chase, ethics, hunters' image,

• Planning, preparation, survival skills,

• Firearm safety, handling, shot selection,

• Hunting strategies, vital shots, game care, and

• Arizona hunting laws, regulations, licensing.

The course provides focused learning to hopefully help reduce hunting incidents through safety education, as well as the number of citations issued for violations that occur in the field.

The cost of the discretionary course is $150 for Arizona residents, $300 for nonresidents (who now benefit from not having to outlay travel expenses, such as gas, airfare, lodging and meals, to take the course in person in Arizona).

A student will have two opportunities to pass the course with a minimum score of 80 percent. The course must be passed 30 days prior to the draw deadline day for the bonus point to be valid for that particular draw.