The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is hosting a Hunter Education Skills Day at Esther Bone Memorial Library on Wednesday, July 31, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Registration is open to youth 10-17 years of age who have not yet passed a hunter education course. Participants will have the opportunity to earn their hunter education certification during this session.

This opportunity is free, and the course is a blended learning session. For the first part of the session, students must complete their reading, quizzes, and exam online at https://www.ilearntohunt.com/newmexico/ before the July 31 Skills Day (once registered a code will be provided so the student can take the online portion free of charge). In part two, students who complete the required online portion will bring their completion certificate to the in-person session on July 31, hosted at the library.

During the skills day, Department staff and certified volunteer instructors will be sharing their hunting knowledge and providing students the opportunity to learn how to safely handle deactivated hunting-style firearms, test their ethical shot placement and safe firearms handling skills with a shoot/don’t shoot simulator, and have the unique opportunity to learn how to field dress and elk using the Department’s new virtual reality field dressing simulator!

Participants must bring their lunch, snacks and drinks for the day.

Registration Details:

To qualify, participants must be at least 10 years of age at the time of registration and have not previously passed a hunter education course. Space is limited to 15 and will be filled on a first-come basis. Each youth must submit a completed registration form at https://forms.office.com/g/92WtBUvvXa to qualify. Registration opens on July 8 at 9 am.

Before completing this registration form, each youth must have a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Customer Identification Number (CIN) account. If the student does not have an account, please go to https://onlinesales.wildlife.state.nm.us to create one. Be sure to write down the CIN that is assigned to the youth.