Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is hosting an in-person hunter education course in Great Falls and registration is now open.

The course is free but advanced registration is required and available here.

The course will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Sept. 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, and 28 at the Paris Gibson Education Center.

Students must attend all classroom sessions in order to be certified. Attendance at a field course on the morning of Sept. 30 is also required. Students are required to pick up materials and complete the course manual before attending the first class.

In-person, instructor-led hunter education courses are available free to anyone aged 10 and older and are led by trained volunteer instructors who are passionate about preserving Montana’s hunting tradition, teaching firearm safety, ethics, and outdoor skills, according to FWP.

Instructor-led courses provide students with lots of hands-on learning opportunities and can be particularly beneficial for new hunters who have minimal experience in the field or handling firearms, according to FWP.

Montana also provides a self-paced online-only hunter education course that is available for anyone 12 and older. The online course provides a convenience for those who are comfortable with e-Learning or who already have a strong firearms handling and hunting background, according to FWP.

For youth to be eligible to hunt and be fully certified during the 2023 season, they must be 12-years old by Jan. 16, 2024. Students aged 10 and 11 can take the course and hunt as an apprentice but will not be fully certified until the year they turn 12.

To purchase or apply for a Montana hunting license, anyone born after Jan. 1, 1985, must complete a hunter education course issued by Montana, any other state, or any Canadian province.