Young trappers and archery hunters in Utah can receive more training than ever before.

In addition to the hunter education course the state has offered for decades, two fairly new courses—furharvester education and bowhunter education—are also available.

But the Division of Wildlife Resources has run into a challenge in offering these classes to people across the state—a lack of trained volunteer instructors to teach them.

"These classes include specialized training that our regular hunter education courses don't offer," says Kirk Smith, assistant hunter education coordinator for the DWR. "If you're a trapper or a bowhunter—and you want to share the passion you have for trapping or bowhunting with young people—you're the person we're looking for."

The DWR will train volunteer instructors at a series of workshops. The workshops will be held at locations across Utah from January through the first week in May. The only fee you'll have to pay is $15 for a background check.

You can find more information about the training—including dates and locations—at wildlife.utah.gov/huntereducation/instructors [2].

"If you look at the schedule and you don't see a training session in your part of the state, please call us," Smith says. "If there's enough interest in the area of the state where you live, we'll put a training session together for you."

You can reach Smith at 1-800-397-6999.

More information about the Hunter Education program and the instructor training is also available in an audio interview with Smith. You can hear the interview at wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/multimedia/podcasts.html [3].