Official Hunter Safety Courses for Today’s Hunter
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
In the lesson activity that accompanies this Into the Outdoors @Home video, we will examine the purpose for taking hunting classes, either as a youth or adult. Students will learn to identify what skills are needed for hunting and do scenarios that will help them think about planning a hunting trip (or other trip into the wilderness) while honing their logic skills and survival instincts.
After brainstorming and practicing their wilderness survival skills they will be able to answer the Critical Question, “What basic skills are needed before embarking on a hunt?”
This activity is best done in a group setting, and can include either indoor or outdoor creative activity time whereby students will practice their group cooperative and problem solving skills.
For more information and resources related to hunting and conservation, visit Hunter-ED.com
The information in our video and on this page was made possible by our educational partners.
Anyone, anywhere can get started hunting with the right tools and guidance! Hunting anywhere is challenging, especially for an inexperienced hunter. In order to be successful, new hunters need to get certified in hunter education within their state. New hunters can also benefit from the guidance of a mentor, someone to teach, guide and help them as they get started.
You may be interested to know that hunting is also closely tied to sustainability and conservation efforts. Hunters play a huge role in restoring and protecting habitats for animals who live in an ecosystem, and modern hunters work to help balance wildlife populations.
In this Into the Outdoors episode and related Into the Outdoors @Home topic videos, we see that learning a new skill like hunting can lead to an incredible journey of personal discovery. We also learn the ways in which hunting and wildlife conservation efforts go hand in hand.
Find links to the Into the Outdoors @Home topic videos below. These custom learning videos are designed to share with your entire classroom. You’ll also find other educational content, including custom lesson activities that blend peer-driven learning and hands-on activities.
For more information and resources related to hunting and conservation, visit Hunter-ED.com
The information in our video and on this page was made possible by our educational partners.
When European settlers began spreading across America's wild landscape, their guns combined with uncontrolled market hunting dramatically impacted the estimated 45 million white-tailed deer that inhabited the countryside. In fact, market hunting decimated deer populations to the point that only an estimated 300,000 deer remained in the United States by 1903. With such a downward spiral, they seemed doomed to near extinction, right?
But thanks to the birth and evolution of "wildlife conservation" and modern wildlife management, things changed dramatically for the white-tailed deer. Now there are about 100 times more deer, some 30 MILLION that now inhabit North America. Think about that for a moment… 100 times more deer today than 100 years ago. And today, the “whitetail”, as many people call them, represent the nation’s most abundant wild game resource and one of America’s great conservation success stories… all rolled into one.
So who, what, and when changed to reshape the future of wildlife populations in America? Watch the full Emmy-winning TV episode here. Or, for classroom or distance learning, explore the related classroom videos with special lesson activities in the "Educational" section of the website. In particular, explore; Managing Black Bears, Managing White-tailed Deer and the Birth of Wildlife Conservation.
This wildlife education program is made possible with support of the follow educational partners. Teachers can link to their websites for additional information and educational opportunities, such as their American Wilderness Leadership School Youth Program.
At SCI Foundation’s American Wilderness Leadership School location in Jackson, Wyoming, educators and students learn about conservation, wildlife management, and outdoor recreation through outdoor, hands-on activities. Their Hands on Wildlife (HOW) program provides educators with conservation education instructional tools they can use in hands-on instruction.
Pheasant hunting is in our heritage, and is an outdoor recreation that many people include in their lifestyles today. Huh, so what’s the big deal? Why are people so into game bird hunting?
Well, there are several ways to discover and share the wildlife and conservation education in this show.
First, you can kick back with family or friends to watch this entire half-hour television episode to get the full content in one sitting. Kinda like enjoying a full course meal. Yum-yum.
Then there's the shorter, custom segments on the noted links below. These are the custom "classroom" or learning videos with some bonus content designed to share with your entire classroom. On these links below you'll also find lots of other educational content, including custom lesson activities for your teacher to take your entire classroom on a three to four day journey of peer-driven learning blended with fun and hands-on pathways to try outdoor pursuits yourself.
Whichever way you decide to enjoy the fun and educational content, it's a win-win way for you to get engaged with pathways to discovering more about yourself and the great outdoors.
Official Hunter Safety Courses for Today’s Hunter
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Okay, so there's several great ways to enjoy and share the wildlife and conservation education in this show.
First, you can kick back with family or friends to watch this entire half-hour television episode to get the full content in one sitting. Kinda like enjoying a full course meal. Yum-yum.
Then there's the shorter, custom segments on the noted links below. These are the custom "classroom" or learning videos with some bonus content designed to share with your entire classroom. On these links below you'll also find lots of other educational content, including custom lesson activities for your teacher to take your entire classroom on a three to four day journey of peer-driven learning blended with fun and hands-on pathways to try outdoor pursuits yourself.
Whichever way you decide to enjoy the fun and educational content, it's a win-win way for you to get engaged with pathways to discovering more about yourself and the great outdoors.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Anthropologists say that storytelling is central to our human existence. Today, we engage with stories by reading books, talking on the phone, watching movies at home, or catching up with the news. But did you know that the oldest stories ever recorded by humans were about …. hunting?
The oldest story in the world is actually cave art from 44,000 years ago that depicts tiny hunters facing off against wild pigs and buffalo! Archaeologists have found cave art depicting primal hunts all over the world! In the Baja California peninsula, there are 7,000 year old murals of ancient people hunting wild deer and sheep with arrows. And in France, there are cave drawings of paleo hunters pursuing mammoths with spears.
But why tell stories about hunting? What’s so special about it? In Paleolithic times, ancestors braved a harsh landscape full of predators and megafauna with only stone tools and fire. And since clans could burn through a lot of calories in a day, they needed to consume food that was packed with proteins and essential nutrients … especially when plants were scarce in the winter. So people did not hunt just for the meat … but for survival.
One of the very first paleo hunter-gatherers who lived in North America specialized in hunting huge woolly mammoths. These people were called the Clovis people due to the special “Clovis” spearpoints they used to take down these big megafauna. Hmmm …. spears against prehistoric elephants? … Now doesn’t that sound like a wild adventure? Ah yea! But it also could be an extremely dangerous one. Those elephants could hit you, pick you up with their trunks, or trample over you. There was a lot of danger involved. But Clovis people did it, and it rewarded their clan with healthy, wild, nutritious meat. Other parts of the animal were also put to good use: the hides were used to keep them warm in the winter and cover their shelters while the bones could be fashioned into useful tools. Wouldn’t that have felt good? Knowing you were helping your family survive? Their hunting adventures also probably made for some great stories too!
Would you be curious to hear one? Then come sit by the fire and watch this video! You will be able to experience your ancestral heritage and listen to wild Clovis kid hunts from 10,000 BCE. And if you would like to learn how you can share your own hunting story with your peers, investigate the “Learn More” tab or lesson activity below.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
For 1 million years, humans have had the ability to harness fire, which makes it one of the most significant tools in human evolution. It provided warmth on cold days and nights, frightened away nocturnal predators, and allowed us to sleep on the ground instead of trees. But most of all, fire allowed us to cook our foods. This discovery was paramount to our ancestors’ survival ….
The Clovis people were one of the first Paleo Indians to eat cooked-foods in North America. They were a group of hunter-gatherers who migrated from Asia to our continent in 10,000 BCE. The men were skilled hunters who specialized in using “Clovis points” or spearheads to bring down gigantic behemoths from the last ice age, such as the woolly mammoth. These eight-ton prehistoric elephants had enough meat to feed the clan throughout the winter! Can you imagine? Using spears to fight a 15-foot-tall animal? What a dangerous adventure it must have been … These paleo hunters also pursued other wild game: bison, deer, elk, sometimes pronghorn or mountain sheep, and surprisingly, horses and camels. North America actually used to have unique species of horses and camels, but they went extinct 11,000 years ago due to human arrival and climate change.
So what did the rest of the clan do? While the men were out hunting, the women and children foraged in marshes and forests for nuts, berries, roots, and other plants. This was the best method to sustain your clan. Prehistoric hunts were risky … and chances of success were slim. So the clan heavily relied on foragers to bring back wild foods, or in trades with other clans. Altogether, this made the Paleo diet. According to studies, half of this diet was meat while the other consisted of nuts, seeds, fruits, edible roots, and other plants.
But could they have just eaten this stuff raw? Was cooking really that important?
Oh yeah! Cooking revolutionized the Paleo diet. First of all, fire helped detoxify some foods of poisons as well as sanitize them from harmful parasites and bacteria. Also, preparing and cooking meals over a fire ensured that our ancestors extracted as much energy from the food as possible. Think of it like this … when you prepare your meals, you may have to chop, slice, and pound the foods. Then you heat your foods, which break down the connective tissues in meat and softens the cell walls of plants. So in a way, cooking is like you are “predigesting” the food. And when you eat cooked-foods, your body spends less work breaking down the food and absorbing the fats and nutrients. This is a huge plus to clans. There are a lot of calories that are burned by clan members. So by roasting their meals over a fire, each person could extract more energy for their bodies and brains.
Huh … but what did clans do when they were not able to harvest meat – an energy-dense food? And how does all of this compare to modern-hunting and cooking today? You don’t have to stew on those questions any longer. Just check out the video to see what two teens discover in their Clovis Kid Cook-off. Or if you are hungry for more, forage in the “Learn More” section or download the lesson activity to ignite your wild game cooking skills.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
THE PALEO DIET … this is something you may have heard before. It’s a special course of only vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and of course lean meats. And it’s all the rage today! But have you ever wondered where it came from?
The Greek word “Paleo” means ancient … and boy is this diet ancient. About 12,000 years ago to be exact. This was around the time when the first people migrated to our continent. They were called the Clovis people, and were hunters and gatherers who foraged the land for plant foods and harvested large wild game. How large? VERY large …. Clovis hunters were specialized at bringing down wooly mammoths!
Wooly mammoths were prehistoric elephants that roamed the tundra landscapes of North America. They evolved in Asia during the Pliocene Era about 3 – 5 million years ago, and eventually migrated to our continent 1.8 million years ago. They were adapted to live in harsh artic conditions, and had furry pelts and tiny ears to minimize heat loss. Mammoths were two times taller than your dad, and weighed about EIGHT TONS. Just one mammoth could feed your clan all winter long … and give you fur and bones to make clothes, tools and shelter to survive.
Mammoths sound pretty critical for Clovis people … but they are one of the largest animals from the ice age! So how in the world did Clovis people manage to get mammoth meat for their diets? While some paleo hunters scavenged mammoth meat from wild predator kills, most hunters brought them down with their spears. Ummm … hunting with a stick? That had to be a lot of work, right? Definitely. Using a spear meant you had to get really close to the animal, which could be very dangerous. Think about it! The animal could hit you, pick you up with it’s trunk, or trample you .… Hunting with spears was a lot of risk. Yet, because clans depended greatly on the meat, they had to make innovations and be creative. So they created Atlatls! Atlatls attach to the end of a spear and allow you to throw them faster and longer than you could by hand. Now that’s pretty smart.
You have to wonder though … Were there other animals they hunted? And how come we don’t see mammoths around anymore? Did Clovis kids impact our wildlife today? Harvest those answers for yourself by watching the video. And if you hustle over to the lesson activity below, you and your peers will investigate how to conserve a "recently discovered" woolly mammoth herd!
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
Okay, adventurer. Are you ready for this? We are going to travel back in time 12,000 years to explore how our ancestors survived … in 3…. 2…..1!
Whew! That was quite the trip … Now what do you see around you? Back in 10,000 BCE, there were no cars to help you travel, no electricity for lights or gadgets, no houses for shelter, or grocery stores for food. Instead, there is a harsh landscape. Half of the continent is buried under ice sheets from the ice age. And as the glaciers receded, they left behind a cold and windy tundra landscape that is filled with paleo megafauna: huge wooly mammoths, saber tooth tigers, giant beavers, sloths, and dire wolves.
Okay. So how did our ancestors survive in a place like this? It’s so scary!
Back then, sea levels were much lower and exposed a dry piece of land called the Bering Land Bridge that humans and many terrestrial animals migrated across. One of the first people to cross this bridge and brave this landscape were the Clovis people. These Paleo-Indians were skilled hunters of big-game … especially of wooly mammoths. By collecting meat from these large animals, they could sustain their clan for months on meat. You know why? Because wooly mammoths were BIG prehistoric elephants. They weighed about 8 tons and could get up to 15 feet tall. That’s almost as high as a house! So what made Clovis hunters so special that they could bring down an animal this gigantic?
Huh … well the secret is actually in their name. “Clovis” people had a tool in their arsenal that proved very efficient in taking down large animals. It was called a “Clovis point,” which is a spearhead that is made out of flint. Hunters would knap this silica rock into sharp points and attach them to wooden sticks to create a spear.
Even so … fighting with just stick and stone could be really dangerous. So why risk your life for just a couple of meals? And what are the costs and rewards to doing this? The answers to those critical questions are only a spear throw away! Just click on the video below to find out. Or check out the “Learn More” section or lesson activity below to continue your caveman discovery.
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency
You may have seen a ring-necked pheasant in your backwoods or farm fields. They are pretty common in North America and are quite eye-catching!
Roosters have a kaleidoscope of iridescent feathers: with coppery breasts, green heads, red faces, long tail feathers, and a distinctive white band around their necks. Did you know though that these birds are not native to North America? They actually come from the forests of Asia! So how did they even get here? The bird was originally introduced to our country when a United States General transported 60 pheasants from Shanghai to the forests of Oregon in 1881. Soon after, more states introduced this exotic bird to their landscapes, and hunters across the country began to harvest this species. Pheasant populations continued to boom until the mid-1900s when the growth of cities and agriculture removed most of their critical habitat from the landscape: grasslands. But thanks to the United States Department of Agriculture and other modern management programs, pheasants thrive across the country in grasslands managed and restored by these programs.
Pheasant hunting is in our heritage, and is an outdoor recreation that many people include in their lifestyles today. Huh, so what’s the big deal? Why are people so into game bird hunting? In general, hunting is a way we can protect our environment by keeping our wildlife populations at healthy levels. If there are too many of a species within a habitat, there may not be enough resources for all the animals to survive … leading to a population crash! Uh oh… but by hunting, we are able to monitor and maintain healthy wildlife populations within an ecosystem. And because pheasants are non-native species, they can cause negative impacts on other species. For example, studies have discovered that ring-necked pheasants are nest parasites of many ground-nesting birds. They will often deposit their eggs in other nests, which means their hatchlings will compete or push out other younglings, or even cause a nest to fail. But by hunting, we are able to keep pheasant populations in check and reduce their impacts on other native species.
Game bird hunting is also quite the adventure for families! For one, you get to spend time with human’s best friend … dogs! Since birds are small and can be difficult to spot in grassy, brushy, and woody areas, a dog can sniff out the birds and keep you on the right track. Pheasant hunting can also give you lots of cardio and exercise. To find the bird, your hunting party and dog will trek across several fields and hillsides to find them. But it’s also quite thrilling. A bird can flush up at any moment. And because birds are fast moving targets that can fly in the air, they provide a unique shooting challenge. But you know what is a great plus? When you harvest a pheasant, you are also gaining healthy, wild meat that is full of essential nutrients and proteins. Since wildlife are free-ranging, they eat their natural diet and are free of hormones and other chemicals that are poor to your health!
Ah, but most importantly, hunting gives us the opportunity to give back to Mother Nature! When hunters purchase their gear or hunting licenses, a portion of that money goes toward the research and management of wildlife and habitat across the country. This is due to the Pittman-Robertson Act, which requires that 11% of all money goes toward conservation. So when you are out in the field, you can feel good about protecting and conserving wildlife for your families and others in the future! What an incredible win-win.
Oh yeah … pheasant hunting is a good deal when you look at all the pluses. And young people around the country are beginning to experience it for themselves. Watch the video to discover how teens and families like yours can have a successful pheasant hunt. Ready to give it a whirl? Why don’t you take a hunter safety course (see link below) or click the “Learn More” button to prepare yourself for your pheasant hunting quest! And if your teacher downloads the lesson activity below, you will explore the wildlife and habitat managements that hunters help fund!
Approved by IHEA-USA and your state hunting agency