Like preparing a fine meal or performing a martial art, hunting is a skill best taught by those with experience.

Hunter-trapper education courses are mandatory for any first-time hunting license buyer, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is seeking experienced hunters to teach rookies the skills needed for a safe, successful season.

“We have a volunteer corps, but they can only offer so many courses to make it available. With too large a class, it becomes unmanageable. To meet demand, we have to offer courses throughout the year,” said Jerry Feaser, a spokesman for the game commission.

“We are basically focused on a few things: ethics, firearm safety and hunting scenario safety, a lot of commonsense stuff that we want to make sure people learn and understand.”

Feaser said scenarios to be covered include how to hunt safely with a group or safely cross a fence or stream, as well as basic firearm safety.

The commission is scheduling extra hunter-trapper education (HTE) courses to meet the needs of first-time hunting or furtaking license buyers. But those classes require about 2,400 volunteer educators statewide with about 40 in Butler County, and more teachers are needed.

“We're not in a position to turn someone down as an instructor if they meet the requirements. We'll put them to work somewhere,” said Regis Senko, information education supervisor for the Northwest Region of the Game Commission.

“Southern Butler County in particular, we get a lot of overflow from metropolitan areas like Pittsburgh, so there is greater demand for courses and instructors. Northern Butler County is different, more in line with other rural areas, where we usually are meeting the demand for classes.”

The game commission is seeking instructors who are experienced and knowledgeable, willing to teach at least one class per year, and have completed an HTE class as a student in the past 18 months.

The volunteer instructors work with game commission officers and other volunteers to teach the classes at sportsmen's clubs, fire halls and schools with all materials and lesson plans provided by the commission.

Finally, prospective instructors must pass a background check, assist with at least one student-level class and attend a new instructor training workshop before being certified.

“We have everybody from retired folks and 19-year-olds to lawyers and doctors. The ages run the gamut as well as the backgrounds,” Feaser said of instructors.

Jim Daley of Cranberry Township works as a consultant for Greenhorne & O'Mara Consulting Engineers during the day, but by night he is a hunter-trapper education instructor in southern Butler County and helps coordinate classes. He was selected as outstanding instructor of the year for the district, region and state in 2009.

“I actually had a number of friends who were in the game commission, and I spent a lot of time early on with a conservation club at Knoch High School,” Daley said.

During his time at Penn State University, Daley took a conservation course and became an accredited instructor by the age of 21, a passion he has kept for the past 34 years.

“I thought hunting safety was vitally important to those in the sport and wanted to help,” he said.

“The classes range from 30 to 125 people. I don't find many challenges. Maybe it's because I've been doing it so long.”

Daley said the work is made easier by students motivated to learn by getting their first license.

“Many parents or grandparents or uncles sit through the class, as well,” he said.

“I had one grandfather tell me, “Well, this is the fourth time I've sat through your class.'

“I think the rewards are just seeing these kids walk away with an orange card that allows them to buy a hunting license. They always are very excited when they pass the test and they are very thankful.”

Daley said the public speaking aspect of being an instructor can be intimidating, but he believes overcoming that hurdle is just as important a part of personal growth as the course itself.

“Many of the instructors have been at it for 40 or 50 years. That's really what our problem is, not so much retention, but finding new instructors. It's that way everywhere with volunteerism,” he said.

“One thing we would love to see is a few more women instructors. We're up to where we see one-in-five or one-in-six students is a girl. When I started, it was all boys. ”

The commission first offered voluntary hunter safety courses in 1959, then the state implemented a mandatory four-hour education course for all first-time license buyers under age 16 in 1969.

The course requirement was expanded to six hours in 1977 and became mandatory for first-time license buyers of all ages in 1982.

The safety program was increased to 10 hours of class time in 1986. The courses usually spanned two or three days and included a final examination.

The game commission recently revamped the program to include eight to 10 hours of online study followed by a two to three hour class with an instructor.

Youths must be at least 11 years old to receive certification and 12 years old to buy a hunting license.

“Our advice is, as soon as your child turns 11, start searching for a course in your area so, when they do turn 12, they will be ready to get their license,” Feaser said.

He said youths can buy a license at age 11, even if they cannot use it until they turn 12, adding that the sporting license year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The game commission also offers several optional enrichment courses for hunters, including bowhunting, one day for $20, furtaking, one day for $15 and a course introduced this year, turkey hunting, one day for $15.

A mandatory class for trappers using cable restraint systems to take coyotes and foxes also is offered for $15.

“The HTE teaches you the basics, but doesn't teach you how to hunt. That's what these advanced courses help with,” Daley said.

Independent study guides and information on other courses is available online at www.pgc.state.pa.us under the “Education” tab. For information on becoming an HTE instructor, click on “Becoming an Instructor” under the same tab, or call the commission's Hunter-Trapper Education Division at 717-787-7015.