Classes are held year-round, but April, May, August and September are traditionally the months when classes are most available.

“We encourage anyone considering hunting this year who needs to complete a hunter education course to enroll now in a spring course,” said Sgt. Jon Wood, hunter education program supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources.

Michigan has three types of hunter education courses – traditional classroom, home-study and online. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1960, is required to complete the course before buying a Michigan hunting license or taking an out-of-state hunting trip. Exceptions are made for youths under the age of 10 who are hunting under a Mentored Youth Hunting license or hunters older than 10 who are hunting with an apprentice hunting license. Hunters can hunt under the apprentice program for two years before they are required to take hunter education.

The traditional classroom course is a minimum of 10 hours and includes both classroom and field work with an instructor. The fee for the class is $10 or less to cover field supplies. The home-study course features a workbook to complete classwork. A field day is required with the home-study course and must be scheduled with an instructor prior to starting the course. Michigan also offers two approved online hunter education courses, www.hunter-ed.com/Michigan and www.huntercourse.com. Students who choose the online course will complete their classwork online, and then have a field/skills day with an instructor and take a written exam. The field day must be scheduled with an instructor prior to starting the online course.

Traditional courses will be held in Twin Lake and Ravenna beginning the end of this month.

• March 25, 27, 6-9 p.m., and March 30, 8a.m.-12 p.m. at Twin Lake Gun Club. Instructor is Brian White. Pre-registration is required. To register or for more information, call White at 231-733-1206, ext. 104 or register online at www.twinlakegunclub.com. Twin Lake Gun Club is located at 3180 Duff Rd., Twin Lake.

• March 26, 5:30-9 p.m.; March 27, 6-9 p.m.; March 28, 6-9 p.m.; and March 30, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., at Ravenna Conservation Club, 2530 Slocum Rd. To register or for more information, call instructor Roger Cook at 231-557-5603 between 8 a.m. and 7p.m. For more information, go online to www.ravennaconservationclub.org.