Requirements for Hunter Education Certification

In Missouri, these are the requirements for hunter education certification.

• You must be at least 11 years of age to receive Missouri Hunter Education Certification.
• If you are 10 years of age or younger, you may hunt during a firearms hunting season only if you are in the immediate presence of a properly qualified adult mentor.
• If you are 11 to 15 years of age and will be hunting during a firearms season:
• You must take and pass a hunter education certification course if your parents wish to allow you to hunt without a qualified adult mentor being present.
• You do not need hunter education certification if you hunt only when you are in the immediate presence of a qualified adult mentor.
• If you are 16 years of age or older and were born on or after January 1, 1967, and you want to buy a firearms season hunting permit, you first must:
• Take and pass a hunter education certification course or...
• Purchase an Apprentice Hunter Authorization and hunt in the immediate presence of a qualified adult hunter.
• If you were born before January 1, 1967, you are not required to complete hunter education certification before buying a firearms season hunting permit or mentoring.

Hunting Mentors

During a firearms season, all mentors must meet age and education requirements to mentor a hunter who does not have a hunter education certificate and is not hunting on a landowner permit. This includes landowners and lessees mentoring on their own land.

• You must be 18 years of age or older and...
• If you were born on or after January 1, 1967, you must take and pass a hunter education certification course if the person you are mentoring is not an immediate family member who actually resides with the landowner or lessee.