From the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

-- Volunteer instructors can make a big difference in the lives of young hunters and trappers. 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. "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.

More information about the training-including dates and locations is online at wildlife.utah.gov/huntereducation/instructors.

"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."

Residents can reach Smith at (800) 397-6999. More information about the Hunter Education program and the instructor training is also available in an audio interview with Smith.

Listen to the interview at http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/multimedia/podcasts.html