1st Deer licence

tomtucker81

I know a lad that's getting a nice rifle for himself for deer hunting.
Question is, will he have to do the Hcap training for next season (2021/22) or does anyone know is that part of the requirements going to be knocked on the head with covid?
Assuming those courses can't be run.

Any ideas?

kunekunesika

Too early to say if there will be any change. But on the scale of important considerations for the state, new applicants for deer licenses, wouldn't seem that far up the list of priorities. Courses could still go ahead during the summer, some happened last summer.
Easiest option, get the application in now for the remains of this season, he might just be lucky.

RossiFan08

If gets it in this year (where there is no HCAP requirired) next year will then be his second application which won't require a HCAP.

Cass

Two main points.

The hcap is only one of a number of courses available. It is not the sole course.

The license runs until July of this year (while the season when you can shoot them till runs to the end of February). So you can apply anything up until then, technically.

clivej

HCAP isn't required for a firearm license. It is need for hunting in coillte forests and other private permissions.
The only hoop I had to jump through when applying for my 308 calibre deer rifle was to include land permission to shoot deer on. That was 13 years, ago now.

tomtucker81

Thanks for the replies. He'll have no problem with land permission, my only thought was that i had read(possibly on here) that 1st deer licence applicants would have to complete Hcap or equivalent.

Good point Cass, the licence runs up to the start of next season so yeah, he would be applying for this season as such and therefore not need a course

Thanks lads

Cass

clivej wrote: »

HCAP isn't required for a firearm license. It is need for hunting in coillte forests and other private permissions..

To be clear hcap is the name of a course ran by one group. Other groups have different names for their courses so if you mean hcap in terms of "any deer course" sense then spot on, but if you mean it in terms of "the course ran by a particular group which call their course the hcap" then not so.

They shot themselves in the foot, figuratively, when they pushed for mandatory courses for first time deer licenses without realising that Coilte cannot mandate a course run by only one group, and must accept any course of suitable substance.