Nebraska, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin are closer to enacting legislation to lower barriers that prevent new hunters from participating in the sport. And as we all know getting new blood into the pheasant fields and deer woods will keep our hunting tradition alive and well. Nebraska has passed a bill that creates an apprentice hunter education exemption certificate. This allows an experienced hunter to take a neophyte hunting before they’ve completed a hunter education course. It also lowers the age for deer hunting from 12 to 10. Virginia’s bills would create a two-year apprentice license allowing novices to take to hunt with a licensed adult hunter prior to the completion of hunter education. Indiana’s bill creates an apprentice hunting license that lets resident or nonresident newcomers, who are accompanied by a license adult hunter, to hunt for three years prior to the completion of a hunter education course. Wisconsin’s bill would establish an apprentice hunting license for those 10 years old and higher. It will also remove an old law that bans youth under 12 from target shooting.