Most of the hunter safety course is focused on "how to not shoot yourself" The rest is focused on "how to not shoot your hunting partner or anything else that you shouldnt be shooting. If you can handle your firearm and have a decent dose of common sense then you probably won't gain anything from the course but a ticket that says you took the course. These courses were implemented when it was discovered that too many idiots were going out to hunt. Before that folks hunted just fine for several centuries with any kind of weapon that they could lay hand to without any more training than they got from dad while watching him hunt. I suppose it's dad's fault for not hunting and teaching anymore.