During the last year, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks offered hunter and bowhunter education classes online due to COVID concerns. Since last spring, more than 17,000 Montanans completed the online courses, which is nearly double the number of students in a typical year.

“The biggest increase we saw was among adult bowhunter education students,” said FWP outdoor skills and safety supervisor Wayde Cooperider. “It seems the online courses were popular with our students.”

Because of the popularity of the online classes and to meet customer expectations for a diverse offering of hunter a...