Saskatchewan Hunter Education Practice Exam

Saskatchewan Hunter Education Practice Exam: all 60 questions

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1. 1. The regulations behind the Saskatchewan course spell out what the ministry's firearm safety and hunter education program is actually for. Which of these matches that purpose?

   1. AInstruction in firearm safety, hunter responsibilities, and any other subject that improves the quality of hunting and shooting in the province
   2. BRegistering firearms with the ministry before a licence is issued
   3. CCertifying instructors to deliver the federal firearms course
   4. DTesting marksmanship so that only accurate shooters can buy a licence
   Show the answer

   AInstruction in firearm safety, hunter responsibilities, and any other subject that improves the quality of hunting and shooting in the province

   Read that purpose closely and you can see the whole syllabus in it. Safety is the spine, sure, but hunter responsibilities is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and that is where conservation, wildlife identification, ethics, survival and field care all come from. It explains why a course people sign up for to learn about firearms spends chapter after chapter on things you do with your boots on the ground. Nothing in there is about registering anything or proving you can shoot.

   Source: The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 (W-13.12 Reg 2), s.3: The ministry shall administer a firearm safety/hunter education program in Saskatchewan to provide instruction in firearm safety, hunter responsibilities and any other subject that may improve the quality of hunting and shooting in Saskatchewan. Checked 2026-09-22.

2. 2. A classmate hears the in-class course runs over two long days and wonders where that number comes from. What does the regulation set as the minimum period of instruction?

   1. AEight hours, with no exceptions
   2. BSixteen hours, though a course delivered by electronic media may be authorized to run shorter
   3. CTwenty-four hours, unless you have already taken the federal firearms course
   4. DNo minimum at all, since instructors set their own length
   Show the answer

   BSixteen hours, though a course delivered by electronic media may be authorized to run shorter

   Sixteen hours is a floor, not a target, and it is worth knowing the exception sitting right underneath it. The regulation lets the minister authorize a shorter course where it is delivered by electronic media, or where special circumstances exist. That is the legal room the online route sits in. S.A.F.E. offers three ways through: a scheduled in-class course, electronic based training, and a home study workbook with the final exam written in front of an instructor.

   Source: The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 (W-13.12 Reg 2), s.5: Subject to subsection (2), the minimum period of instruction for a course is 16 hours. (2) The minister may authorize an instructor to conduct a course of less than 16 hours in length if: (a) the course is delivered by electronic media Checked 2026-09-22.

3. 3. You phone an instructor to register and ask whether the federal firearms course comes bundled in. What does S.A.F.E. say about that?

   1. AThe federal course is built into every Saskatchewan hunter education course
   2. BS.A.F.E. has never had anything to do with the federal course
   3. CThe federal course replaced the Saskatchewan course in 2003
   4. DS.A.F.E. stopped delivering the federal course in 2003, though most instructors kept their certification and some still add it on for an extra fee, so ask when you register
   Show the answer

   DS.A.F.E. stopped delivering the federal course in 2003, though most instructors kept their certification and some still add it on for an extra fee, so ask when you register

   This trips up a lot of new hunters, and the answer is annoyingly specific to whoever is teaching your class. S.A.F.E. as an organization got out of the federal course more than twenty years ago. Individual volunteer instructors, though, often held on to their certification and will run you through it alongside the provincial course if you ask and pay the extra. So the honest answer to your question is that it depends on the instructor, which is exactly why you ask before you hand over the registration fee rather than after.

   Source: S.A.F.E. (Saskatchewan Association for Firearm Education), Course Information: As of 2003 SAFE no longer delivers this course, although most instructors retained their certification Checked 2026-09-22.

4. 4. You have a ladder stand hung over a trail in a poplar bluff and you are about to climb up with your rifle. How does the rifle get up there?

   1. ASlung across your back so both hands are free for the ladder
   2. BUnloaded with the action open, left at the base on a haul rope, and pulled up muzzle first once you are settled and clipped in
   3. CCarried in one hand while you climb with the other
   4. DLoaded and slung, so it is ready the second you sit down
   Show the answer

   BUnloaded with the action open, left at the base on a haul rope, and pulled up muzzle first once you are settled and clipped in

   Climbing wants both hands and all of your attention, and a slung rifle swings, catches rungs and pulls you off balance at the worst moment. Leave it on the ground on a rope. Climb, get clipped in, get comfortable, then haul. Send it up muzzle away from you so that if the rope slips or the stock catches a branch, nothing is pointing at your face. Same rope brings it back down before you climb out, which is the half of the job people forget when they are cold and thinking about supper.

5. 5. You are sighting in before the season and an older hunter waves off the ear plugs, saying a few shots never hurt anybody. Where is he wrong?

   1. AHe is not wrong, since hearing damage comes from sustained noise like machinery rather than single shots
   2. BPlugs would muffle the range officer's commands, so he has a point
   3. CA single unprotected muzzle blast can take hearing you never get back, and the damage stacks up quietly over a lifetime of a few shots at a time
   4. DHearing protection only matters on a rifle fitted with a muzzle brake
   Show the answer

   CA single unprotected muzzle blast can take hearing you never get back, and the damage stacks up quietly over a lifetime of a few shots at a time

   A centrefire rifle going off beside your ear is far past the level where damage starts, and the injury does not announce itself. Nothing hurts, nothing bleeds, and twenty years later you cannot follow a conversation in a busy room. The cruel part is that it is cumulative and permanent, so every unprotected session spends a little more of something you cannot buy back. Plugs and muffs cost a few dollars. Wear both when you are sighting in, and keep a set in the truck for the times somebody else decides to touch off a round beside you.

6. 6. You stop at the tailgate to eat and need to put the rifle down for ten minutes. Which is the sound choice?

   1. ALeaned upright against the side of the truck box where it is handy
   2. BLaid across the open tailgate with the muzzle pointing out toward the road
   3. CStood against a barbed wire fence so it stays out of the dirt
   4. DUnloaded with the action open, laid flat where nobody will walk past the muzzle and where it cannot slide or be knocked over
   Show the answer

   DUnloaded with the action open, laid flat where nobody will walk past the muzzle and where it cannot slide or be knocked over

   Anything you lean falls over eventually. A rifle against a truck box or a fence wire slides on its own schedule, usually the moment you turn your back, and a dropped firearm can fire. Laid flat it has nowhere to go. The tailgate answer is a trap worth thinking about, because the muzzle is the problem there rather than the surface: pointed at the road, it covers every vehicle that comes by. Flat on the ground, action open, muzzle into an empty field, and you can eat your sandwich.

7. 7. A shot goes off unintentionally in your group and nobody is sure yet whether anyone is hurt. What happens first?

   1. AEvery firearm in the party is unloaded and set down before anything else is dealt with
   2. BWork out who fired it, so the story is straight
   3. CCarry on and sort it out back at the truck
   4. DReload and stay alert in case the noise pushed something your way
   Show the answer

   AEvery firearm in the party is unloaded and set down before anything else is dealt with

   Everything that follows in the next few minutes involves people moving fast, not thinking straight and possibly kneeling over somebody. Loaded firearms have no place in that. Make them all safe, put them down, then look for injuries and get help moving. It costs about fifteen seconds and it stops the second accident, which is the one that happens while everyone is dealing with the first. Sorting out who did what can wait, and it will get sorted out regardless.

8. 8. Your shotgun came with screw-in chokes, and you are shooting mallards dropping into a slough at fifteen or twenty metres. Which choke suits that, and why?

   1. AA tight full choke, because more constriction always puts more pellets on the bird
   2. BIt makes no difference, since choke only changes how far the pellets carry
   3. CNo choke tube at all, because a bare barrel gives the tightest pattern
   4. DAn open choke such as improved cylinder, because it lets the pattern open up sooner and gives you something usable at close range
   Show the answer

   DAn open choke such as improved cylinder, because it lets the pattern open up sooner and gives you something usable at close range

   Choke is just a squeeze at the last few centimetres of the barrel, and all it does is decide how quickly the shot spreads out. At fifteen metres a full choke pattern is not much wider than a coffee mug. Miss by a hand's width and you get nothing at all, hit square and you ruin the bird. Open it up and you have a pattern the size of a dinner plate out where the ducks actually are. Chokes are matched to the distance you expect to shoot, so the goose field and the decoy spread want different tubes.

9. 9. An eleven year old in your class shoulders a full-size shotgun, has to stretch for the trigger, and ends up with the butt hanging off the point of her shoulder. Why does that matter beyond comfort?

   1. AA stock that is too long drags on the way up, lands badly on the shoulder and drives the recoil into bone rather than muscle, so the mount is slow and she learns to flinch
   2. BIt only affects how the firearm looks when it is carried
   3. CA long stock makes the barrel heavier and throws the pattern wider
   4. DNothing changes, because the stock has no bearing on where the shot goes
   Show the answer

   AA stock that is too long drags on the way up, lands badly on the shoulder and drives the recoil into bone rather than muscle, so the mount is slow and she learns to flinch

   Fit is not a luxury, it is the difference between a shotgun that comes up looking where you are looking and one that fights you. Too much stock and the butt snags on clothing, lands on the arm instead of the shoulder pocket, and punishes her every time she fires. Recoil that hurts teaches a flinch faster than any amount of coaching can undo it. A youth stock or a shortened one costs very little, and a new shooter who is not afraid of the gun will outshoot the same shooter with a bruised shoulder every time.

10. 10. A lever action carries its cartridges nose to tail in a tube under the barrel. Why are flat or round-nosed bullets the rule in that magazine rather than sharp pointed ones?

    1. APointed bullets will not feed up through the lifter
    2. BPointed bullets are less accurate at the ranges a lever gun gets used at
    3. CUnder recoil the point of one bullet sits hard against the primer of the cartridge ahead of it, and the risk is setting that primer off inside the magazine
    4. DThe tube is too narrow for a pointed bullet to fit
    Show the answer

    CUnder recoil the point of one bullet sits hard against the primer of the cartridge ahead of it, and the risk is setting that primer off inside the magazine

    Picture the stack: every bullet tip is resting on the primer of the round in front of it, and recoil slams that whole column forward. A sharp point is a firing pin you did not ask for. That is why traditional lever cartridges wear flat or round noses, and why the modern soft-tipped bullets made for these rifles use a flexible polymer point that cannot set a primer off. Worth knowing before somebody hands you a box of pointed ammunition that happens to be the right calibre.

11. 11. You are set up on flat stubble with nothing behind your target but more field and a section road. How far can what you fire actually travel?

    1. AShot pellets and a rifle bullet both run out of energy within about 200 metres
    2. BShot pellets carry a few hundred metres, while a centrefire rifle bullet can travel several kilometres, so what lies behind matters far more than the range to the animal
    3. CNeither travels past the distance at which you can still see the target
    4. DA rifle bullet falls harmlessly once it passes the range the scope is zeroed for
    Show the answer

    BShot pellets carry a few hundred metres, while a centrefire rifle bullet can travel several kilometres, so what lies behind matters far more than the range to the animal

    This is the part of southern Saskatchewan that catches people out. In rolling bush you are never shooting very far and there is usually a hill behind everything. On open stubble you can see two kilometres, and so can your bullet. A zero has nothing to do with it either, because sighting in only tells the sights where to look and the bullet keeps going long after it has passed the distance you set. Pellets settle out inside a few hundred metres. A rifle bullet needs a backstop you can actually name, not just empty field.

12. 12. You sighted the rifle in on a mild September afternoon and now you are hunting in January at minus 30. What is that cold doing to your ammunition?

    1. ACold makes powder burn faster, so the bullet arrives a little high
    2. BThe brass contracts enough that the rounds will not chamber
    3. CPowder burns less efficiently when it is very cold, so velocity drops slightly and the bullet lands a touch lower, which only starts to show once the range gets long
    4. DNothing at all, because a sealed cartridge is unaffected by temperature
    Show the answer

    CPowder burns less efficiently when it is very cold, so velocity drops slightly and the bullet lands a touch lower, which only starts to show once the range gets long

    The effect is real but small, and it varies with the powder in the load. At a hundred metres you would be hard pressed to see it. At three hundred, on a cold morning, it is enough to notice. The useful habit is to confirm your zero in conditions close to the ones you will hunt in rather than only on a pleasant range day, and to keep your ammunition at one temperature instead of some rounds warm in a chest pocket and the rest frozen in the magazine. Worth knowing too that cold hands and three layers of clothing will move your point of impact far more than the powder ever does, which is an argument for practising in the mitts you actually wear.

13. 13. A box of shells has spent July and August sliding around the back deck of a truck in the sun. What is the concern?

    1. ARepeated heat cycling degrades powder and primers, and it shows up as odd velocities, weak loads, or a round that does not go off at the moment you need it
    2. BNone, because ammunition is sealed and heat has no effect on it
    3. CThe brass expands permanently and the rounds will no longer chamber
    4. DHeat makes ammunition more powerful, so it will shoot flatter
    Show the answer

    ARepeated heat cycling degrades powder and primers, and it shows up as odd velocities, weak loads, or a round that does not go off at the moment you need it

    The inside of a closed cab in August gets far hotter than the air outside, and doing that to a cartridge day after day slowly changes the chemistry of the powder and the primer. The failures it produces are the sneaky kind: a shot that lands somewhere odd, a flyer you blame on yourself, a click instead of a bang on the one animal you have been after all week. Ammunition wants cool, dry and dark. Keep it in the house and take out what you need for the day.

14. 14. Two shotgun loads sit on the counter for deer in thick willow, a single rifled slug and a shell of buckshot. What is the practical difference between them?

    1. ABuckshot carries further than a slug does
    2. BThey are two names for the same thing
    3. CA slug is one heavy projectile you aim the way you would aim a rifle, while buckshot throws several large pellets that spread with distance, so the two have different useful ranges and each needs its own thinking about what is behind the animal
    4. DA slug breaks into fragments shortly after it leaves the barrel
    Show the answer

    CA slug is one heavy projectile you aim the way you would aim a rifle, while buckshot throws several large pellets that spread with distance, so the two have different useful ranges and each needs its own thinking about what is behind the animal

    A slug is a single lump of lead and everything you know about aiming a rifle applies: one hole, one place it lands, a long way it can travel. Buckshot is a handful of pellets that leave together and drift apart, and every one of them is its own projectile going its own direction. That spread is why buckshot is a short-range proposition, and it is also why the backstop question is harder with it. Neither one is a scaled-down anything. Pattern or group whichever you choose before the season so you know what it actually does.

15. 15. You come in from minus 25 and stand the rifle by the wood stove to warm it up. What have you just set up?

    1. ANothing, since warming a firearm indoors is the quickest way to dry it out
    2. BCold steel pulls moisture straight out of warm cabin air, so the whole rifle sweats, and you get water in the bore, under the scope rings and down in the action
    3. CThe stock will crack from the sudden temperature change
    4. DThe barrel will lose its zero for good
    Show the answer

    BCold steel pulls moisture straight out of warm cabin air, so the whole rifle sweats, and you get water in the bore, under the scope rings and down in the action

    Same thing that happens to a glass of iced tea in August, except the glass is your rifle and the water ends up in places you cannot see. Bring it in slowly if you can, in a porch or an unheated entry, so the metal comes up to temperature without the air dumping its moisture on it. Either way, wipe it down once it has warmed through and run a dry patch. A rifle that got condensation in the bore overnight and sat until morning can come out of the case with rust in it.

16. 16. A hunter floods the bolt and trigger group with oil before a late-season hunt, on the theory that more is better. What happens at minus 30?

    1. AThe oil carries on working exactly as it does in summer
    2. BThe oil freezes into the rifling and ruins accuracy permanently
    3. CThe extra oil raises the velocity of the load
    4. DOil thickens as it gets colder and can slow or stop a firing pin, so a rifle that ran perfectly in October gives you a click in January
    Show the answer

    DOil thickens as it gets colder and can slow or stop a firing pin, so a rifle that ran perfectly in October gives you a click in January

    Cold turns light oil into syrup, and a firing pin swimming in syrup does not hit the primer hard enough. It is one of the classic late-season failures on the prairies, and the fix is counterintuitive: less oil, not more. A film is all steel needs to stay rust free. For deep cold, strip the bolt, clean the old oil out of it, and use as little of a cold-rated lubricant as will do the job. Excess oil also creeps into the stock inletting and softens the wood, which is a slower and more expensive version of the same mistake.

17. 17. Your rifle slides out of the truck and lands hard on the scope. Nothing looks bent. What comes before you hunt with it?

    1. ANothing, since a scope that is not visibly damaged is fine
    2. BTake it hunting and adjust from wherever the first shot at an animal lands
    3. CTighten every screw as hard as you can and carry on
    4. DCheck the base and ring screws, then shoot a group at a known distance to see whether the zero actually held
    Show the answer

    DCheck the base and ring screws, then shoot a group at a known distance to see whether the zero actually held

    A knock hard enough to worry you is hard enough to shift a ring, back a screw out a quarter turn, or move the reticle inside the tube, and none of that shows from the outside. The only honest test is paper. Shoot three rounds at a measured distance and compare them with where the rifle was hitting before. Cranking every screw down with all your strength is its own kind of damage, since ring screws are torqued to a number for a reason and overtightening can dent the scope tube.

18. 18. Loading a muzzleloader, you drop the powder charge, start the patched ball, and push it about halfway down before your arm gives up. Why can you not leave it there?

    1. AThe ball will slide back out of the muzzle on its own
    2. BAn air gap between the powder and the projectile lets pressure spike where the gap is, and that can bulge or burst the barrel
    3. CThe powder will not ignite at all with a gap above it
    4. DThe ball will shed its patch on the way out
    Show the answer

    BAn air gap between the powder and the projectile lets pressure spike where the gap is, and that can bulge or burst the barrel

    The projectile has to sit down hard on the charge with nothing between them. Leave a space and the burning gases get a running start before they hit the ball, and a barrel that handles a normal load happily will bulge or split where that gap was. Seat it all the way down with firm, even pressure, and use the same pressure every time, because how hard you seat the ball changes how the charge burns and therefore where the shot lands. If the ball will not go, stop and find out why rather than beating on the ramrod.

19. 19. A friend offers you a can of modern smokeless rifle powder for your muzzleloader, on the grounds that powder is powder. What is the problem?

    1. ASmokeless powder burns far faster and produces pressures a firearm built for black powder or a black powder substitute was never designed to contain
    2. BSmokeless powder is simply weaker, so the ball will not reach the target
    3. CThere is no problem, so long as you use half as much
    4. DSmokeless powder fouls the barrel more heavily
    Show the answer

    ASmokeless powder burns far faster and produces pressures a firearm built for black powder or a black powder substitute was never designed to contain

    These are not interchangeable products that happen to come in different cans. Black powder and the substitutes sold for muzzleloaders burn at a rate the barrel was built around. Smokeless is a different chemistry entirely, and a charge of it in a traditional muzzleloader is a pipe bomb held at arm's length from your face. The halving idea is worse than useless, because it sounds cautious. Use only the powder type and charge the manufacturer specifies for that particular firearm, and nothing else.

20. 20. You shoot your muzzleloader on a Saturday and figure you will clean it next weekend. Why is that a poor plan?

    1. ABlack powder fouling is harmless until it dries out completely
    2. BThe fouling will actually improve the next shot if it is left alone
    3. CResidue from black powder and its substitutes pulls moisture out of the air and eats into the steel, so pitting can start within a day or two
    4. DCleaning only matters before you shoot, not after
    Show the answer

    CResidue from black powder and its substitutes pulls moisture out of the air and eats into the steel, so pitting can start within a day or two

    This is the one real chore that comes with a muzzleloader and there is no way around it. The fouling left in the bore is salty and it attracts water out of the air, so the barrel keeps corroding long after the smoke clears, indoors and dry or not. Hot soapy water is the traditional answer because the residue dissolves in water rather than in solvent. Scrub it out the same day, dry it thoroughly including the breech and the nipple or breech plug, then oil it. Skip a week and you can lose a bore.

21. 21. Shooting open sights at paper, you try to hold the rear notch, the front blade and the bull all sharp at once and find you cannot. What should be in focus?

    1. AThe rear notch
    2. BThe front sight, with the rear notch and the target both allowed to go a little soft
    3. CThe target, because that is what you are trying to hit
    4. DAll three, and the fact that you cannot means your eyes need testing
    Show the answer

    BThe front sight, with the rear notch and the target both allowed to go a little soft

    Your eye can only focus at one distance at a time, so this is physics rather than a failing on your part. The front sight is the one that matters, because a small error there is a big error downrange, while the target being slightly fuzzy costs you almost nothing. It feels wrong the first few times to deliberately let the animal blur. Do it anyway. The reason a scope is easier is that it puts the reticle and the target on the same optical plane, so the problem disappears.

22. 22. Off a solid rest at 100 metres, your three shots land in a fist-sized cluster eight centimetres left of the bull. What does that tell you?

    1. AThe rifle, the load and your technique are all being consistent, and it is the sights that need moving
    2. BThe barrel is worn out and needs replacing
    3. CThe ammunition is inconsistent and should be swapped for another brand
    4. DNothing useful can be read from only three shots
    Show the answer

    AThe rifle, the load and your technique are all being consistent, and it is the sights that need moving

    Learn to read these as two separate questions. How big is the group tells you about consistency, which is the rifle, the ammunition and you. Where the group sits tells you about the sight setting, and nothing else. A tight group in the wrong place is the good problem, because you fix it with a screwdriver or a few clicks. Shots scattered all over the paper are the other diagnosis entirely, and no amount of adjusting will help until you find out what is moving.

23. 23. A sharptail crosses in front of you and your shots keep going behind it. What is usually happening?

    1. AThe choke is too open for that range
    2. BYou are staring at the bead instead of at the bird
    3. CThe shot size is too heavy for a bird that light
    4. DYou are stopping the swing as the trigger breaks, so the bird keeps travelling while the shot is still on its way
    Show the answer

    DYou are stopping the swing as the trigger breaks, so the bird keeps travelling while the shot is still on its way

    A shotgun is pointed rather than aimed, and the gun has to keep moving through the shot and after it. Stop the swing at the moment you fire and you are effectively shooting at where the bird was a fraction of a second ago, which on a fast crossing bird is most of a body length. Keep the barrel moving until the bird is down or gone. Staring at the bead is a genuine fault too and it deserves a mention, but it usually produces a miss in any direction, not the same miss behind every time.

24. 24. You lay the barrel of your rifle directly across a fence rail to steady it. Why do experienced shooters rest the fore-end instead?

    1. AThe barrel whips and vibrates as the shot goes off, and bearing on something hard changes that enough to move your point of impact away from where you sighted in
    2. BA barrel rest scratches the finish, and that is the extent of the concern
    3. CResting the barrel makes the rifle recoil harder into your shoulder
    4. DIt makes no difference which part you rest, so long as the rifle is steady
    Show the answer

    AThe barrel whips and vibrates as the shot goes off, and bearing on something hard changes that enough to move your point of impact away from where you sighted in

    A barrel is not a rigid rod. It flexes and rings like a tuning fork while the bullet is still travelling down it, and your zero was established with that happening freely. Clamp it against a rail or a truck window frame and the pattern of that movement changes, which puts the shot somewhere other than where the sights said. Rest the fore-end instead, ideally on something with some give like a pack or a folded jacket, and the rifle behaves the way it did on the bench.

25. 25. Two partners walk into a licence issuer together. One was born in 1968, the other in 1974. What does The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 say about the difference between them?

    1. ABoth need a certificate before they can get a game or fur licence
    2. BNeither does, because the requirement only reaches non-residents
    3. CThe requirement applies to people born after January 1, 1971, so it is the younger partner it reaches
    4. DIt goes by your age when you apply rather than by your date of birth
    Show the answer

    CThe requirement applies to people born after January 1, 1971, so it is the younger partner it reaches

    Most provinces use a date like this, and Saskatchewan's is January 1, 1971, which is earlier than several of its neighbours. The regulation ties the requirement to when you were born rather than how old you are, so the line does not move as the years go by. It also recognises a similar certificate issued by another jurisdiction, which is what lets somebody who took their course in another province buy a licence here. The provincial guide repeats the same date in its licensing section.

    Source: The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 (W-13.12 Reg 2), s.8: No person born after January 1, 1971 shall apply for, obtain or be granted a game or fur licence unless he or she: (a) holds a certificate issued pursuant to these regulations or a similar certificate issued by another jurisdiction and recognized by the ministry Checked 2026-09-22.

26. 26. A parent asks whether her ten year old can sit the course this winter so she is ready to go. What minimum age does the regulation set for enrolling?

    1. AThere is no minimum age written into the regulation
    2. BTwelve years
    3. CFourteen years
    4. DEleven years
    Show the answer

    DEleven years

    Eleven is the floor for getting into a classroom, and it is worth keeping separate from every other age you will hear discussed. The age to enrol in the course, the age at which a young person can hold a Saskatchewan licence, the supervision rules for youth in the field and the federal minor's permit are four different things sitting in four different places. Passing the course at eleven does not by itself settle what happens in the field. The provincial guide is where the youth hunting requirements are laid out.

    Source: The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 (W-13.12 Reg 2), s.9: No person who is under the age of 11 years shall enrol in a course. Checked 2026-09-22.

27. 27. A candidate has finished the course, but a disability makes writing the examination impossible. Does the Saskatchewan regulation have anything to say about that?

    1. AYes. Where the minister is satisfied that special circumstances prevent a person from taking the written examination, an instructor may be authorized to examine that person orally instead
    2. BNo. The written examination is the only route in Saskatchewan
    3. CYes, but only for candidates under sixteen
    4. DYes, and that candidate is then exempt from being examined at all
    Show the answer

    AYes. Where the minister is satisfied that special circumstances prevent a person from taking the written examination, an instructor may be authorized to examine that person orally instead

    This one is genuinely unusual. Most jurisdictions leave accommodations to administrative practice, and Saskatchewan wrote the alternative into the regulation itself. The oral route is not a lighter version of the exam either: the regulation has the candidate demonstrate proficiency in firearm safety and hunter education to the instructor's satisfaction, and only then are they deemed to have completed the course. Note that it takes ministerial authorization, so it is not something an instructor decides on the day.

    Source: The Firearm Safety/Hunter Education Regulations, 2009 (W-13.12 Reg 2), s.6(2): If the minister is satisfied that special circumstances exist preventing a person from taking the examination mentioned in subsection (1), the minister may authorize an instructor to conduct an oral examination of that person Checked 2026-09-22.

28. 28. Someone new to the province holds a federal PAL from the Canadian Firearms Safety Course and assumes that covers him for a Saskatchewan deer licence. What does the provincial guide say?

    1. AThe federal course covers both, so he is fine
    2. BThe Canadian Firearms Safety Course does not authorize a person to purchase a Saskatchewan hunting or trapping licence
    3. CThe PAL stands in for the hunter education certificate, but only for residents
    4. DThe guide says nothing about the federal course
    Show the answer

    BThe Canadian Firearms Safety Course does not authorize a person to purchase a Saskatchewan hunting or trapping licence

    Two courses, two different jobs, and the guide goes out of its way to spell out the distinction because so many people arrive believing otherwise. The federal course is about possessing and acquiring firearms and ammunition. The provincial certificate is about being licensed to hunt in Saskatchewan. Having one tells you nothing about whether you hold the other, and plenty of hunters end up needing both. If you took hunter education in another province, the certificate from that jurisdiction is the document that matters here, not the PAL.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Youth Hunting Requirements note: The Canadian Firearms Safety Course does not authorize a person to purchase a Saskatchewan hunting or trapping licence. Checked 2026-09-22.

29. 29. Saskatchewan's guide sets out what may not be used on big game, and several of the entries turn on the cartridge itself. Which of these does it list?

    1. AAny cartridge loaded with a lead-core bullet
    2. BAny cartridge with a case longer than 32 mm
    3. CAny cartridge with an empty case length of less than 32 mm, which the guide notes takes in most handgun cartridges and all rimfire cartridges, together with full metal jacketed, hardpoint or non-expanding bullets
    4. DOnly cartridges of less than .243 calibre
    Show the answer

    CAny cartridge with an empty case length of less than 32 mm, which the guide notes takes in most handgun cartridges and all rimfire cartridges, together with full metal jacketed, hardpoint or non-expanding bullets

    There is reasoning behind both halves of this. Case length is a rough stand-in for how much powder a cartridge can hold, so a minimum case length is really a floor on the energy arriving at the animal, and it is what sweeps out the rimfires and most handgun rounds in one line. The bullet construction entry is about what happens on impact: a full metal jacketed or hardpoint bullet tends to drive straight through without opening up, which is a recipe for a long track and a lost animal. The guide also names particular cartridges it excludes, among them the .30 Carbine and the .357 Magnum, and sets minimum draw weights for bows and crossbows in the same list.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Summary of Hunting Regulations, Big Game: Any cartridge with an empty cartridge case length of less than 32 mm (this includes most handgun cartridges and all rimfire cartridges) Checked 2026-09-22.

30. 30. A friend comes along on your rifle deer hunt carrying nothing but a camera, and pulls on a white vest with a white cap. What does the guide's clothing requirement say about that outfit?

    1. AThe requirement reaches only the person actually carrying the rifle, so it does not matter what he wears
    2. BWhite is not among the listed colours for anything
    3. CWhite is listed for the vest, but the headwear has to be scarlet, bright yellow or blaze orange, and white headwear is specifically not allowed
    4. DBoth the vest and the headwear have to be blaze orange and nothing else
    Show the answer

    CWhite is listed for the vest, but the headwear has to be scarlet, bright yellow or blaze orange, and white headwear is specifically not allowed

    Two details here catch people. The first is that the guide's list covers accompanying a rifle hunter, not just hunting with one, so your friend with the camera is inside it. The second is the odd split on white: it is one of the colours listed for the vest, alongside scarlet, bright yellow and blaze orange, and it is expressly excluded for headwear. There is sense in that, since a white cap moving in brush is the classic thing that gets mistaken for the flash of a deer's tail. The guide also allows CSA-labelled high visibility garments.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Summary of Hunting Regulations, Big Game: Scarlet, bright yellow or blaze orange headwear (white is not allowed). Checked 2026-09-22.

31. 31. Coyotes are working a field well after dark and somebody suggests running a spotlight over it. What does the guide list under the general heading of what is unlawful?

    1. AHunting any wildlife at night, which it describes as the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, and using any artificial light, infrared device, night vision scope or goggles for the purpose of hunting
    2. BOnly a light that is mounted on a vehicle
    3. CNight hunting is listed, but artificial light is not mentioned anywhere
    4. DNothing, as long as the animal is a predator rather than a game species
    Show the answer

    AHunting any wildlife at night, which it describes as the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, and using any artificial light, infrared device, night vision scope or goggles for the purpose of hunting

    These are two separate bullets in the guide's general list and they work together. One sets out the night period by reference to sunset and sunrise, which means the boundary moves through the season and is worth checking against the sunrise and sunset table rather than guessing. The other deals with the equipment, and it is written broadly enough to take in thermal and night vision optics as well as a handheld lamp. The guide prints both under General rather than under any particular species.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Summary of Hunting Regulations, General: Hunt any wildlife at night, one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise; ... Use any artificial light, infrared device, night vision scopes or goggles for the purpose of hunting Checked 2026-09-22.

32. 32. A cocked crossbow is lying across your lap in a ground blind. Where do your fingers and thumb have to stay, and why?

    1. ABelow the rail and completely out of the string's path, because the string sweeps along that rail fast enough to take a fingertip off
    2. BAnywhere on the forearm, since the string runs well above your hand
    3. CWrapped over the top of the rail for a firmer hold
    4. DIt does not matter once the safety engaged itself on cocking
    Show the answer

    ABelow the rail and completely out of the string's path, because the string sweeps along that rail fast enough to take a fingertip off

    Crossbow injuries are nearly all the same injury, and it is a thumb. The string travels in a straight line just above the rail with a great deal of force behind it, and anything sitting in that line goes with it. Most modern crossbows have a finger guard or wings for exactly this reason, and the discipline is to keep your hand under the rail every single time rather than only when you remember. Treat a cocked crossbow as a loaded firearm in every other respect too, because that is what it is.

33. 33. You judge a mule deer at 30 metres from your stand and it turns out to be at 40. Why does a rifle hunter get away with that error and a bowhunter does not?

    1. AA bow is simply less accurate than a rifle at any distance
    2. BAn arrow is far more affected by wind than a bullet is
    3. CIt does not matter, because a broadhead corrects for range
    4. DAn arrow leaves at a fraction of a bullet's speed and travels in a pronounced arc, so ten metres of misjudged range shifts the point of impact far more than the same error would with a flat-shooting rifle
    Show the answer

    DAn arrow leaves at a fraction of a bullet's speed and travels in a pronounced arc, so ten metres of misjudged range shifts the point of impact far more than the same error would with a flat-shooting rifle

    A hunting bullet is travelling fast enough that its path is nearly flat out to a couple of hundred metres, which is why range estimation errors are forgiving. An arrow is flying an arc you can almost see, and the pins on your sight are set for specific distances along that arc. Use the 30 pin on a 40 metre animal and you hit low, often in the brisket or under the chest. The fix is to range landmarks around your stand before light and know the numbers, so that when the deer steps in you are reading rather than guessing.

34. 34. You are six metres up a tree and a deer feeds in almost directly underneath you. What does that angle do to the shot?

    1. ANothing, since an arrow goes straight down as easily as it goes across
    2. BThe steeper the angle, the less of the chest an arrow passes through, and a shot straight down often catches one lung or none, so it is worth waiting for the animal to step out to where the angle opens up
    3. CThe arrow drops faster than you expect and lands low
    4. DThe extra height adds penetration, which makes the steep angle an advantage
    Show the answer

    BThe steeper the angle, the less of the chest an arrow passes through, and a shot straight down often catches one lung or none, so it is worth waiting for the animal to step out to where the angle opens up

    Think about what the arrow has to pass through. Broadside, it goes through both lungs with a wide margin either side of the aiming point. From straight overhead the chest is a narrow target and the arrow may exit through the belly having clipped very little. There is also no exit hole low on the body to bleed, which turns a marginal hit into a long search. Let the animal walk out a few metres. Patience is most of what a stand is for.

35. 35. You have walked into a big block of bush in farm country and you are turned around with two hours of light left. In that part of the province, what does the survey grid give you?

    1. ANothing useful, since the roads follow the creeks
    2. BA guarantee that walking north brings you to a highway within a few hundred metres
    3. CA reason to head downhill, because roads in the province follow the low ground
    4. DGrid roads running north to south and east to west at roughly one-mile spacing, so a compass bearing held on any cardinal direction walks you out to a road rather than deeper into nothing
    Show the answer

    DGrid roads running north to south and east to west at roughly one-mile spacing, so a compass bearing held on any cardinal direction walks you out to a road rather than deeper into nothing

    The survey grid across settled Saskatchewan is one of the friendliest things a lost person can have, because the country is divided into a chessboard and the roads run on the lines. Pick a cardinal direction and hold it with the compass, not by eye, since without a bearing you will curve. Within a mile or two you should cut a road, a fence line or a field edge. Two cautions: this is farm country only, because the grid thins out through the forest fringe and disappears in the north, and it is no help at all after dark or in blowing snow.

36. 36. Your truck slides into the ditch on a grid road as a ground blizzard closes in, and the last farmyard you passed is maybe three kilometres back. What does staying put get you?

    1. AA large object searchers can actually find, shelter from the wind, and a heat source, none of which you have the moment you start walking in blowing snow
    2. BNothing, because the cab will fill with exhaust no matter what you do
    3. CWarmth, but only if you run the engine continuously all night
    4. DNothing, since a vehicle in the ditch cannot be seen from the road
    Show the answer

    AA large object searchers can actually find, shelter from the wind, and a heat source, none of which you have the moment you start walking in blowing snow

    People die a few hundred metres from a yard light on the prairies, and it happens because a ground blizzard takes your visibility to nothing and a familiar road stops being familiar. The truck is shelter, it is a windbreak, and it is far easier to spot than a person is. Run the engine in short spells rather than continuously, and clear snow away from the tailpipe first, which is the specific thing that kills people who do everything else right. Blankets, a candle, a shovel and a bit of food in the back all winter turn this from an emergency into an inconvenience.

37. 37. Your water is gone and there is a slough at the bottom of the field. What should you know before drinking from it?

    1. ASlough water is fine to drink if it looks clear
    2. BBoiling does nothing for surface water, so there is no point trying
    3. CStanding prairie water carries parasites and bacteria from livestock and waterfowl, and many sloughs out here are alkaline enough that the water will make you sicker than going thirsty would
    4. DStraining it through a cloth takes care of the risk
    Show the answer

    CStanding prairie water carries parasites and bacteria from livestock and waterfowl, and many sloughs out here are alkaline enough that the water will make you sicker than going thirsty would

    Two problems and only one of them is fixable in the field. Boiling or a proper filter deals with the biology, which is what cattle and geese have left in there. It does nothing about the dissolved salts that make so many prairie sloughs taste of alkali, and drinking that water brings on vomiting and diarrhoea that dehydrate you faster than the thirst would have. Clarity tells you nothing either way. Carry more water than you think you need in September, and treat a slough as a last resort rather than a plan.

38. 38. It is the first week of September in the southwest, thirty degrees, and you have been walking sharptail cover since dawn. Your partner goes quiet, then mentions he has stopped sweating and has a pounding headache. What are you looking at?

    1. AOrdinary tiredness, sorted out by finishing the walk back to the truck
    2. BHeat illness, and somebody who has stopped sweating in that heat needs shade, cooling and help rather than another kilometre
    3. CLow blood sugar, fixed with a snack and carrying on
    4. DDehydration that will sort itself out once the sun drops
    Show the answer

    BHeat illness, and somebody who has stopped sweating in that heat needs shade, cooling and help rather than another kilometre

    Everybody arrives at hunter education expecting to worry about the cold, and early season on the open grassland is where hunters actually get into trouble with the heat. Skin that has gone dry and hot when it should be sweating is the sign that matters, because it means the cooling system has quit rather than just fallen behind. Get him into shade, get water into him if he is fully alert, wet him down and fan him, and call for help rather than walking him out. A confused or unconscious casualty is a medical emergency, not a rest stop.

39. 39. Biologists call the pothole country across southern Saskatchewan a duck factory. What makes those scattered little sloughs worth so much more than their size suggests?

    1. AThey are the only open water ducks can find during migration
    2. BShallow basins warm quickly and grow dense edge vegetation, and between them they produce the enormous volume of insects and cover a hen needs to nest and raise a brood
    3. CThey hold the small fish that ducks feed on
    4. DThey keep predators away from nesting hens
    Show the answer

    BShallow basins warm quickly and grow dense edge vegetation, and between them they produce the enormous volume of insects and cover a hen needs to nest and raise a brood

    It is about production rather than habitat in general. A shallow basin warms up early, and warm shallow water plus rotting vegetation makes invertebrates by the million, which is what ducklings actually eat in their first weeks. The rim of cover around each one hides the nest. A big deep lake grows almost none of that. This is why the loss of small wetlands to drainage matters so much: a hundred little sloughs are not interchangeable with one large body of water, and every basin that gets drained and cropped takes its brood production with it permanently.

40. 40. A quarter section that used to carry a shelterbelt, a brushy fence line and a grassy field margin is now cropped corner to corner. What happens to the sharptails and Hungarian partridge that lived there?

    1. AThey shift into the crop, which supports them just as well
    2. BNumbers hold steady, because the crop offers more food than the old cover did
    3. CNothing changes as long as hunting pressure stays low
    4. DThe food is still there, but the nesting cover, the winter shelter and the escape cover are gone, and no population is held up by food alone
    Show the answer

    DThe food is still there, but the nesting cover, the winter shelter and the escape cover are gone, and no population is held up by food alone

    Food is almost never the thing in short supply on farmland in Saskatchewan. Grain is everywhere. What disappears when the margins go is everywhere a bird can nest without being found, everywhere it can get out of a January wind, and everywhere it can duck into when a hawk comes over. Habitat has to supply all of those inside an area a bird can actually use, and the piece in shortest supply sets the number that survives. That is why a farm that keeps its shelterbelts and odd corners holds birds and the clean-farmed section next door does not.

41. 41. Saskatchewan sets its seasons by wildlife management zone rather than running one set of dates for the whole province. Why go to that trouble?

    1. AIt spreads hunters out more evenly across the province
    2. BIt keeps the guide shorter and easier to print
    3. CDeer in the grassland, the parkland and the forest fringe live with different winters, different habitat and different disease pressure, so a season that fits one region would be wrong in the next
    4. DFederal law requires each province to divide itself into zones
    Show the answer

    CDeer in the grassland, the parkland and the forest fringe live with different winters, different habitat and different disease pressure, so a season that fits one region would be wrong in the next

    Saskatchewan is big enough to hold several different worlds. A whitetail on the short grass in the southwest is not living the same life as one in the aspen parkland or up on the forest fringe, and the populations rise and fall independently of each other. Managing by zone lets the ministry tighten up where a herd is struggling and leave things alone where it is not. The current guide is a live example of that, with grassland whitetail seasons being shortened and moved to buck only while other regions get watched.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Hunting opportunities: White-tailed deer populations have continued to decline across much of the Grassland region and remain near recent lows in the Parkland and Forest Fringe regions. Checked 2026-09-22.

42. 42. The ministry asks successful deer and elk hunters in certain zones to hand in the animal's head. What does a laboratory get from that which no amount of field observation can provide?

    1. AConfirmation of chronic wasting disease in individual animals, which is the only way to map where the disease has reached and how common it is becoming
    2. BThe animal's age at death
    3. CProof that the hunter held a valid licence
    4. DA genetic record used to assign next year's draw
    Show the answer

    AConfirmation of chronic wasting disease in individual animals, which is the only way to map where the disease has reached and how common it is becoming

    Chronic wasting disease is established in Saskatchewan and it is a slow one. An infected animal can look and behave perfectly normally for a long time, so counting sick-looking deer from a truck window tells you nothing. The only way to know is to test tissue from the head, and the only realistic source of enough heads to build a map is hunters. That is why the surveillance programme leans on harvest samples, and why the results shape where the seasons and quotas go next. Ageing comes from a tooth, which is a separate request entirely.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Chronic wasting disease: Chronic wasting disease is established in Saskatchewan and poses a risk to populations of wild deer, elk, moose, and caribou. Checked 2026-09-22.

43. 43. A flock passes high over stubble and somebody calls geese. What would tell you they are sandhill cranes instead?

    1. ACranes fly in tight V formations and geese do not
    2. BThe neck is held straight out with the legs trailing well past the tail, they circle and soar on set wings the way a hawk does, and the call is a dry rolling rattle rather than a honk
    3. CCranes are much smaller than Canada geese
    4. DCranes only fly at night
    Show the answer

    BThe neck is held straight out with the legs trailing well past the tail, they circle and soar on set wings the way a hawk does, and the call is a dry rolling rattle rather than a honk

    Crane and goose are both big grey-brown birds at height, and the silhouette is where they separate. A goose is all neck and no legs. A crane trails its legs out behind like a heron, and the legs are the giveaway you can see from a long way off. Cranes also soar in circles on rising air, which geese simply do not do, and once you have heard that rattling call you will pick it out of the sky before you see the birds. Get the identification made before the gun comes up, because these are different birds managed under different rules.

44. 44. An animal watches you from half a kilometre out on open grassland, then runs flat out rather than bounding. What else would confirm pronghorn rather than mule deer?

    1. AForked antlers and a black-tipped tail
    2. BLarge ears and a grey winter coat
    3. CA tan and white body with a broad white rump patch, dark cheek and throat markings on a buck, and horns carrying a single forward prong rather than branched antlers
    4. DA white flag of a tail thrown up as it goes
    Show the answer

    CA tan and white body with a broad white rump patch, dark cheek and throat markings on a buck, and horns carrying a single forward prong rather than branched antlers

    Pronghorn are odd enough to be their own family, and once you have looked at one properly you will never confuse the two again. The rump patch flares white when the animal is alarmed and can be seen from an astonishing distance. The headgear is a horn with a sheath the animal sheds each year, not an antler, and the forward prong that gives it its name is nothing like a mule deer's forked beam. Then there is the running. Mule deer bounce with all four feet together, pronghorn simply accelerate away across the flat.

45. 45. A brown bird flushes from a brushy draw and your partner calls pheasant. What separates a sharp-tailed grouse from a hen pheasant as the bird goes away from you?

    1. AThe sharptail is a great deal larger
    2. BA hen pheasant flushes silently and a sharptail never does
    3. CColour is the only difference between them and it cannot be read in flight
    4. DThe sharptail shows a short pointed tail with white outer feathers and flies in bursts of rapid wingbeats followed by long glides, while a hen pheasant trails a long pointed tail behind her
    Show the answer

    DThe sharptail shows a short pointed tail with white outer feathers and flies in bursts of rapid wingbeats followed by long glides, while a hen pheasant trails a long pointed tail behind her

    The tail does the work here and you get a good look at it on a going-away bird. A hen pheasant's tail is longer than the rest of her and streams out behind. A sharptail's is short, wedge-shaped and flashes white at the edges. The flight styles are different too: the sharptail flaps hard, then sets its wings and glides, then flaps again, often clucking as it goes, while a pheasant beats more steadily. Both flush noisily enough to startle you, so the noise settles nothing.

46. 46. A buck steps out at 150 metres and you can see his antlers clearly but not his tail. What does antler shape tell you?

    1. AA mule deer's beams fork and then fork again, while a whitetail's tines rise individually off one main beam, though a young buck of either species can carry antlers too simple to call
    2. BAntler shape is identical between the two species
    3. CA whitetail always carries more points than a mule deer
    4. DOnly a mule deer grows a brow tine
    Show the answer

    AA mule deer's beams fork and then fork again, while a whitetail's tines rise individually off one main beam, though a young buck of either species can carry antlers too simple to call

    The architecture is genuinely different. Picture a mule deer rack as a beam that splits into a Y, and then each branch splitting again, so the points come in pairs. A whitetail rack is one curving beam with separate tines standing up off it like the teeth of a comb. Useful at distance, and worth treating as a supporting cue rather than the deciding one, because a two year old of either species can wear a set of antlers that tells you nothing at all. The ears, the tail and the way the animal moves off are what settle it.

47. 47. Geese are passing at what you both reckon is seventy or eighty metres and your partner starts shooting anyway. What is the objection?

    1. AThe noise pushes the flock off the field, and that is the whole cost of it
    2. BAt that range the pattern has opened right up and the pellets have very little energy left, so the likely outcome is birds carrying pellets away to die somewhere out of sight
    3. CThere is no objection, because a lucky pellet is still a bird
    4. DIt wastes shells, which is the only real problem
    Show the answer

    BAt that range the pattern has opened right up and the pellets have very little energy left, so the likely outcome is birds carrying pellets away to die somewhere out of sight

    Skybusting is the thing that ruins a field and a reputation at the same time, but the reason it matters is what happens to the birds you cannot see. A pattern at eighty metres has holes in it you could throw a hat through, and the pellets that do connect arrive with barely enough energy to break skin. Those birds fly on and die days later. Pattern your gun on paper at a measured forty metres so you actually know what your load does, and let the flock work. The bird that finishes its swing into the decoys is the whole point of putting them out.

48. 48. On the second morning of a five-day hunt, a spike buck stands broadside at eighty metres and he is well inside what your licence covers. Why might a hunter pass?

    1. ABecause a spike is not legal game
    2. BBecause a small buck is poorer eating
    3. CBecause a hunter gets to decide what he came out for, and waiting for an older animal, or for a doe if the freezer is what matters, is a choice the rules leave entirely to him
    4. DBecause shooting early in a hunt brings bad luck for the rest of it
    Show the answer

    CBecause a hunter gets to decide what he came out for, and waiting for an older animal, or for a doe if the freezer is what matters, is a choice the rules leave entirely to him

    This is the whole idea of a personal code in one decision. Nobody is going to tell you to pass that deer and nobody is going to praise you for it either, which is what makes it yours. Note that the ethic is not a rule that young bucks get a pass. If you came out for meat and there are four days of work waiting at home, taking that spike cleanly and being straight about why is every bit as defensible. What separates a hunter with a code from one without is having thought about it before the animal was standing there.

49. 49. From the road you watch somebody shoot at a deer out the window of a parked truck. What does a responsible hunter do with that?

    1. ANothing, because what other people do is their own business
    2. BConfront the driver directly and take his keys off him
    3. CSay nothing at the time, then tell the story around the coffee shop for a month
    4. DNote what can be noted safely, the vehicle, the location and the time, and pass it to the ministry, which prints a TIPP line number in the guide for exactly this purpose
    Show the answer

    DNote what can be noted safely, the vehicle, the location and the time, and pass it to the ministry, which prints a TIPP line number in the guide for exactly this purpose

    Hunters are the only people out there to see this, which makes reporting it something only hunters can do. Every poaching story that reaches the public costs the rest of us a little more goodwill, and goodwill is what access and seasons ultimately rest on. Do not confront anybody. You have no idea who is in that truck and you are unarmed as far as that conversation is concerned. Get what details you can from a safe distance, write them down while they are fresh, and make the call. Officers would far rather have a report that goes nowhere than never hear about it.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Summary of Hunting Regulations, General: To contact a conservation officer call the TIPP line at 1-800-667-7561. Checked 2026-09-22.

50. 50. You take a whitetail on a warm October afternoon and it will be an hour before you get it home. Blowflies find the carcass within minutes. What actually keeps them off the meat?

    1. AGetting it into shade, propping the cavity open so air moves through it, and bagging the carcass or the quarters in cloth game bags that flies cannot get through
    2. BRinsing the cavity out with water so there is no blood smell left
    3. CLeaving the hide on, since flies cannot get through hide
    4. DNothing works, so flies are simply part of the job
    Show the answer

    AGetting it into shade, propping the cavity open so air moves through it, and bagging the carcass or the quarters in cloth game bags that flies cannot get through

    Flies find blood faster than you would believe and they are not looking for a way in through the hide, they are going straight to the open cavity. Eggs laid on warm meat in the afternoon hatch overnight. Cloth game bags are the answer because they keep flies off while still letting the carcass breathe and cool, which a plastic tarp or a garbage bag does the opposite of. Shade matters as much as the bag. A deer lying in the sun in the box of a truck is being cooked, slowly, the whole way home.

51. 51. Your knife nicks the paunch while you are dressing a deer and green material spills into the cavity. What is the right response?

    1. ARinse it out with slough water and get on with the job
    2. BIgnore it, because stomach contents are harmless
    3. CGet it out promptly by hand and with clean cloth, trim away meat that has been soaked in it, and keep the cavity dry rather than washing it if you have no clean water
    4. DLeave it where it is so the meat does not dry out
    Show the answer

    CGet it out promptly by hand and with clean cloth, trim away meat that has been soaked in it, and keep the cavity dry rather than washing it if you have no clean water

    What comes out of the gut is a dense population of bacteria, and it is exactly the stuff that turns good meat sour. Speed matters more than perfection, so get the bulk of it out straight away rather than waiting until you are somewhere better lit. Water is only an improvement if it is clean and if you can dry the cavity afterwards, because a wet cavity you cannot dry spreads contamination into every corner. As for avoiding it next time, work the blade with the edge facing up and two fingers guiding it, and take your time over the paunch and the bladder.

52. 52. You hang a deer in the shed to let it age. What temperature range are you actually after?

    1. ABelow freezing, so that it cannot spoil at all
    2. BJust above freezing, somewhere around a couple of degrees, which is cold enough to hold bacteria back and still warm enough for the meat to tenderize
    3. CRoom temperature, so the enzymes work quickly
    4. DTemperature does not matter so long as the flies are kept off
    Show the answer

    BJust above freezing, somewhere around a couple of degrees, which is cold enough to hold bacteria back and still warm enough for the meat to tenderize

    Aging is enzymes in the meat slowly breaking down connective tissue, and they need to be a little above freezing to work. Let it freeze solid and the process simply stops until it thaws. Let it get warm and the bacteria win the race. A prairie fall is the awkward part: plus fifteen in the afternoon sun and minus five by three in the morning means an unheated shed is not a cooler, whatever the overnight low says. Hang a thermometer beside the carcass and let that decide when it comes down, rather than counting days on the calendar.

53. 53. You bought a rifle in August and the season opens in three weeks. What is the most useful thing you can do with it between now and then?

    1. AFire the three rounds needed to confirm the zero and save the rest of the ammunition for game
    2. BShoot it enough from field positions, not just off a bench, that mounting it, working the action and making a first-round hit have all stopped being things you have to think about
    3. CLeave it clean in the safe so it is in perfect condition opening day
    4. DPractise only at the longest range you ever expect to shoot
    Show the answer

    BShoot it enough from field positions, not just off a bench, that mounting it, working the action and making a first-round hit have all stopped being things you have to think about

    A bench tells you the rifle shoots. It tells you almost nothing about whether you can. Every shot you will actually take is from a knee, off a pack, against a fence post or sitting in wet stubble, usually in a hurry and with your heart going. That is the thing to practise, and it needs volume rather than three careful rounds. Ammunition spent in September is cheaper than a wounded animal in November. Work the bolt without taking the rifle off your shoulder until it is automatic, and practise the short distances too, since most animals are taken closer than people expect.

54. 54. A first-time hunter wants to buy her Saskatchewan licence online. What does the provincial guide say she needs?

    1. ANothing beyond a credit card
    2. BA separate account for every species she intends to hunt
    3. CA fresh account opened each season
    4. DA Hunting, Angling and Trapping Licence system account, and if she has registered before she uses that existing HAL number rather than opening a second one
    Show the answer

    DA Hunting, Angling and Trapping Licence system account, and if she has registered before she uses that existing HAL number rather than opening a second one

    HAL is the spine of the whole licensing system in Saskatchewan, and your HAL number follows you from one year to the next. That is why the guide is emphatic about not creating a second account if you already have one: duplicate accounts break the link between a hunter, their licences and their seals, and the ministry audits for exactly that. First-time buyers are also asked to confirm they hold a firearm safety and hunter education certificate, and may be asked to produce proof of it, so have your certificate number where you can find it.

    Source: Saskatchewan Hunters Guide 2026-27, Licence purchasing: If purchasing online, you will require a Hunting, Angling and Trapping Licence (HAL) System account. ... Do not create a new account if you have previously registered for HAL. Checked 2026-09-22.

55. 55. Your nephew finishes the course at twelve and an uncle offers him a heavy magnum rifle on the grounds that it will do for anything he ever hunts. What is the case against it?

    1. AThe cartridge is not suitable for deer
    2. BA magnum is harder to clean and maintain
    3. CRecoil he cannot tolerate means he shoots it less, flinches when he does, and ends up placing his shots worse with the powerful rifle than he would with a mild one he could practise with all afternoon
    4. DNothing, since more power is always the safer choice on game
    Show the answer

    CRecoil he cannot tolerate means he shoots it less, flinches when he does, and ends up placing his shots worse with the powerful rifle than he would with a mild one he could practise with all afternoon

    Where the bullet lands beats how big it was every single time. A twelve year old who has been thumped a few times will start closing his eyes and snatching the trigger before he can even tell you he is doing it, and a flinch is remarkably hard to unlearn once it sets in. Something mild lets him shoot a hundred rounds in an afternoon and enjoy it, and a hundred rounds builds the thing that actually kills cleanly. There is a good argument for a light recoiling rifle for any new shooter of any age, and none at all for handing somebody a rifle they are afraid of.

56. 56. Your shotgun barrel is stamped for 2 3/4 inch shells, and a friend hands you a box of 3 inch magnum loads for geese. Why leave them in the box?

    1. AThey will not fit into the magazine tube, so they cannot be loaded at all
    2. BThey may chamber, but the crimp opens into the forcing cone and spikes pressure
    3. CMagnum shells are only meant for shotguns that have a full choke fitted
    4. DLonger shells throw a wider pattern that scatters most of the shot
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    BThey may chamber, but the crimp opens into the forcing cone and spikes pressure

    The length stamped on the barrel is the longest shell the chamber is built for. A longer shell may still close in the action, but its crimp has no room to open fully. The shot is squeezed into the narrowing forcing cone, and pressure can climb high enough to damage the gun or hurt you. Use only shells that match the barrel stamp.

57. 57. After the season you zip your rifle into its padded soft case and stand it in the basement until next fall. What is likely waiting for you?

    1. ANothing, because a padded case seals out all moisture
    2. BA loose scope, since padding pulls on the rings over time
    3. CA warped stock, because the padding presses on the fore-end
    4. DRust, because the padding holds damp air against the steel
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    DRust, because the padding holds damp air against the steel

    A soft case is made for carrying, not for months of storage. Its padding soaks up moisture and holds it against the metal, and basements are often damp. Clean the rifle, wipe on a light coat of oil, and store it out of the soft case in a dry place.

58. 58. You set up a crossbow in a tight ground blind and rest it on a shooting stick by the window. What should you check before a deer shows up?

    1. AThat the limbs will clear the blind walls and window frame when it fires
    2. BThat the safety is already off so you do not fumble for it later
    3. CThat the stock rests hard on the window frame to hold it steady
    4. DThat the string has been freshly waxed for the day's hunt
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    AThat the limbs will clear the blind walls and window frame when it fires

    A crossbow's limbs are wide and snap forward hard when it fires. If a limb or cam strikes a wall, window frame or branch, the shot goes wild and the crossbow can break or hurt you. Check the space on both sides while you set up, and keep the safety on until you are ready to shoot.

59. 59. Two does walk out of a bluff. The one you are licensed for stands broadside, with the other doe lined up right behind her. Why hold your shot?

    1. AThe shot will push every deer off this field for the rest of the season
    2. BThe second doe will spot you the moment you raise the rifle
    3. CThe bullet can pass through and wound or kill the deer behind her
    4. DA doe standing close to another is almost always a fawn's mother
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    CThe bullet can pass through and wound or kill the deer behind her

    A rifle bullet often passes right through a deer's chest and keeps going. With another deer lined up behind, you risk wounding an animal you never meant to shoot. That deer may run off and die where it cannot be found. Wait for the doe to step clear so nothing stands behind her but a safe backstop.

60. 60. It is a hot September afternoon and you have three sharptails in the back of your vest after a long walk. What keeps the meat in good shape?

    1. ALeaving them in the vest, since the feathers keep flies off the meat
    2. BSoaking them in slough water to cool them down before you walk out
    3. CWaiting to clean them until you are home and can do the job properly
    4. DDrawing them soon, then letting air move around them in the shade
    Show the answer

    DDrawing them soon, then letting air move around them in the shade

    Birds piled together in a game vest hold their body heat, and the guts start to spoil the meat quickly in warm weather. Removing the entrails soon after the shot lets heat escape. Spreading the birds out in the shade, with air moving around them, cools them faster. Slough water can carry bacteria, so do not soak them in it.