Proposal to Lower Age to 12 for Big Game Hunting

[88GW]

Contact your local representatives I have listed below. It would be nice to get youth involved and help our numbers grow.

NEW YORK STATE CONSERVATION COUNCIL

8 East Main Street Ilion, NY 13357

LEGISLATION IS NOW PENDING TO LOWER THE MINIMUM AGE FOR BIG GAME HUNTING WITH FIREARMS TO TWELVE YEARS OF AGE.

Assembly bill A8358 sponsored by Assemblywoman Gunther and companion Senate bill S5434 sponsored by Senator Griffo are currently pending in their respective houses' Environmental Conservation Committees.

The NYSCC strongly supports this change. Increasing the opportunities for young people to participate in one of the state's premier outdoor activities will help our youth develop new skills and cultivate lifelong participation in outdoor sports.

 The DEC's current five-year deer management plan strongly recommends that the minimum age for big game hunting with a firearm be lowered to twelve.

 Nationally, all states allow youth age twelve to hunt big game with a firearm and 60% have a younger minimum age.

 Experience has demonstrated that mentored youth hunters are the safest hunters afield.

Participation in hunting activities can provide quality time for family bonding while sharing the benefits of relating to the natural world.

Please support this legislation by contacting your New York State legislators and urging them to press for passage.

If you don't know your legislator, now is a good time to get to know him or her. If you don't know their name or address, go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/or www.nysenate.gov.

The Council's Memorandum of Support can be found on our website www.nyscc.com.

Call, write, email or stop in today. We can't make this happen without the active support of New York's sportsmen. And make sure to tell your friends

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2015/a8358

http://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2015/S5434

NYS Assembly Environmental Conservation Members

Chair

• Steve Englebright

Members

• Thomas Abinanti

• Marc Butler

• William Colton

• Jane Corwin

• Marcos Crespo

• Steven Cymbrowitz

• Patricia Fahy

• Andrew Garbarino

• Deborah Glick

• Aileen Gunther

• Ellen Jaffee

• Todd Kaminsky

• Brian Kavanagh

• Barbara Lifton

• Peter Lopez

• Donna Lupardo

• Daniel O'Donnell

• Steven Otis

• Anthony H. Palumbo

• Crystal Peoples-Stokes

• Andrew Raia

• Nily Rozic

• Sean Ryan

• Joseph Saladino

• Michelle Schimel

• Dan Stec

• Fred Thiele, Jr.

• Matthew Titone

• Kenneth Zebrowski

Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo

Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy

Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin

Assemblyman Thomas J Abinanti

Assemblyman Marc W. Butler

Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh

Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick

Assemblyman William Colton

Assemblymember Peter D. Lopez

Assemblyman Andrew R. Garbarino

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton

Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky

Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski

Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel

Assemblymember Daniel J. O'Donnell

Assemblymember Dan Stec

Assemblymember Anthony H. Palumbo

Assemblywoman Nily Rozic

Assemblymember Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes

Assemblymember Sean Ryan

Assemblyman Steven C. Englebright

Assemblyman Matthew Titone

Assemblyman Joseph S. Saladino

Assemblyman Andrew P. Raia

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr.,

Assemblywoman Donna A. Lupardo

Assemblyman Steven Otis

[Doc]

As long as the fact that they are taking about heavily supervised and mentored hunting I believe that the minimum age should be abolished. However the idea and definition of supervised and mentored should be the bulk of the law. Words like "under strict control", and explicit definitions of what that means need to be stressed in any law that relaxes the minimum hunting age. Also the definition of the requirements of the mentors needs to be quite strict. If properly defined, the idea of a minimum age should be left up to the discretion of the parents with decisions based on the child's mental and physical preparedness and maturity. I do not want to see unsupervised 12 year olds running around the woods with rifles. This NYSCC proposal seems to be lacking that explicit wording and only casually mentions mentoring in a side comment.

[88GW]

I think they covered the bases well.

] 3. A LICENSEE WHO IS TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS

21 OF AGE, SHALL NOT hunt wild deer or bear with a crossbow or gun unless:

22 [(1)] A. he or she is accompanied by his or her parent or a legal

23 guardian, or a youth mentor who is twenty-one years of age or older

24 designated in writing by the parent or legal guardian of the licensee on

25 a form prescribed by the department; and

26 [(2)] B. such parent, guardian or youth mentor has had at least three

27 years of experience in hunting big game; and

28 [(3)] C. such parent, guardian or youth mentor holds a hunting

29 license; and

30 [(4)] D. such parent, guardian or youth mentor maintains physical

31 control over the minor he or she is accompanying at all times while

32 hunting; and

33 [(5)] E. such parent, guardian or youth mentor and the minor he or she

34 is accompanying remain at ground level at all times while hunting; and

35 [(6)] F. such parent, guardian or youth mentor and the minor he or she

36 is accompanying shall each display either a minimum total of two hundred

37 fifty square inches of solid fluorescent orange or patterned fluorescent

38 orange consisting of no less than fifty percent fluorescent orange mate-

39 rial worn above the waist and visible from all directions, or a hat or

40 cap with no less than fifty percent of the exterior consisting of solid

41 fluorescent orange material and visible from all directions. For

42 purposes of this paragraph, "physical control" shall mean that the phys-

43 ical proximity of the minor to the parent, guardian or youth mentor is

44 such that the parent, guardian or youth mentor is reasonably able to

45 issue verbal directions and instructions, maintain constant visual

46 contact, and otherwise provide guidance and supervision

[virgil]

When should we expect to know if this passes or not?

[88GW]

No idea. Its in the works. Contact your local reps letting them know you want the change.

[grampy]

I think it's about time. My grandsons are 12 and 14, and have been tagging along with me for the last six years or so. They are ready to hunt now. Especially the the 12 year old, who really has a passion for hunting and the outdoors. I also like the blaze orange rule. 

[Doc]

As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now the rest of the story".

 

I might be a little more strict as regards the meaning of "physical control" to ensure that they are in immediate positions of physical contact if necessary. I frequently see the lack of obedience to vocal commands between a parent and their child. Voice and sight from a distance, does not really mean physical control. But, that is really nit-picking.

 

That is something I could support, and like I said, I would go even further and remove the minimum age requirement completely with the above mentor requirements.

[88GW]

As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now the rest of the story".

 

I might be a little more strict as regards the meaning of "physical control" to ensure that they are in immediate positions of physical contact if necessary. I frequently see the lack of obedience to vocal commands between a parent and their child. Voice and sight from a distance, does not really mean physical control. But, that is really nit-picking.

 

That is something I could support, and like I said, I would go even further and remove the minimum age requirement completely with the above mentor requirements.

I agree about the physical control aspect as well.  PA youth hunting states mentor must be in arms length of youth hunter.  Having said this I would still like to see this go through.

[Skillet]

Come on now, first crossbows in archery, now youths in the woods with guns, during regular season. What's next?

It's bad enough that kids get first crack during the youth seasons.

I mean, do we really want all these idiot kids out there slinging lead around at the deer we've been watching all season?

We need to keep kids relegated to archery for the first few years. But only compounds & traditional, no crossbows. I mean, we don't want these kids killing deer, they need to struggle along for awhile. Give the marginal ones a chance to call it quits, before they get hooked by actually killing something, & crowd the woods even more.

Opportunity? For kids? I think not. ????

Edited April 6, 2016 by Skillet

[88GW]

Ha ha thats funny!!

[Doc]

This is one more step toward bringing in new people to hunting. Let's keep it going with other good thinking of this sort. Instead of just sitting back and taking a beating at the hands of the antis, we need a lot more aggressive thinking and actions. We are fighting a cultural battle with technology, and while we don't want to stifle the interest in technology by our youth, we need more actions like this proposal to stem their obsessions with technology to the exclusion of all other things that could be in their lives.

[Skillet]

And let's not forget that the battle with technology includes crossbows. Right?

[88GW]

And let's not forget that the battle with technology includes crossbows. Right?

I guess we should revert back to spears, rocks and other primitive methods. Forget blackpowder, smokeless powder,scopes, semi auto rifles, bows with cams, drop away rests, carbon arrows, expanding broadheads, laser rangefinders. All this technology sucks!

[JJNY]

Originally from NY, live in Va now. Kids can hunt at any age down here, my son killed his first deer in Va when he was 7 with a .410 Shotgun at about 10 yards. Hunting Clubs are more popular here, groups of 15-30 hunters hunting large tracts of land with dogs (that's another story I don't want to get started on). It's nothing to show up on Saturday and see 25 adults and 10 kids under 12 guns in hand waiting to go. Obviously, the kids must be supervised but, in the 20 years that I have lived here I don't recall a child related hunting accident in the news. It's usually the over excited adult who get's out once a year who shoots into a moving bush that you hear about.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Just crossbow or gun??

[88GW]

Just crossbow or gun??

If you are referring to the proposal for 12 year olds to hunt big game it includes crossbow and gun.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Great. So if my 13 year old is proficient with a bow they can't use it and I have to buy a crossbow

[stoneam2006]

Great. So if my 13 year old is proficient with a bow they can't use it and I have to buy a crossbow

It's probably bc of the draw weight I'd assume....what's the legal poundage now? 30?

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[Doewhacker]

Great. So if my 13 year old is proficient with a bow they can't use it and I have to buy a crossbow

A 12yr old can bow hunt now, if the age was dropped to 12 for gun season they could still use the bow during gun just like 14 and up can now. It doesn't matter how this bill reads, that's how it would be.

[Doewhacker]

It's probably bc of the draw weight I'd assume....what's the legal poundage now? 30?

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It's greater than 35 pounds, for the record.

[stoneam2006]

It's greater than 35 pounds, for the record.

Thanks good to know...

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[Rebel Darling]

I think amending the bill to specify physical control as a distance no more than an arm's length would go a long way in gaining wider support. I wonder if the Conservation Council is amenable to the language change. If I saw the bill amended to reflect that change, I'd write to the sponsors, the committee chairs, and my legislators to inform them of my support.

I'm all thumbs when using Tapatalk

[The_Real_TCIII]

A 12 year old can bowhunt deer in NY?

[wooly]

They can lower the age all they want, but I highly doubt it will do much good replacing recruitments with drop outs.

Fact is, most guys wont look outside their immediate family to recruit new hunters.

 

It was mentioned in another post here recently by Culvertcreek. There is just to much focus on the individual hunters expectations that don't involve the tradition no more. Deer hunting used to be a social activity that lasted for days, weeks, and months. Now we get so hung up on individual deer, social media status, and self accomplishments measured in inches, and nobody cares about if the next generation follows along any more as it will cut down on the competition.

 

If you want to get the youth, or even newbies involved in the pastime, you need to make it feel entertaining, educational, and not like work.

I don't think many modern day deer hunters are capable of that, as much as I hate to say it.

[Doewhacker]

They can lower the age all they want, but I highly doubt it will do much good replacing recruitments with drop outs.

Fact is, most guys wont look outside their immediate family to recruit new hunters.

 

It was mentioned in another post here recently by Culvertcreek. There is just to much focus on the individual hunters expectations that don't involve the tradition no more. Deer hunting used to be a social activity that lasted for days, weeks, and months. Now we get so hung up on individual deer, social media status, and self accomplishments measured in inches, and nobody cares about if the next generation follows along any more as it will cut down on the competition.

 

If you want to get the youth, or even newbies involved in the pastime, you need to make it feel entertaining, educational, and not like work.

I don't think many modern day deer hunters are capable of that, as much as I hate to say it.

 

Amen!!

 

Guys forget kids have short attention spans, who the hell wants to sit out in the woods and not see any thing for hours. Make it fun and don't get hung up on being successful for one day and watch the difference. When I go with kids we have a blast first and foremost, sometimes for a half hour, sometimes longer. We explore, joke, pretend there is game around and eat plenty of snacks. We small game hunt, we hike, throw rocks in the water, what ever just to have fun. Hunting is supposed to be fun right?