Lowering Hunting Age

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I would bet that the new graduates of the hunters education course are some of the safest in the woods. I can't recall a hunting accident that involved a new young hunter. Plenty with the folks that "have been doing it for years" . Can anyone think of a new young hunter incident?

[WNYBuckHunter]

On 1/26/2018 at 11:41 PM, GreenDrake said:

Unfortunately not all adults who take to the woods are responsible and I fear the youngsters will not be taught or monitored properly which can be dangerous. Once that bullet leaves the gun you cannot bring it back. 

What difference is there between them learning bad habits from their parents  or mentors when they are 12 as they would when they are 14?

This type of reasoning just blows my mind. No wonder most kids want nothing to do with hunting.

[GreenDrake]

My personal opinion is that a child matures quite a bit between 12 and 14 and that they themselves have learned more self-control and discipline which may avert a dangerous situation. I recognize not every child, or adult for that matter, should be judged by their age; however, I wiuldybe more comfortable in the big game woods without 12 yr olds shooting rifles. 

[gjs4]

It seems 3/4s if people responding to this thread are under the impression 12 yos would be drafted, issued a gun and sent to the woods......


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[Culvercreek hunt club]

12 hours ago, GreenDrake said:

My personal opinion is that a child matures quite a bit between 12 and 14 and that they themselves have learned more self-control and discipline which may avert a dangerous situation. I recognize not every child, or adult for that matter, should be judged by their age; however, I wiuldybe more comfortable in the big game woods without 12 yr olds shooting rifles. 

even with the adult standing next to them?

[Five Seasons]

12 hours ago, GreenDrake said:

My personal opinion is that a child matures quite a bit between 12 and 14 and that they themselves have learned more self-control and discipline which may avert a dangerous situation. I recognize not every child, or adult for that matter, should be judged by their age; however, I wiuldybe more comfortable in the big game woods without 12 yr olds shooting rifles. 

i think too many envision some kid headed off into the woods in the dark at 6am with a loaded rifle by themselves... that's not something the government needs to police, but parents. I'd be right there by my sons side and we'd probably go in during the afternoon or gray light. 

[GreenDrake]

I do not intend to offend anyone by my position. I am certain that there are many 12 year olds that are wuite capable. I am also certain that most of the adults are more than capable to accompany and mentor thrir children. However, at 12 years old and not properly mentored and supervised is a disaster I am not comfortable sharing the woods with. 

We all waited until the proper age. We did not wuit the sport because we had to be spectators for a couple of years. Sometimes having to wait it out and learn by watching instead of doing is not a bad thing. 

 

[Just Lucky]

The wait is sometimes better.

[Five Seasons]

12 hours ago, GreenDrake said:

I do not intend to offend anyone by my position. I am certain that there are many 12 year olds that are wuite capable. I am also certain that most of the adults are more than capable to accompany and mentor thrir children. However, at 12 years old and not properly mentored and supervised is a disaster I am not comfortable sharing the woods with. 

We all waited until the proper age. We did not wuit the sport because we had to be spectators for a couple of years. Sometimes having to wait it out and learn by watching instead of doing is not a bad thing. 

 

no offense taken by me. I think this thread speaks to a much larger issue then hunting age. Many of us here are "small government". Which basically boils down to letting us do what we want within reason. I personally believe the govt is here to protect me with its military and provide civil service with some regulations to help the economy and its people. But when I read a story the other day that NY (of f'n course NY) wants to pass legislation to curtail the tide pod eating issue, my mind is f'n blown. Kids aren't eating tide pods because they look like candy. They're eating them because they want attention, but lawmakers are too f'n stupid, or just looking for a headline to understand that.

Hunting age falls in the category of "let me raise my kid and stay the hell out of it" for me. My personal belief is that any absentee parent who would let their kid hunt without proper education and guidance probably already has issues with that child. The well parented and educated child would not.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

On 2/7/2018 at 8:45 PM, GreenDrake said:

I do not intend to offend anyone by my position. I am certain that there are many 12 year olds that are wuite capable. I am also certain that most of the adults are more than capable to accompany and mentor thrir children. However, at 12 years old and not properly mentored and supervised is a disaster I am not comfortable sharing the woods with. 

We all waited until the proper age. We did not wuit the sport because we had to be spectators for a couple of years. Sometimes having to wait it out and learn by watching instead of doing is not a bad thing. 

 

Aren't they in the woods now and at times carrying the same firearms they would be to hunt deer? During that hunting they only need to be accompanied by and Adult/mentor. 

 Currently at 14 and 15 they need to be under direct physical control by the Adult/mentor. I would imagine the same requirement would be for the younger hunters. 

[dbHunterNY]

greendrake has a valid point and he or she's entitled to their concern. no law will suddenly change that.  i respect the individual posted their thoughts, maybe knowing it'd be largely disagreed with.
i truely think that if lowering the age to 12 to be able to hunt with a mentor isn't being unreasonable when the rest of the country has no minimum age for this situation.  also any gun is dangerous, but for decades now youth have been hitting the woods with they're mentoring hunting small game and target shooting, largely without incident. teenagers of 14-16 years old have a lot of distractions on their minds.  frankly with things like school shootings i'd rather kids know more about guns capable of taking big game first hand at a sooner age if they're willing.  trying to think about risks i took in life "i knew" i could get away with. before teenage years was practically sunshine and rainbows versus in my teenage years.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

58 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

greendrake has a valid point and he or she's entitled to their concern. 

I disagree. his/her position is that they are less safe at that age and there is NO data to support that. I guess we have a different definition of "valid" lol

[dbHunterNY]

14 hours ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

I disagree. his/her position is that they are less safe at that age and there is NO data to support that. I guess we have a different definition of "valid" lol

yea we're in agreement actually.... i'm saying "valid" in that his thoughts are what they are and no less important in the eyes of a legislator. if enough people say the sky is literally going to fall because of a bill, it's "valid" concern that needs to be looked into.  i'm sure there's others out there that feel the same way he/she does, whether they know data doesn't really support it or not. we're talking about politics and legislation here, in a state with liberal minded concerns. not the definition of valid you, i, or anyone else typically goes by. it's part of the struggle of passing laws here in albany. the office that's sponsoring the bill is slightly informed, but they aren't experts to shoot down every concern, no matter how ridiculous it might seem. write this concept off and a bill would go no where for seemingly no valid reason, leaving us scratching our heads.  going a step further to make you shake your head, you literally have to feed your rep sponsoring the bill with preemptive answers to the dumbest questions or concerns that you know will come up.

[silent death]

Sadly I can see them now trying to raise the age to hunt the way things are going ..

[Robhuntandfish]

4 hours ago, silent death said:

Sadly I can see them now trying to raise the age to hunt the way things are going ..

at the very least though the lower the age bill is dead in the water for sure.