Youth hunting policies?

[petasux]

Just kinda curious what the different regulations and policies are for youth hunters around the country.I keep seeing that youth hunters numbers are declining and was wondering if any of the other areas have done anything to promote an interest in kids going hunting.

We changed some of our policies here in Iowa drastically in the last few years and for the most part they were all pretty good changes.

Before to go hunting during the youth deer season you had to be 12 years old and accompanied by a licensed adult.They changed it so any child can now go as long as theyre with a licensed adult and have a deer tag.They give the kids a 15 day season to hunt and let them go before any of the other seasons start and the deer become jumpy.

They also changed the regulations this year on licensing, the youth deer tag used to be good only during the 15 day youth season.They now made it so if the kid doesnt get a deer during that time frame they can simply save the tag and use it during any of the other regular deer seasons, it effectively gives them almost 4 months to take a deer and the tags are either sex so they can take a buck or doe.

They had a one gun tag policy here untill this year as well.If the kid went during youth season and tagged out he couldnt get another gun license for any other seasons.Youth seasons now considered a bonus hunt, if they tag out during it they can still buy another tag for another gun season and continue hunting.For the older kids that can shoot a bow they can also get an archery tag.

I love this new system, before they had the 15 day season but with work and other things i was lucky to get my son out 5 or 6 days during the entire season, this takes a lotta the pressure off me and gives me more time to show him the proper way to do different things rather then rushing everything to get a shot at a deer.

Didnt matter this year anyway, opening night my son got his first buck, a real decent 8 pointer after about 1 hour and 15 minutes of sitting, 20 yard shot with a muzzleloader, it was awesome[8D]It also gives me the chance to take other kids out, tonight Im taking my 11 year old nephew out after his first deer, i have 2 other nephews that havent had the chance to do much hunting that want to go as well and whos parents {that dont hunt} have agreed to buy their tags so they can go.

Those that dont deer hunt also have options for getting thier kids out, theres special youth seasons for waterfowl and pheasants as well as long as they have the right stamp and are with a licensed adult.So anyplace else making any noticable efforts to boost the number of kids that hunt?

[burniegoeasily]

Youth hunting numbers are down because of all theADD impossed by quick gradification video games and the such. Just my oppinion. You cant hardly find a kid willing to set out all day and hunt. Its not fun to enjoy nature when you have 50000000000000 channels on tv and a million video games.


As for the regulations, here everyone has to have a hunting saftey course, unless you are older and were grandfathered, which I was. And we do have special youth seasons, usually a week before gun season opens.

[BenGarrett]

Tennessee's regulations are fairly lenient.

Any kid age 6 or older can hunt under adult supervision, but have to take a hunter education course at age 10. At that point, they can hunt alone. No license is required for kids under 13. For ages 13-15, an all-inclusive license is only around $10 (the adult all-inclusive license is $140). Kids also get a special two-day weekend hunt for deer before any other gun hunters get into the woods, and the same with turkey season. There is a special youth hunt during the waterfowl season as well.

I like our regulations. I'd like to see the hunter education requirements relaxed a little . . . maybe let the prospective hunter take the course online or something so if their parents' work in the evenings, it isn't such an issue to get to the course, since many counties only have one course each year.

I think it's extremely vital, when you look at declining hunters and what the so-called hunter replacement ratio is, that we do everything we can do to get youngsters into the woods. In that regard, Families Afield is doing a great job.

Right now, our sport is dying a slow death. It's happening so slow that most don't realize it. But we'll wake up one day and hunting as we know it will have ended. I hope that doesn't happen in my lifetime, but I'm afraid it might, and it will certainly happen in my children's lifetime.

[BenGarrett]

ORIGINAL: burniegoeasily

Youth hunting numbers are down because of all theÂ*ADD impossed by quick gradification video games and the such.Â* Just my oppinion.Â* You cant hardly find a kid willing to set out all day and hunt.Â* Its not fun to enjoy nature when you have 50000000000000 channels on tv and a million video games.

Those are obviously distractions, but I'm not so sure that those are the real problems. I know a lot of kids whose fathers hunt and who take them hunting, and they have all the video games they can possibly play, and they're still out there in the woods on Saturday morning. In my opinion, it's more of an issue of fathers not taking the time to take their kid hunting. Get them started at a young age and I think they'll be hooked on it for life.

[kevin1]

Indiana has no minimum age, requires HE certificate to get a youth license but is considering an "apprentice youth license" in the current legislative session which would allow them to hunt with a licensed "mentor" up to age 12, at which time they would have to do the HE requirement. They recently also instituted a youth day for deer bow hunting that immediately precedes the regular bow season against steep resistance from certain organized a-holes in our state.

[petasux]

They recently also instituted a youth day for deer bow hunting that immediately precedes the regular bow season against steep resistance from certain organized a-holes in our state.

They actually organized people to keep kids from getting a one day jump on them during bow season?Seriously, that left me speechless[&o]

[kevin1]

ORIGINAL: petasux

They actually organized people to keep kids from getting a one day jump on them during bow season?Seriously, that left me speechless[&o]

I wish it were just some sick joke, but those a-holes lobbied the DNR, mostly from behind the scenes as usual, right up until the legislative session where it was passed. We can't use crossbows for deer hunting until our late archery season because of those same a-holes, and even then they tried to screw us out of using it for bucks. We've only just now gotten permission to use pistol cartridge rifles this year because of the same a-holes lobbying against them, forget ever being able to use something like a .243 unless it's fired from a long barreled pistol, and they hate those too. We can also thank those same jerks for our "one buck only" rule, and now they want antler restrictions too. That's what you get when a few organized chest thumpers start pressing their way of doing things on the rest of the state. [:@]

[sachiko]

They've lowered the minimum age to 10 here. Hunter education course is required if you were born after 1960. Must be accompanied by an adult until age 17. There is an apprentice hunter program but I don't know the details. There is a youth hunt on a weekend in September before bow season opens. You can hunt with bow or gun on that weekend. There is no draw weight limit on bows so kids and small people like me can still bowhunt.

[petasux]

I wish it were just some sick joke, but those a-holes lobbied the DNR, mostly from behind the scenes as usual, right up until the legislative session where it was passed. We can't use crossbows for deer hunting until our late archery season because of those same a-holes, and even then they tried to screw us out of using it for bucks. We've only just now gotten permission to use pistol cartridge rifles this year because of the same a-holes lobbying against them, forget ever being able to use something like a .243 unless it's fired from a long barreled pistol, and they hate those too. We can also thank those same jerks for our "one buck only" rule, and now they want antler restrictions too. That's what you get when a few organized chest thumpers start pressing their way of doing things on the rest of the state.

I hear you, Im not sure why but for some reason when bowhunters {more then other groups} organize they percieve everything as a threat to thier season.I primarily bowhunt myself and have had the oppurtunity to join groups in this state and havent done so for that reason alone.

For example crossbow hunting was a hot topic for awhile, at the same time the state was demanding huge numbers of does be killed or else hunters would see serious changes in the regulations, including going to doe only seasons untill the quotas were met.Me and the president of one bowhunting group went round and round about the issue, not only did they get thier way and crossbow hunting remained illegal, I mysteriously got banned from the hunting site, which wasnt run by the organization but had a lot of its members thereAwhile later I found out a few members had dropped out as a result of the argument, apparently using crossbows as a population management tool made more sense to some of them then keeping them banned to avoid more hunters during "thier season" did.

[farmcntry]

NC has no age requirement for a hunter. You have to be supervised until age 16.
I have seen that some states will not even allow a supervised hunt until the child is age 12.

Burnie is somewhat correct that we battle against TV and videogames. However we've learned that a large problem is that the kids are interested, but the parents aren't interested in allowing them to explore any opprotunites available to thier kids in regards to the outdoors, hunting, and fishing.