i am reminded of my aunts brother who was shot in the face by an underage hunter a few eyars ago thanksgiving morning. A kid under new york's legal age of 12 shot a six foot tall man in the face with buckshot because he thought he was a rabbit. His father was right there, at least within sight, i dont know the exact situation. Then the father claimed it was his older son who was legally able to hunt.
Now this is a case of the parent not fufilling his duty to guide the kid, or not allow him to hunt illegally rather. Also, he allowed the child to use illegal ammunition. But dont you think that a child a little older could have better judged his target, even with a terrible adult supervisor?

I say let your kid go hunting with you as young as possible, but dont give them a gun until they are old enough. And we obviously cant leave that up to the parents to decide as some people have said. And then ease them into actually hunting, small game first, then big game. As for an age, i have said that i agree with 12 for small, and 16 for big.
I dont think that we should looka t it as age restriction and educationa re hindering hunter replacement and we shoudl lower it. then we are jsut replacing them with more inexperienced hunters. its better to have them wait a year or two and learn some responsibilty and experience before handing them a lethal firearm.