Problem with that is how would you ever word that in a law? It's a natural progression for all hunters to move from "brown its down" to "first legal" to "bigger than my last one" to "only big will do". Not all hunters move all through this, some never get past the first stage, all of which is fine, but a personal choice. If a 10 year old kid spends 6 years on youth weekend, then they MIGHT move up that progression naturally. However taking a 10 year old kid out and making him pass up deer cause they don't meet some standard set by someone else, that just doesn't make sense.

The idea of youth weekend is to get the kid a shot chance and then have to teach him how to do it. Its not as easy as we all think. I have two boys both of who completely botched their first chances every on youth weekends. Take the shakes/buck fever we all get and transplant it into a young kid then step back and watch the fun [&:] My oldest had to be talked through his first successfull shot, my youngest this year (13) didn't take the shot cause he didn't know what he could/couldn't do with a walking deer at 20 yards with a rifle in his hand (my fault for not getting him into a position so I could whisper in his ear).

Youth weekend is also for teaching lessons. I have my son convinced now that you can NEVER make a mistake by NOT shooting. You may not get a deer you could have, but when you do NOT shoot you can't make a mistake and wound one. Taking bad shots is the mistake. This little guy has turned into my most consistent and dedicated hunting partner, we've now logged MANY hours in the woods and he now has to follow the "adult" rules since its general gun season. He's had deer around him that we couldn't shoot, he's been busted moving when we didn't see the deer, and he's been caught literally "with his pants down" once We have no deer, but we have fun stories to tell come Christmas!