I feel the same way about a kid killing a deer before they know how to hunt as I do about a person who pays a guide to do all the work for them. They are shooters and not hunters.
My 10 year old twin girls started learning to hunt last season and have continued learning through this season. They have sat on stand with me one at a time, they have preseason scouted with me(they can tell the age of deer crap, recognize a rub and a scrap, and tracks), they have helped me drag out a deer, field dress a deer, skin a deer, and butcher a deer. They have yet to carry a weapon into the field. They are becoming hunters, not shooters!
I will be buying them thier first gun, a single shot 22 and will start them squirrel hunting next year, if they do the following:
1. Pass the hunters safety course.
2. Prove to Dad they can handle a gun safely.
3. Prove to Dad they can shoot well enough to hunt.
They will first become squirrel hunters, then deer hunters! They will not be shooters. They will help with it all until they are strong enough to do it alone, but they will be hunters and not shooters.
The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club
