ORIGINAL: rybohunter
We've got a mentoring program here in PA that lets kids hunt younger than 12 as long as they pass the course, BUT I think it only applies to certain seasons, and I don't think bow hunting is one.
8 is a little young. But I remember at 8, my dad giving me an old 50# bear compound with three arrows. I would shoot with him before season. It was the coolest thing to me at that time and would look forward to it after school. After that he would take the arrows away and let me keep the bow to practice pulling it back. But how the times have changed.