i believe it goes by the maturity of the hunter...and of course state regulations.. I would like for my child to pass a hunter saftey course before going into the woods but when I was younger and hunted with other people my age at the time I got very nervous by some of the stuff that they did.. so I tried to distance myself from them.. so not all ages are going to be as saftey concious as others... I would pass on saftey and hunting knowledge and see his/her maturity level and go from there... I have seen to many people shot with guns from accidents that made STUPID mistakes and were not paying attention to what they were doing