I didnt read all the posts but I know one thing.My oldest boy whos now 16 started tagging along with me when he was old enough to walk through the weeds without being carried.
He went scouting and hanging stands with me when he that size, when he was 5 or 6 he would go duck hunting with me, not with a gun but he would sit in the blind and watch.Around 6 or 7 he got a bb gun and we spent hours practicing with it.That fall i took him rabbitt and squirrel hunting.He did well.
About the same time he would go deer hunting with me when I would hunt from the ground.If i shot something he would stay out in the cold and dark and help track it, usually his job was just to mark the last spot of blood.
About 9 years old he got a .22 and a bow and arrow, he spent more time shooting them with supervision than most adults I know would ever dream of practicing.When he was 10 I bought a new muzzleloader and gave him my old one.He could tear it apart, clean it, and put it back together before he ever got to shoot it.He took his first deer that year, one shot, right behind the shoulder, about 100 yrds away from the ground.couple years later he took his first deer with a bow, it was one of the hardest tracking jobs Ive ever seen but he stayed on it till we found his buck.
The entire time he hunted with me I took the time to show him why I was doing things the way I did, explain things, teach him about the weapons he was using and the animals he was persuing.I showed him how to gut, skin, and butcher what he shot.At 10 he could sit patiently for hours, make a shot, and follow up on it as well as most of the adult weekend warriors who are out.He could gut the animal, he could skin it with help, and he knew where his food came from.Could he do everything?Nope, he couldnt hang his own stands, couldnt drag a deer out without help, and other things that most adults can do without much effort.But I guarantee he knew a hell of a lot more about deer and hunting at that point than a lotta guys that go one weekend a year and then drop what they kill off at the locker for someone else to deal with.