Jeeze, I can' t believe I' m going to say this but NJ does a good thing by children. They get free licences until age 16. They only have to pay for permits for special seasons but at a reduced rate. ($10 to my $28) They also have youth days where only kids can hunt. An adult must accompany them but only the kids hunt. They do this for ducks, pheasants, deer, and turkey. That is all well and good but getting non-hunting families to let their kids hunt is tough. We sponsor a kids night at my archery club. Local kids who know a club member can come to our club once a month to shoot a bow. We get between 15 and 20 kids every month. Few will hunt though I' ll bet.

I agree it is a scary statistic. My son is ten also and he started hunting this year. He is not obsessed like I am now and he is less intense than I was at his age. Still he loves it. I really cherish our time together. I try to remember that friends are very important at his age and if he wants to sleep over a friend' s house and miss the hunt tomorrow so be it. I miss him though.

Keep getting him out all the time.

Greg