Minimum age to hunt?
 

What do you guys think should be the minimum age at which a kid can hunt and why?

What do you think should be the minimum age to hunt without adult supervision and why?

If you answer, please acknowledge the fact that different kids mature at different ages and allow for that.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

There should beno limit, just based on maturity with a loaded firearm in your hands.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

I agree. There should be no minimum age for hunting. However, unsupervised is another thing. I think 16 is a good age to let the kiddies go out on their own for the first time. Gives them lots of years of practice with whoever they hunt with most, and get the basics down. That way, when they come across a problem in the field, they can solve it themselves because they spent a few years learning how. Otherwise, calculating windage, downhill, range, ect. can be difficult if you just cut a new hunter loose with a firearm or bow.

I think it doesn't have as much to do with just maturity as it does with a combination of maturity and experience. No matter how a person matures at a different age or whatnot, there's got to be a certain level of experience behind the gun, not just a good hunter.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

idk bout all of u, but i only sat with my dad one year, first year u could hunt, after that, i sat by myself(which isnt legal). so it really dont matter to me, i couldve hunted when i was 7 if id have been so inclined, i bet dad woulda let me shoot his deer.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

I agree with cenauri .My dad says immature enough to go hunting,but he dosent want to break law[the law is you have to be 12,it stinks that i can only take down small game.]So i just sit and watch and go hunting in my woods right off my house with a22.,Airifle,bow,and a airshotgun for small game.

Kingfisher97

[hr]

A bad day of hunting is better than agood day at work.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

no minimum age, 16, but you have to pass a hunter saftey test before going out on your own.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i am all alone been that way since i was 12 mite be becuse i got a 100% on my hunter saftey!!!!!!! lol:D:D:D

I agree with most everyone there should be no minimum age

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

here you need to get the hunters saftey course and after that "technicaly"you can hunt by yourself! really though i dont think there should be an age limit to hunt, but i would say 16 should probably be the age to hunt by yourself! like hunting girl said, experiance and knowlege is key, to turn someone loose with little or no experiance but calim it ok cause the kid is "mature", well to me thats stupid!

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

yeah you cant get those kids from the city out there hunting alone!!!!

let me quote David Blanton on myself "Ty (thats me) you know more about hunting then alot of 40year olds do"
now if you are like me out every day even in the summer scouting then yes i think they can hunt alone

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i think to tag along with the parents(s) should be 9 years old and to be able to HUNT it should be 11 and to go without supervision it should be 16, well thats what i think it should be well atleast in new york

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

King, the age in NYS is 16 to hunt alone. If you're from the city, Queens, Manhattan, LI, etc., the age should be much higher than it is for us country folk. We grew up outdoors with guns in our hands from the second we could walk. I'm sorry (not very sorry)but the people from the city that come here to hunt cause 99.9% of the problems due to inexperience and cockiness.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

not too many in the city hunt anyways, but when i was younger i wish i would be able to to hunt with my dad at the age of 13-14 and not 16........and by the way you have to 16 to hunt with a supervisor and 18 to hunt alone... but i do think the ages of hunting is too old because New York State has oneleast amountof accidents considering huting in the nation imnot sayingits thebest but i think its in the top 10 in the nation

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

Up here you're cut loose at 16. I see a lot of hunting accidents, most probably aren't reported. We've had 6 lost hunters already (all from the NYC) who just plain shouldn't have ever been allowed in the woods. A few have been caught with rifles during bow season, jacking deer, never got their licence and they are most often tresspassing. I just don't trust anyone south of Orange CO. in the woods. Just my personal opinion. Of course I live at the base of a very busy ski slope upstate, and see A LOT of city people (on the weekend my town's population goes from 1500 to 10,000 because of 'imports' from the city). Cause most of my calls and most of my headaches.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

haha you live near windham??? cause i know MANY city people that go up to windham during long weekends like this week ........but i really do think your really exxaterating right now but i have nothing else to say..........i know there are some jack***** out there but not many (well i hope not)

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

No, I'm not exaggerating. I'm tired of it frankly. I hate the ski slope. Worst thing that ever happened here was that thing went public when the Kennedy's sold out their portion. Can't even run a decent farm here anymore because of all of them coming up. My neighbors are a bunch of a**holes and I can't stand anyone who drives a big SUV and owns a pair of skis. Just stay home.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

OUCH!!!! im from the city! right outside chicago! Yes i basically live at my grandpas far, on summers and weekends, and scout every free chance i get! but i know a few "city hunters"some i would hunt with, others i wouldnt! but please dont believe that all city hunters dont know what they are doing! i have had my grandpa preashing me gun saftey for as long as i can remember!

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

You're safe Andy. Its just NYC that I loathe [>:] And San Franpsycho

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

I agree with you there!!

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

Believe me, hnt24.7 really does know David Blanton. He isn't just making up a story. I have seen some of the emails he has gotten from David myself.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i hear you, but these people from the city have nothing to do in the city so they buy a home upstate and use it asa vacation home, i mean thats what im looking to buy, i wouldlike so rather spend my weekend upstate rather than sit in my 2 bedroom apartment in the city..... but yea i agree some can be a**holes

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

They just lowered the minimum age from 12 to 10 here. You have to hunt with an adult until you're 17. But what if the "adult" you're hunting with is a doofus?

I had to take the hunter education course last fall. My husband (we weren't married yet though) took it with me just to see what it was like. The test was pretty easy. We both got 100%, but we were really shocked that some people didn't pass.

I'm inclined to think that parents should be able to decide if their kids are old enough to hunt. But what if the parents are irresponsible?

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

The problem is, the homes they are building are a waste. They spend well over a million dollars on a place that some of them only use once per year. Meanwhile, that home is still here and its driving our taxes sky high. We (the locals who have lived here all our lives) are being driven out and can't afford to live here anymore because they want a "winter home." If ya'll hate the city so much and can afford to keep two places how bout ya save your money and just buy one place down in Westchester or Orange counties and commute. I know lots of people who do.
[/align]
[/align]The people who come up here are absolutely miserable too. Whenever they see one of us (locals) in line at the gas station or whatever they remark that we're "stupid rednecks" right out loud like we're too dumb to hear them or something. I've been told TO MY FACE by several people that my life is meaningless and I'll never amount to anything because I was born and raised here and lack any sense of culture or sophistication.
[/align]
[/align]And God forbid I get one of your kind in the back of my ambulance, you'd think they'd be a little grateful for the help considering the nearest hospital is an hour away, but NOOOOO. Apparently I'm not as smart as the FDNY guys because I took my EMT-Int class up here in the country where we're all backwards and can't read. Nevermind that I'm a ranking officer in the EMS world all over NYS and a specialist in emergency trauma. Nevermind that I've been a firefighter for the past 6 years certified in just about every kind of complicated rescue you could think of including a member of the FAST team.
[/align]
[/align]Angry and bitter? You bet your butt.The second it hits Friday I start getting treated like crap in my own town. They do the same to everybody up here. They cut us in line, flip us off as we drive through town, and assume we live here simply to serve them. We lost our farm because city folk and big business moved in and we couldn't keep up. Now they trespass on our property, shoot our animals, go hiking in the woods and get lost and expect us to carry them down because "they can't see after dark". Well how do you think we feel?! We just had to leave dinner with our family to go rescue some nut who can't remember whether he was on the blue trail or the yellow trail.
[/align]
[/align]Don't get me wrong King, I'm glad that you hunt and enjoy the outdoors, more people should. I know all about the city, I've been there several times, heck, some of my bestfriendsthat I met in collegeare from the Bronx. But I don't like getting treated like garbage and I don't like the people I love getting treated like garbage. Maybe if we got a little bit more respect and the courtesy we deserved we wouldn't be so bitter. Heck, maybe if you were real nicewe'd even take you hunting. Spread the word to your Windham-bound friends. Be nice, because Hell hath no fury as mountain justice ;)
[/align]

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

like i said some people are really a**holes, and im sorry that happends to you up there and other of your neighbors, but i doubt the people i know do this, i mean i dont know too many i know like 3 of them and all three of them are good people but again im sorry this happends, im not going to take all the blame for these a**holes because theydo mistreat many down here (not people fromupstate) i mean the locals cause some are annoying

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i think ours is 5

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

We backwoods people are much more cultured and smarter than city people. Granted, I was born in a city, but its not my real home. People who spent all their lives in a city are almost always too obsessed with business, and money. They don't know what its like to spend a while out in the water fishing, or in the woods hunting.

I live in a town right now that is trying to become a NYC, and people act just the same. They treat a person that they don't like like crap, and they all think about themselves, not anyone else. And they are really rude too.

Like, I don't play sports, and alot of people just blow me off cause Im not that person. Everyone in our neighborhood, save 2, keeps to themselves, and will never show their face. I mean, we have maybe 50-100 houses in our neighborhood, and we are only friends with 2 of them.

And lastly, this popular girl (I dont know how she is popular, she is ugly and fat) was talkin about hunting, and she said I probably never shot a gun. I told her I have, and she is said, "Why are you even talking to me" I just hate people like that. Thinking that they are better than everyone else. There is too much of that in my town... I was very close to punchin her, but I would never hit a girl.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

show her how to use a gun, at her. dont do that killin never cured anything except hunger.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

your not not the only one kingfisher im 12 and i can only hunt small game

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i live in oswego county and all the syracuse high school guys say we're hick and hillbillys

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

i think with supervision no limit it depends on the kid, with out supervision i guess 16 cause then you can get ur self around by ur self and then you should have experience saftey wise around the gun/bow that your hunting with.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

Hey i live in the suburbs which is like a small city and i hunt, i grew up in the country then moved when i was little i was shooting when i was 3 (with a bb gun) and now i am 14,iwas taught safety first and if i was safe i would loose my gun and trust me that was the last thing i wanted to happen, i am moving to the country soon,but not every person who lives in the city-subburbs ect. is a dangerous hunter. Also if i was unsafe do you think that my parents would let me keep all my knives, ammo, and guns in my room, no of course not because i grew up around that stuff and i lived in the city.

RE: Minimum age to hunt?
 

I think that you should be able to hunt when you are10 or so but with adult supervision and you should be able to go by yourself when you are 14 or so. Kids can be very inmature at times and do not have the experience that older ones have.
Zach
age-17