Youth quota, too young

[howl]

tl;dr where's the line between getting kids into the woods, and scamming the system?


Here in GA the rule is the kid has to carry the gun. The idea is to limit people from using their three year old to get a permit for an adult to use. This past week my 14yo son and I went to S FL for a quota turkey hunt. It took a few years to draw.

(Long story short, he missed because he took an extremely close range shot instead of letting it walk off. I guess having an Osceola spit and drum in your face affects judgement. :thumbs up: )

I think about half of the permits were drawn by preschoolers. Seeing a kid seat on the back of an e-bike tripped me out. I started taking my kids to the woods very young, but we weren't seriously hunting and no permits were necessary. We went turkey hunting with homemade calls and toy guns.

Nobody believes your toddler is going to blast a gobbler with a shotgun. One tried to complain to me his 3yo wouldn't hunt much.

My complaints:
1. This creates the incredible pressure that makes FL turkey hunting more a challenge than it would be.
2. These dads are stealing their kids' points. Imagine being a kid and realizing you can't draw the tag you want because dad burned your points while you were still wearing pull-ups.
3. I can't think of a good solution.

I think, probably, the minimum age should be when old enough to actually remember the hunt when older. 7yo is about right?

 

[jpc01101]

seems Western states have dealt with this with most 10+ to apply. NM is 9 (I just applied my son this year for the first time). That being said, everyone kid is different. My nephew absolutely killed a turkey at age 4 and a pronghorn at 5. He is the exception, not the rule, my son wouldn't have had any interest at 4-5-6-7 Years old in hunting anything really.

 

[Nick87]

My nephew absolutely killed a turkey at age 4 and a pronghorn at 5.

Do you think he'll remember it? I dont remember a whole lot of anything in detail at that age...

 

[SAJ-99]

Do you think he'll remember it? I dont remember a whole lot of anything in detail at that age...

Which begs the next question...are we doing it for the kid or the parent? and its not just hunting. The amount of fun my kid has had and forgotten before she hit a teenager far exceeded anything I did before turning 30. Spoiled, for sure, but I loved doing it.

 

[Nick87]

Which begs the next question...are we doing it for the kid or the parent? and its not just hunting. The amount of fun my kid has had and forgotten before she hit a teenager far exceeded anything I did before turning 30. Spoiled, for sure, but I loved doing it.

100%.

 

[JV842]

Do you think he'll remember it? I dont remember a whole lot of anything in detail at that age...

I vividly remember shooting my first deer at 5
A memory of a great time with my mom n grandmother that I will always have and love

 

[jpc01101]

Do you think he'll remember it? I dont remember a whole lot of anything in detail at that age...

Fair question, how much does he remember vs. thinks he remembers from us replaying it in conversation over and over for the past 5 years? I don't know honestly, but I can tell you that it was a joyous moment for him and my Dad (his Grandpa) and really for all of us. I am not advocating this for every kid, like I said my son wouldn't have been into it at all. I think having a minimum age for limited draw apps makes a ton of sense to avoid situations like you said where a Dad is doing the shooting.

 

[Nick87]

but I can tell you that it was a joyous moment for him and my Dad (his Grandpa) and really for all of us.

Thats great and I'm not casting shade but my kids (5 and 7) see kids their age all the time filling tags. While the 7 year old could pull the trigger himself now. I'm not going to let him. I would be on cloud 9 watching him make it happen. Its a moment I've been waiting for all my life even before I had kids. However I'm not gonna let him because I feel like I'd be robbing him of actually waiting and building up to that when he's old enough to do a lot more of the actual hunting and all the moving parts of it himself. Not just pulling the trigger. He probably wont be as old as I was but its not gonna be right now. To each his own.

 

[Mallardsx2]

Here in GA the rule is the kid has to carry the gun. The idea is to limit people from using their three year old to get a permit for an adult to use. This past week my 14yo son and I went to S FL for a quota turkey hunt. It took a few years to draw.

Can you please show me this law.

Thanks.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I vividly remember shooting my first deer at 5
A memory of a great time with my mom n grandmother that I will always have and love

Huh. I dont vividly remember a single thing from when I was 5 (35 years ago). I'm jealous of that at least.

 

[Nick87]

Huh. I dont vividly remember a single thing from when I was 5 (35 years ago). I'm jealous of that at least.

I shit my pants in pre-school. Probably around 5. It was traumatic I do remember that.

 

[Laszlo Cravensworth]

I shit my pants in pre-school. Probably around 5. It was traumatic I do remember that.

I got ejected from the merry go round on my first day of kindergarten. Vividly remember that. Had to sit on the time out tractor tire until the end of recess afterward.

I've thought about this off and on. In California the age was 12 to kill big game. I don't have any issue with that. Hunters safety instructors frequently wont take kids in their class younger than 8. I think there are probably a lot of parents out there starting them too young.

10. 10 years old is the answer.

 

[Nick87]

I got ejected from the merry go round on my first day of kindergarten. Vividly remember that. Had to sit on the time out tractor tire until the end of recess afterward.

I've thought about this off and on. In California the age was 12 to kill big game. I don't have any issue with that. Hunters safety instructors frequently wont take kids in their class younger than 8. I think there are probably a lot of parents out there starting them too young.

10. 10 years old is the answer.

It depends on the kid. For me it was 10.

 

[noharleyyet]

I remember my first crush's full name..we were both 6.

It depends on the kid. For me it was 10.

Our son killed his first deer, a nice 5x at 10...he'd been a fishing junkie since he was 4.

 

[JV842]

Huh. I dont vividly remember a single thing from when I was 5 (35 years ago). I'm jealous of that at least.

Long story but will try to get through it quick as possible.
As said beforehand, I was 5; 55 now for context, my mother was 8months pregnant w my sister. My grandmother parked her truck at the usual spot between my mother’s stand and hers on the family ranch. As my mother and I were leaving to go to her stand, my grandmother told me, that incase anything happened to my mother I should run to her truck and honk the horn.
We got settled in and waited for sunrise.
There was a small buck; at that time spikes were illegal and pretty much everyone around shot any branch antlered deer that showed, I sat on my mother’s lap, sighted in w a 22-250, pulled the trigger, and click…no fire!
As the buck took off, my mother was able to shoot him a her 270. Later another buck came out and again, rifle didn’t shoot. So when another came out; could’ve been the same one, my mother let me use her 270, put the rifle butt under my arm, she held the butt, and pow!
I Went Down!!! My mother asked why I was crying and that I had got the buck; 3pt, he’s laying rt there. I looked up w a bloody face! Scope had given me a forever reminder of that day; still have the scar.
We then walked to my grandmother’s truck and…it was locked! We had to walk all the way to my grandmother’s deer stand. I’m sure we were quite the sight for my grandmother….8month pregnant daughter, walking down the road, w a bloodied, crying grandson…so of course she came out crying too.
So that’s the story, other stuff also along w it but it’s getting too long….
I do remember it vividly

 

[HuntLedger]

As long as the kid can actually hold the gun and shoot safely, then I am good with it. Definitely depends on the kid, my son was not that interested in hunting when I took him at 9 or even 12, but it was a completely different story last year at 14. He killed his first deer and is now talking about next season all the time.

 

[Nick87]

As long as the kid can actually hold the gun

I think that is a decent rule of thumb.

 

[BenP]

My oldest was 8 when he killed a deer and turkey, he wanted to go and understood that he was taking the life of an animal. He would have never hunted before that because he couldn't handle the gun and recoil so I didn't take him for him to shoot.

Now the next child is quite different and has wanted to hunt since 4 but is smaller so could not fit the guns, a lot tougher than the older so he could have handled the recoil if I let him shoot. He wet last year at 6 turkey hunting but didn't kill anything but shot the gun great a never wanted to stop shooting.

Really depends on the kid and the parent should have good judgement on when they are ready. I'd be fine with a 10 year minimum age though as it's a problems here too of "babies" killing things.