Front page of yahoo news today. Here go the idiots in the government taking on something they know absolutely about! It's one thing to give an 8 year old a rifle and set him free and another to sit with a kid and teach him/her... Why don't the humane society ban people from hunting for wounding animals and not recovering them? I think they are way more adults who should not be hunting than kids.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_on_re_us/young_hunters

I'll try to stay out of the political field on this one...

These folks that want to manipulate our parenting skills have no idea what hunting is all about. They think hunting is violent and equates it to terrorism. What they don't understand is that their extremism is terrorism on Zanax.

It is fear of the unknown - pure and simple...and they will never succomb to education to eleviate that fear.

HSUS and PETA try to seize any opportunity for publicity to further their causes any time they get the chance.

I think, and I ain't a parent, that teaching a child to hunt, should be something left up to each parent. With that said, I really do think that there should be a minimum age as to when a child can LEGALLY hunt = buy a license.

I have seen 6 year olds that were more mature than 18 year olds. The facts though remain, that in places like Texas as the prime example from my knowledge of the situation, a parent can purchase a youth license for a 4 year old child.

Now in how many cases, have parents bought licenses for 4 year olds, just to get extra tags to use. I am not saying EVERY parent does this, but I have known some that did.

One time before on here the subject of when to start a child hunting had been hashed out, I feel that there should be some parameters placed on it, but, I do feel that any child brought up hunting and fishing, and allowed to gain the knowledge of where they and their actions fit into the order of things in the natural world, make better, more well balanced citizens. JMO

That is a bunch of bull [censored]

There was an article in the Denton Record Chronicle Sunday about this. A quote from Heidi Prescott, the Humane Society's senior VP "A deer rifle can kill someone up to a mile away, and young adolescents lack the experience, judgement and emotional maturity to handle that kind of firepower safely. To send someone into the woods with a long-range weapon who's not even mature enough to drive a car is an invitation to tradgedy." The only tradgedy I see is that she and the others like her will never understand hunting or even fishing. To me it is just another way that organizations like this are trying to worm their fingers in so they can stop hunting all together. If we wait till children are 16 as she has sugested, then school activities and girlfriends/ boyfriends and driving will have their attention and less will persue outdoor activities. I read an article about how some states and Canada have age restrictions already and new hunter recrutement in those areas is in a big decline. HSUS and Peta and similar organizations will do anything they can to stop our way of life. I can't find the article now but it was in Bowhunter or Field and Stream.

!Que!?

If they had a law saying they had to be 16 we would definitely see a huge decline in hunting. That is when kids start their own rut and if you don't get them involved before then, they better have some really good friends and influences who can get them involved in hunting after college or when they are mature.

That is B.S....I'm with you duckman.

Why the hell would they take hunting away from kids. I think hunting gives kids some thing to look foward to in the future and years to come. I think the kids that hunt now day that is what keeps them from drugs and gangs. If they take it away we will see a big increase so many kids. Hunting keeps me out of trouble and always did if i got into trouble my dad wouldent take me hunting. It is a damn shame at the laws today.

It is difficult to discuss something like this without stepping on some political toes. So I will apologize now.

I can see some states going for something like this. Especially up in the northeast. Any of your predominantly democrat states will be the first to implement it. As long as it remains a state issue I dont have a fear of it happening here in Texas.

I'm not a conspiracy nut or anything like that. But I think the underlying agenda with this type of talk is gun control. But that's a whole other thread best left for another forum.

What concerns me with this is when, not if but WHEN the federal government decides that we need their 'help' in these types of decisions. The whole 'It Takes A Villiage' load of B.S. comes to mind. And it is my opinion that this 'when' will be when we have a democrat for president and (God help us) the democrats take back the majority in the house and or senate.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Would youth only season be for those 16-18 or for the mentally challenged (ex democrats)?