At what age do you think it's appropriate for a child to shoot their first deer or hog?

I'd like to hear your opinions on a subject that I deal with on a fairly regular basis. By no means am I some famous hunting guide (run 30-40 deer/hog/duck hunts in January and February) as most of my time is spent guiding fishing trips. I do however take a great deal of pride in making sure the customer is successful in accomplishing whatever goal he/she is wanting to achieve. For me, I don't want to take a son/daughter out until they are 10-12 years old, as I really don't think a 5-7 year old fully understands the magnitude of choosing to end another creature's life. I get several calls a year from folks wanting to take very young children out to bag their first animal, and I always decline. I base this strictly on the fact that I only have just bits and pieces of memories from that age, and I don't feel that the child will truly appreciate the moment later in life.

Any other guides or parents have experience with this issue?

I totally agree

I'm with you 100% about the 5-7 age group not fully understanding a hunting situation. There is not a determined starting age IMO, but it's far from the 5-7 age group.

I would base it on the maturity level of the kid, not the age.

Yes, mindset and maturity of the child is important to me. We recently lowered the hunting age from 12 down to 10 years old here in Idaho. that is about my personal limit; sure you can go along and love the hunt and everything about it, but I draw the line with shooting big game. I think you have to grasp the concept of killing an animal to appreciate what you are doing. These are not just pop cans or paper targets you're plinking.

I agree with most of what has been said. Personally I think the 5-7 age is too young. I shot my first deer at 10. Had been shooting for year a pellet rifle and 22 and center fire rifles.

In my mind if you cant sit in your own chair pick up your own gun steady it and shoot it your not there. I believe the maturity has a lot to do with it.

I've pondered this for a while but never said anything. It bothers me to see 'My 5-yr old just killed X'. I'm not sure there's ever been a 5-yr-old mature enough to comprehend killing another creature. I killed my first deer (also the first one I ever saw die) at age 10. I had killed a couple of rabbits and squirrels prior but when you hit those with a 20ga they're dead before they hit the ground. Watching a large game animal expire is different.

I'm not putting my little ones in that position until a. they don't need help from me to hold steady and fire a capable weapon and b. they have been killing game for a couple of years.

At this rate, I am looking at early teens for my daughters. Maybe I just suck at being a dad. I havent gotten mine in the woods enough.

At this stage I just don't go hy myself anywhere, ever anymore. I got a lot of catching up to do trying to raise little sportsmen.

My son and grandson both took animals at around 10 years of age. Both had been to the lease many times and knew what was going on. Some children may need to wait longer. Perhaps let the child tell you when they are ready opposed to the parent putting the gun in their hand.

maturity, physically strong enough and passion are the key factors. Not all kids have the same passion for hunting. I have a few personal examples that contradict the 5-7 year old theory but for the most part I would say 10+.

I killed my first deer when I was 4, just shy of my 5th birthday by a few weeks. I still remember it vividly in great detail ... but I had hunted (gone to the woods) with my dad when I could barely walk (so they tell me), any time my mom would let me go alone to the woods with my dad, I was there, saw him and his hunting buddies take a lot of deer and other game, watched the entire process including getting it to the freezer. I had a BB gun and had killed literally thousand of birds in our back yard protecting our fruit trees and I was wanting to truly hunt and take a deer but wasn't physically ready any sooner no matter how much my want factor came into play. Finally, dad thought I was close to ready physically and put up a target, actually it was the cover off of a outdoor magazine that had a photo of a deer on it. He told me where I needed to shoot it, stepped off 25 yards and tacked it to a fence post. Said I had to hit in a dime size circle 3 shot group before I was ready to shoot at a live deer. Winchester model 1892 in 218 Bee with a Weaver 3x side mount scope with a post retical. I proved that day I was able to handle the gun safely, shoot accurately and had a passion for hunting. My dad was also allergic to the hair or dander from any deer family animal, so some one had to gut and skin anything he shot ... he then had a hunting partner 24/7 but also a gutter and skinner by the time I was 6, I shutter to think how many animals I have gutted and skinned.

That was 56 years ago... It was also 3-4 years before my brother was ready who is about 2 years older than me, he was 9-10 I believe before he was ready. Yes, times have changed but I still think maturity, physical stature and passion would be my deciding factor.

My son was similar to my experience above and I believe was 5 for his first and still has that passion ~30 years later ... My daughter was much later, early teens if memory serves me.

with that said ... as a guide, you have no earthly idea what a child might possess in maturity, physical stature or passion ... it might just be a parent pushing them into it whether they like it or not ... so I am totally with you on the age being 10+

Well, i’ll be the other point of view here. I’m a forester. I’ve got 150,000 acres. My son grew up on it. He watched the natural way of how things live and die. He helped me bury some of my old bird dogs that were also family pets. He was there when his grandpa died and when we buried him. He had helped me process many animals I had taken in his presence. He understood why we took them and where the meat we ate came from. He was proficient with a 410, .22, and a .223 with my full supervision at age 6 and handled them well. He took his first deer, a spike buck, just before his seventh birthday, under my supervision. He still talks about in great detail. He is 20 now and is a very accomplished sportsman. Early on I felt comfort by the fact that if he was somewhere that another kid was playing with, or unsafe with a firearm, he knew to leave immediately. I think in our gun friendly culture here in texas, to not educate children early on about firearms borders on criminal.

Edited to add: by the time he was eleven I felt safer hunting with my son than many grown men I’ve spent time afield with.

I recall being about 10 years old when I took a pellet gun out on a rabbit hunt and shot my first rabbit with my Dad. I was walking with him on these hunts from the age of 6 or 7. Ten seems about right for some kids. Others should wait until the age of 55 or so

Id agree with about 10. When they can hold and shoot as well. Although we take younger ones to the blind, they dont shoot

All of my children grew around wildlife , weather it was research or hunting. All three took a different route, the oldest saw no problem in killing animals in a hunting setting or research. He started hunting about 10 shooting rabbits and in the same year a doe, The youngest never liked seeing animals killed in the name of research and not use the remains. I would get a lecture on how policy is different than normal folks and wasteful to keep it for study animal or tissue samples. He hunts given the chance now, but he really did not want to hunt till age 13. Both have been hunting now for close 20 years. Let the child tell you when there ready, exposer is the key to good values and ethics on hunting.

The entire family started going to the blind at age 7 and spent ages 7, 8, 9 and 10, watching and observing.

Shooting was allowed at age 11 given that each could shoot proficiently.

Hunting alone was allowed at 13.

I grew up around animals being butchered on the farm for our families to eat. I had to help with it from a very young age. I started shooting BB gun at 6 and then shooting rabbits with .22 when I was 7 or so with my granddad. We cleaned and ate everything we killed. I started shooting dove and quail with a shotgun at 10. I was not allowed to kill a deer till I was 13 and was old enough to be able to hunt alone. Just my families rules at the time about deer hunting.
I agree with the posts above about the maturity level and what the child was brought up around.

I got a single shot 20 ga. for my 8th birthday and hunted doves that fall. I don’t remember hitting a dove that first hunt, I also shot my first deer when I was 8. My youngest daughter shot her first deer one week shy of her 8th birthday. She needed a little more strength to handle a shotgun and was probably 10 or 11 before she shot one. I don’t think there is a specific age. It all depends on the kid. Just like driving, my youngest got her license right after her 16th birthday and so far so good (knock on wood). My oldest did not get hers until she was 17 and had 4 fender benders the first year.

It depends on the kid. My boys are 8 and 10. They’ve both killed deer and pigs from a blind with a rest. They are old enough to shoot dove under supervision if I’m not shooting and only one at a time. I’m still trying to decide if the oldest is safe enough to kill bird over dogs. I was at 7 but that was a different time and I had a gun in my hands every day.

They will remember it since it is such a vivid memory. My boy hunted with me since 5 and took his first deer a doe at 12 though when he was ready. My daughter could careless about sitting in a stand though and rather walk around and stalk or find arrowheads. She saw me take plenty early on but not too exciting for her. Everyone is different. And parents and hunters are different. Some of my most avid hunter friends can't get their kids out.. I say if parent says they are ready give them a chance or they might not have that chance again. As long as they can shoot of course.

I grew up going with my family hunting, fishing, and camping from the time I was just weeks old from the photos my mother was always proud to show.
So what I'm saying is I was always allowed to tag along so I saw what it takes to kill an animal, and what has to be done after you pull the trigger, or catch the fish, and what all is involved all the way to when it goes into the pan.
Having sat with my dad, uncles in a deer blind I was 13 when I finally got to sit alone, so I wasn't a rookie when the time came, and I killed my first buck on that first sit, and I also gutted the deer after dragging it to the road about several yards from my ground brush blind.
My first sit was early in the morning in the dark, and I was a little scared when I heard all those noises, but hey, I knew I had my thutty thutty so I'd just give her a rub and all was better waiting for the sun to come up.
As for the gut job, I didn't do too bad, having helped with the chore on other deer not my own, but on my first solo, I think I had as much blood on me as the deer did!
My dad drove up shortly after I finished and he didn't say much, but he had a big grin on his face.

I don't remember at what age I started hunting with my dad. Probably 3 based on what year he started the lease I remember going to first. Been around hunting and fishing all my life. I remember in the first grade one day our teacher asked what we all did the night before at home and went around the room 1 by 1 and asked each kid. I told her I helped my dad cut up a deer lol thought she was going to call child protective services. There was a parent conference as a result... and that was 25+ years ago, cannot imagine how it would go in todays world.

Some states have laws that require a child to be a certain age. I think that 12 to 14 is what I've read in the regulations of those states, but it's been awhile. I personally feel that's about right for 90% of the kids out there and would base my decision on what's right for most kids, not the examples given of kids that grow up around hunting and being outdoors all the time. They would be ready a lot sooner then the everyone else. But more importantly, I would want to make sure that the child could handle the weapon responsibly and shoot it accurately. I've seen a few very young kids on some of the hunting shows that really impressed me, and I've met some grown adults that I would never want to be within ten miles of them if I knew they where out hunting!!!

One thing that I do when somebody new comes over to my place to shoot is I make sure a rifle is empty before we head to my range. I then ask them to get the rifle and bring it over to where we are going to shoot. What they do, and how they treat the rifle tells me everything that I need to know about them.

I very much appreciate everyone's input on the subject. I think the two biggest determining factors, based on my personal thoughts and the viewpoints I've read through, is safety and maturity. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't way out of line with how I approached the situation. I am truly blessed to be able to hunt/fish for a living, and guiding our youth is a huge deal to me, so thank y'all again for helping me out!

This. My 2 oldest boys have been hunting beside me for years, cleaning birds, prepping meat, cooking and eating. They started duck hunting with me at 4 years old (as soon as they could understand being still and quiet). About 5 or 6 they started asking to shoot, I declined and we proceeded to learn gun safety, handling a firearm and shooting stationary targets. My oldest took his first duck at 9 and my middle son took his first bird at 7. That's when they were both ready. Neither are ready to take a deer...they are 11 and 8 now.

Long story short, they're all different and we get to be dad's through this process. If I was guiding it would certainly be a different story. I'd make anyone under 12 show me they can shoot prior to taking a deer, but I'm sure that could be difficult in the guiding business.

My dad was a game warden and a hunters safety instructor. By the time I was 12 I had already sit through about 25 of them and could have taught the class in my sleep. He started me hunting with him when I was 2.5. The following year in 1983 he had worked with me all spring and summer shooting a .22lr. One morning when we got to the deer stand he switched it to a mini 14. That morning I shot my first whitetail. I was probably the exception to the rule, but I took my daughter turkey hunting at the age of 6 right before she turned 7 and she took her first turkey. My 7 year old is very big and for his age is very mature. He keeps asking to shoot a hog so I think with some practice with the rifle
I’ll give him a chance this fall. Every one is different and I think it’s really dependent on the child and the comfort and ease at which the parent has about the experience.