My 13 yr old REALLY enjoys hunting & fishing and I've encouraged him from day one. He's a self imposed "trophy hunter" and has already let several 100-120inch bucks walk earlier this year during the juvie gun weekend. He can handle and shoot lights out with his Rem 7600 7-08 and the only stands I have on my place besides ground blinds are shooting houses with stairs and commerical 12ft 2 man ladders with rails and a few 10-12ft tripods. So I guess I'm answering my own question about the safety aspect but I still just wanted to hear from other dads about when and how they made their decision?

It's always tough turning em loose whether it's that first bicycle ride, hunting or driving. Important thing is that they've been taught right. Always told my wife, it's our job to teach em how to take care of themselves, not to take care of them.

In Nevada it's 18 by law.

Its different for everyone and their kids. You've got to be the judge. A kid by himself with a phone and a gun and some limits imposed on him, lessened bit by bit, should be ok. Add more kids, motor vehicles, etc and you can see how things can go wrong.

I routinely tell people that, looking back, we (my friends, my brother and me, all in High school at the time) did things while duck hunting that should have gotten us killed. Overloaded leaky boats, with seriously underpowered motors being at the top of the list. If my mother had any idea of the risks we took with shotguns, waders, boats, motors, pickups, etc she'd have sold the whole works for a dollar. That said, as a result, I learned well how to get myself out of a serious jam. Point being, we were trusted with "too much" all at one time. Too much could have gone wrong. Yikes. Just give kids little bits of freedom at a time, I think.

if he`s a good common sense kid turn him loose ,shotguns 1st and 22 `s. mine got to use my 4x4 truck and guns at 12 years of age but he was raised in the country ,country kids learn life much earlier because they have to work as a man or lady,so common sense and respect is learned . i never sugar coated my kids and my dad never did either you got slap for doing wrong or your butt kicked . my wife now Grandma is a sweet lady but if those grandkids get out of line she let`s them have it and those grandkids love her dearly .

My dad let me hit the woods alone at 14, but I couldn't bring myself to let my son go alone until he was 16.

Here they can legally hunt alone as early as 12 after completing the hunter safety course.

I hunted alone at 12 with a gun that I really didn't use that much. Safe? Not really. Looking back it provided my dad and older brothers a better chance at killing deer vs helping me lol. Fortunately I never fell out of various tree stands with no safety harnesses and 2x4 steps nailed to trees. Never shot something I shouldn't have.

Guess that is why it meant so much to me to get to hunt with my kids up through high school. Hell I got to sit with my 26 year old this year when he killed another bull elk and my 24 year old when she got her first bull elk this year. Hunting with and helping my kids with their various adventures is my favorite pastime.

If I live long enough, planning on hunting and helping any grandkids I can help get interested.

Mine was 16, for Big Game. They could legally drive. Teach them young, and show your confidant's, and respect with on their good decisions.

Wrong. 14 but not with a semi auto.

http://www.ndow.org/Education/Hunter_Ed/FAQs/

i believe here in Minnesota farm kids can get a local area farm driving license at 12 years of age yet ? as kids we hunted every thing with our bow and arrows and killed plenty animals,but once we had gun training at age 11, and my father was a gun training instructor, at age 12 we got our own 22 and a shotgun and living in the country we allowed to go hunt year around or whatever ,but only for what animal season was open .

My daughter did this year at 16... she not only killed her deer but cleaned it, skinned it, and processed it herself...

12 in Montana I think.

I'll have to double check but I am pretty sure it is 15 in MT. That was what it was when I was a kid many years ago. I don't know if they did it to coincide with when we could drive (which was 15). Now the kids have to drive with a family member adult for awhile. When I did it I passed my drivers test and drove 300 miles to my grandparents. Off subject. I should just look it up.

Absolutely kid dependent. I know several adults I'd not want to share a field with and a few kids that I enjoy accompanying.

Ain't that the truth. There's legal and than there's responsible.

i would also include respect for the gun and alders too. i won`t go into adults using a gun ?

Depends on the kid, my youngest boy may be able to function without adult supervision when he's about 47 while my older one is one of those kids you have to remind to lighten up and actually be a kid.

Sounds like you have have a good responsible kid, one idea may be to set some parameters such as ground blind or shooting houses only, etc. I would be more worried about my kid's making a dumb decision of trying to hunt a tripod in high winds or something that I would be in unsafe gun handling.

I'm a long way from hunting with my kids. Oldest is only 3.

In NY the law is 12 you can bowhunt or small game hunt accompanied. 14 for firearms big game hunt while accompanied. 16 to hunt unaccompanied. Just FYI.

Anyway, I dont come from a hunting or shooting family. I was the first to own a bow, a gun, to hunt, to camp etc. I've never hunted with my father and that's unfortunate.

Hunting for me is as much about the experience as it is about taking game. I probably won't let me kids hunt unaccompanied until 18 unless I have to because more than one wants to hunt that day and we are all on the same property just different stands. Part of that is the selfishness of wanting to spend as many days afield with them as I can before I'm too old, they move away, go to college, get on the 9-5 grind, get married etc. They will all likely have many more hunting days after I'm gone than they will while I'm still around.

Lastly, it depends what kind of hunting we are talking about.
Sitting in a stand a couple hundred yards from me? Yeah maybe at 16. But probably not all at once, first I will walk out with them and then go to my spot, then eventually they can do it all alone.
Tracking in the Adirondack wilderness where you can't see 100yds and you can walk all day without hitting a road? Not a chance in hell I'd let them go alone until 18 and that's assuming by then they have demonstrated maturity, woodsmanship, navigational skills, and sufficient physical ability.

Just my .02

Kid dependent as well as law. As a kid at 8/9 I could squirrel hunt with a 410 the farm/woods behind my house and fish ponds alone there. 12 I started sitting in the woods deer hunting in ladder stands alone. Did fine. I followed the rules dad set. Stay till I get back. Kill bucks only. Whatever it was. No cell phones or radios. Just stay where he put you till he got back at time he said he would.

My 9 year old no way. He is a little too timid still. Fishing I have no problem letting him be on the lake bank by my wife’s uncle alone fishing. He does fine and knows the safe way to do it. He is a good swimmer and there is no current with no steep banks.

For me it’s all about the kid. My middle brother wasn’t till he was 15/16 he could be trusted to hunt alone. If he still hunted I’d still be nervous with him out there. He could get lost in his own home

I agree.

Your kid, your call. I would expect a 13yo who has demonstrated control of himself and dedication to safety to be OK.

When I was a kid getting to go deer hunting was when we were big enough to handle getting kicked by a gun that used buckshot. About 8 for most of us. There was no sitting with Dad watching over. They stuck us out well away from anyone else. Of course, most of us went squirrel hunting by ourselves at that age. Kids back then matured faster because they spent more time figuring things out on their own without parents hovering around telling them what not to do.

Back again. A couple years back I watched a TV pheasant hunt that I suspect was somewhere in the Dakotas. Part of the program focused on moving kids into the circle. For their initial season, youngsters were on drives right in line with the big boys, but were packing dummy arms with lots of orange tape on the muzzles. Anyone and everyone kept an eye on those kids with the understanding that their arms handling and shot calling (hen, rooster, shoot, pass) would be closely scrutinized. A thumbs up/down call by the group gave the kids access to real gear the subsequent year. A great process I think for that community.

Big game and wilderness situations are another call entirely.

In KY, my sons had to hunt with an adult until they turned 16. They were ready for it by . . . maybe 13-14, but I appreciated the extra time with them.

At 3, I let them hold firearms-- that got the mystery out of it.

At 4, they could come to the blind with me and watch

At 5, they had to start holding training rifles and practice with them in the field.

At 8, they could take Hunter Ed. I made them do that before they could hunt with me. Nowadays, you can't take the test until 12.

At 8, everyone was shooting a pellet rifle and then a 22. The one oddball was Moose. He shot 44 Mag and 357 Mag before the 22 LR. It's a long story.

By 12, everyone had shot a squirrel and hunted deer under supervision. Angus had shot a turkey

By 12, everyone had an adult-sized deer rifle in 30-06 and a 12 GA shotgun

In KY, my sons had to hunt with an adult until they turned 16. They were ready for it by . . . maybe 13-14, but I appreciated the extra time with them.

At 3, I let them hold firearms-- that got the mystery out of it.

At 4, they could come to the blind with me and watch

At 5, they had to start holding training rifles and practice with them in the field.

At 8, they could take Hunter Ed. I made them do that before they could hunt with me. Nowadays, you can't take the test until 12.

At 8, everyone was shooting a pellet rifle and then a 22. The one oddball was Moose. He shot 44 Mag and 357 Mag before the 22 LR. It's a long story.

By 12, everyone had shot a squirrel and hunted deer under supervision. Angus had shot a turkey

By 12, everyone had an adult-sized deer rifle in 30-06 and a 12 GA shotgun

There's a maturity question .. you're far more able to judge than anyone else. In the '70s in Oregon, we could not hunt 'til we were 12 and we could not hunt alone 'til we were 14. That seemed to work out pretty well for me. My father dragged me through the woods when I was younger, then I did hunters ed, could hunt, and shot my first buck at 12 and another at 13. Once he was ok with what I was doing, he passed me off to mom while he began coaching my sisters who were 1.5 and 3 years younger. I think, though mom was supposedly the adult, I was more babysitting her than she was babysitting me.

You might consider getting a second opinion on your son's readiness to be out alone via one of your peers. Have the kid hunt with them, then get their feedback about how the kid behaves when not under YOUR supervision. .. just a thought. Parents, especially today, seem to have too much of their own ego wrapped up in their kids' activities and are not as objective as they should be.

Tom

I feel like mine will be on the right track. This is my youngest (8 months). I let my 12yo explore a bit with his 30-30. It is an unnerving feeling but its something he needs to go through.

as i have stated before kids need to know how to work so they learn some respect for themselves,my son was always gun crazy to learn at 6 or 7 years of age he started shooting 22 LR and at 9 i got him a youth 20 gauge pump by age 10 he started shooting trap at the local trap range as did 2 of his friends by the time these 3 were 14 they were very good trap shooters. 2 of them won state trap titles the one that didn`t Luke just might have been the better trap shooter ?now they are all 30 some years old at the club now days we have 300 some trap shooters these 3 boys i shoot trap with them all 3 are the best trap shooters at the range , their averages last year Danny`s is 24.7 Luke was 24.40 my son Cory`s 24.35. none of these 3 practice ever. when mark luke`s dad and i walk out to shoot as a team most of time the only that may mis a clay target that will be me ,so you know who buys the beer !
>parents need to spend alot of time with their kids at a young age shooting and learning gun safety control.

State laws vary.

I was "hunting alone" as soon as I was old enough to carry a Daisy BB gun.

There weren't nearly as many people around back then though, and all I had to do was walk out the back door.

In Virginia the law is they have to be older than 12 years to hunt alone. As far as to when to turn them lose on their own it depends on their maturity level, amount of training, whether hunting public or private land, etc. My boys hunted with me but in separate stands as early as 14 or so, but I checked on them at noon and they had walkie talkies where we could communicate. They were 16 and had their drivers permits when they went hunting without me.

I believe Texas is the same, 12 years old. I'm no longer up on the law about hunter education. Back when I taught it you had to be 12 to be certified and if you were certified you could hunt by yourself.