Earlier this spring there was a turkey hunting incident of note that I will circle back to. In Racine County a 37-year-old hunter was mentoring a 3-year-old turkey hunter. Presumably the 3-year-old shot another mentor and youth hunter with a 12-gauge shotgun. 
Before I go on, I need to pass along some pertinent background information. Wisconsin is one of 35 states that ha no minimum age requirement, but youth hunters need to have a mentor. Also, youth hunters don’t have to purchase a license or pass hunter safety until they reach the age of 12. That was the minimum hunting age until 2009. It was eventually changed to age 10 and finally no minimum age limit passed by lawmakers in 2017.

There is considerable doubt regarding a 3-year-old’s ability to hold and fire a 12-gauge shotgun. It’s not a big leap to assume that the mentor hunter was using the 3-year-old to get a head start on his spring turkey hunting season. 

Now all that is interesting enough and the entire event has been the flashpoint for a bigger discussion on a larger scale: at what age should a child be allowed to carry a gun and hunt?

It was easy enough to locate a few different views on this subject and I didn’t have to look very hard to find a few thousand opinions thanks to social media. Here are a few of those viewpoints.

“I hunted for 3 years, no gun, with my dad and uncles before I received my own gun: at age 11, a single shot 20 gauge shotgun. I hunted with that, on small game, until age 12, when I received my 20 gauge semi-automatic.”

“Let’s let 340 million people just make their own rules and do whatever they want!”

“It is NOT a government decision to make.”

“Me and my brothers were walking the train tracks hunting rabbits when we were 10/12 with a 4.10 and BB guns. Those tracks were close to our house and no one seemed to mind that we didn't have adult supervision. Nowadays everything has to be regulated.”

“I think as long as the kid can competently take a hunter’s ed class, they should be allowed to start hunting. Maturity is not dependent on age. However, the readiness should always be based upon the parents final call.”

When did I start hunting? All the Beck boys went through a hunter/apprentice situation starting around 10 years of age. That sounds much more official than it really was. We would shadow our father during the deer gun season. It was our job to sit next to him and wake him up whenever we spotted a deer. It wasn’t scripted and there were no lesson plans, just the time honored and proven coonhound method: let the young pups tag along behind the old dogs. 

So what’s the answer? Where’s the middle ground? I’m not sure we will ever come to a consensus so here’s my best attempt. Also, I should note that my youth hunter is long gone meaning that I don’t have a dog in this fight. That being said, I do believe there should be some kind of three-part test that gauges readiness. First, can the youth physically hold and operate a firearm proficiently? Second, the youth must have a basic safety aptitude. Third, the youth must be mentally prepared to take the life of an animal. Because every child matures in different ways and at different times this is obviously a moving target. These basic evaluations need to be administered by a parent or a mentor.

That’s my two cents.  I couldn’t find anything within the Wisconsin DNR website that gives adults or mentors support or direction on this subject, but there’s nothing on the coonhound training method either.

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