Parents Know Best When Their Kids Are Ready to Hunt
By National Wild Turkey Federation

Analysis of the latest safety figures demonstrates what many consider common sense: parents know more than the government about when their sons and daughters are mature enough to begin hunting.

While hunting is remarkably safe in general -- even safer than tennis -- incident figures from the Hunting Incident Clearinghouse show states where parents decide when their sons and daughters begin to hunt were even safer.

Of the 31 states that have no minimum age restrictions, the incident rates are .0483 per 1,000 hunters. The remaining states where the government sets minimum hunting age requirements had an incident rate nearly 10 percent higher at .0534 incidents per 1,000 hunters.

This information is welcome news to the three organizations behind Families Afield.

A report written by Silvertip Productions, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and Southwick Associates Inc., shows young hunters are the safest hunters in the woods when accompanied by an adult. The findings were peer reviewed for statistical validity by the Triad Research Group.

The research compelled the National Wild Turkey Federation, National Shooting Sports Foundation and USSA to launch Families Afield, a program designed to work with hunters, volunteers, state agencies and elected officials about the negative influence of youth hunting restrictions.

"Today's youth are tomorrow's conservationists and if we don't instill in them the love of the outdoors at an early age, the hunting and conservation tradition could be lost," said Rob Keck, CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation. "We need to hook them on hunting at an early age, so they become appreciative of the hunting tradition. This will also increase hunter retention and ensure the future of conservation remains strong."

While the Youth Hunting Report showed mentored hunters are safe hunters, it showed hunter retention is on the decline. It also clearly shows regulations that limit youth participation have a negative influence on a state's ability to attract future hunters.

Missouri, for example, is listed in the Youth Hunting Report in the least restrictive category when it comes to youth hunting restrictions. The state has a hunter retention rate of 1.16, meaning for every 100 hunters who leave the sport, 116 take their place.

Wisconsin, having similar numbers of potential mentored hunters in the same age range has a hunter retention rate of only 0.53 (for every 100 hunters who leave the sport, only 53 take their place) and is listed in the report as very restrictive.

Pennsylvania recently became one of the first Families Afield state Gov. Ed Rendell signed House Bill 1690, the Mentored Youth Hunting Act. The Ohio legislature passed House Bill 296, the Apprentice Hunting Bill, and Gov. Bob Taft signed the legislation into law Feb. 14. In Wisconsin, the Assembly passed a bill that also would create an Apprentice License. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate.

The three organizations are planning to expand the Families Afield project in 2006 to remove youth hunting barriers across the nation.

For more information about Families Afield or the NWTF, call (800) THE-NWTF.