Hunting under Age 12

Cole Gudis
11/4/11

Should kids under the age of twelve be able to hunt? There are many people that would disagree with this and also many people that are for this idea. I would say that it is a great idea to let kids under the age of 12 to have a chance to hunt. By getting the kids introduced to hunting at an early age they might be more interested in the outdoors and more active than other kids that are just sitting inside the house playing video games. There are just too many kids that are too busy playing video games and not concerned with the outdoors and by the time they turn twelve and can hunt they aren’t interested because of the video games.
There are many positives to getting kids out in the outdoors and hunting at a young age. I feel if the kids are in the outdoors early they will be able to learn many fundamentals of hunting from their father, grandfather or maybe whoever it is that takes them hunting. The kids will have a better understanding and a greater respect for the outdoors as well and it might get them to care and help preserve the outdoors. When you also introduce something to them at an early age such as hunting you will also be able to teach the kids a thing or two about responsibility and then they will have a greater respect for that responsibility of handling a firearm or bow.
With getting kids introduced to the outdoors at an early age it might help increase the number of hunters. If there is an increase in hunters it will help the DNR pay for certain things such as their salaries and help other agencies bring in revenue as well. There are many other states that allow kids under twelve to hunt. A couple of those states are Iowa and Illinois. The kids that would be hunting would be with a grown up and they wouldn’t be by themselves. The kids would always be watched and helped by the person they are hunting with so there isn’t anything that goes wrong.
People would also argue that kids are not mature enough being younger than twelve years old to handle a firearm and think that they might be a safety hazard. I think that when there is an adult there to help them and show them how to hunt there shouldn’t be a problem with letting the kids hunt under the age of twelve. I also think that a way to help make sure there are no safety hazards is to have one firearm between the kid and the adult, so that the adult can have control of the firearm and show the kid how to handle it and control it properly.
There are many things that can be a positive and a negative to letting kids hunt at a young age. I think that the kids should be able to hunt because it does help them with many responsibilities and respect for nature. I stated positive reasons for letting kids hunt and that’s what I think about letting kids hunt under the age of twelve.