New York To Consider Lowering Hunting Age

     The New York Post reported Sunday that the New York legislature has passed Senate Bill 1284 with tremendous support from both sides of the isle, big surprise there!  The bill has now moved on to the states Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, where they will consider what action to take. 

     Currently as the game laws now read in New York, a person must be at least 16 years of age to hunt big game with a firearm.  The proposed change would allow 14 and 15 year old the opportunity to hunt big game with a firearm as long as they are accompanied by a licensed adult 21 or over.  They must also be within arms length of the adult.  This legislation is backed by the Families Afield Program, which was started by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

     This program has time and time again shown to increase youth numbers in the field along with safety, which has been the main source of the anti’s argument.  Statistics actually show that where these programs have been in place, the safety records have shown that young hunters are actually safer than their older counterparts.  It also increases family togetherness, which leads to a stronger bond between children and parents.  Children who partake in the outdoors at a younger age tend to stay involved in our outdoor heritage throughout their lives.  It is a win, win, situation.  We spend more time with our kids, and the outdoors and wildlife benefit from it also. 

     Hats of to the state of New York for following a growing trend of letting our youth become more involved at a younger age in the great outdoors.  New York has the most restrictive game laws for youth on the books of any of our 50 states.  It is nice to see they are trying to remedy that, lets all hope this legislation passes.