Georgia Lets Tweens Hunt Unsupervised

by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts) Nov 18th 2008 10:00AM

Categories: Teens & Tweens, Safety, In The News, Playground Bureau, Weird But True, Extreme Childhood

America is a country that likes its guns, and in many rural and suburban areas this is prime hunting season. Some are asking when -- and if -- it is permissible to take the kids with you when you don your camouflage and hang out in the duck blind.

The state of Georgia doesn't require hunters under the age of 16 to be licensed, but it does require unlicensed minors to hunt with an adult. However, kids between the ages of 12 and 15 can legally hunt without supervision if they complete a hunter education course. And hey, if you're short on time, you can take the class online.

Huh? What? Let me get this straight -- you're going to give a 13-year-old a shotgun and let them go into the woods ALL BY THEMSELVES? After they take a class on the Internet?

Look at this objectively -- even if you are in favor of hunting, you have to question the wisdom of letting tweens and teens hunt alone. These are people who aren't allowed to vote or drink alcohol. Heck, they aren't even eligible for the draft. Which, by the way, would give them a gun. After they turn 18.

My dad went through a "mountain man" phase when I was about 9 years old, hunting pheasant with a buddy in the Allegheny mountains. He even tried to get us to eat it, after telling us it "tastes like chicken."

It did not taste like chicken.

My point is that I'm no stranger to shotguns in the house, and even though hunting isn't my cup of tea, I don't care if you want to sit outside all day and shoot at ducks. Good for you. But to let a kid who can't even drive a car use a gun? Without supervision? That seems like asking for trouble.

What do you think?

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

LS 11-18-2008 @ 10:22AM

I live in the country, and am around "farm kids" all the time. A couple kids that I can think of were raised at the knees of hunters. From the time they could walk distances, they were out hunting with Mom and Dad. When they could hold the gun, they were taught how it works, including safety measures. They learned tracking and the habits of animals. By the time they were ten, they could hunt better than most adults. These kids? No problem letting them go out "unsupervised".

I can, however, get behind the idea that NOBODY should be going out hunting alone. Because hunting, just like swimming, boating, hiking, has an element of danger. Even the safest hunters out there can have an accident. So it's my opinion that a hunter should always have a buddy.

It's not *exactly* the same, but by the time I was six, I was filleting fish, unsupervised. Yes, a six-year-old girl, in a fish-house, all alone, slicing meat off of fish bones. And never once have I been injured. Because my dad taught me the correct - and safe - way to do it. I was taught to respect the blade, and to do the entire process in an organized, unrushed manner.

Ashleyder 11-18-2008 @ 8:13PM

I can understand why people would be disturbed by this, on the one hand ...but on the other, I also recall my own childhood. My brother and I spent a large portion of our childhood tramping around the forest unsupervised with bows and arrows and machetes and we were never injured. *shrug*

Rich 11-18-2008 @ 9:18PM

I agree that no one should hunt (or swim or boat) alone due to the inherent dangers of getting hurt. The risk in allowing kids to hunt is when they have not been properly educated in gun safety. I have been around guns since I was a child. I have three grown children who were all taught that guns are not toys and who were all taught how to handle guns safely. Two enjoy shooting and one doesn't but they all know how to handle a furearm safely. It is a matter of education, not emotion, for both children and adults.

Paul Cyopick 11-18-2008 @ 10:47AM

Let me get this straight. You can go out with a REAL gun at age 12 by yourself and kill things, but you can't play a video game doing the exact same thing until you're 18.

Thank God I'm in Canada.

LS 11-18-2008 @ 11:31AM

Yes.

Because when done right, hunting is about safety, leaving no trace, paying attention to the world around you, making a clean kill (one shot, to the heart or lung, so the animal dies quickly, rather than taking out a leg and watching gleefully while the animal suffers), keeping down herd populations, and feeding yourself and your family.

Mature-rated video games are about gratuitous killing, "capping" a cop, committing crimes, getting laid, building a 'stable' of prostitutes, and glorifying murder.

dee 11-18-2008 @ 11:40AM

What are the hunting laws like in Canada, though?

I'm in the upper midwest, I know several families who take their children on hunting vacations in Canada on a yearly basis.

Paul Cyopick 11-18-2008 @ 11:45AM

You obviously haven't played any video games. While this may describe one or two games, 99% are not like this at all.

Sounds to me like you're the one glorifying murder of animals for pleasure, not me.

Paul Cyopick 11-18-2008 @ 11:52AM

I stand corrected. Looks like the laws up here in Canada are just as crazy.

This is directly from the government web site:

By law, a potential customer must be 18 years of age or older to purchase a firearm or legally maintain possession of one. Citizens of Canada under the age of 18 but over the age of 12 may procure a Minor’s Licence which does not allow them to purchase a firearm but allows them to borrow a firearm unsupervised and purchase ammunition. Children under the age of 12 that are found to need a firearm to hunt or trap may also be awarded the Minor's Licence. This is generally reserved for children in remote locations, primarily aboriginal communities that engage in sustenance hunting.

dee 11-18-2008 @ 12:18PM

Yea, my understanding was that it's easier for a minor to hunt in Canada than in some of the midwestern states, which is why these families do take their kids up there. It seems like they start going around 8, and are pretty competent hunters by 12.

At least they do eat what they hunt--or give it to others to eat. Wood grouse is a pretty good meal . . . I'll take venison too as a beef replacement, but my husband doesn't like it.

Paul Cyopick 11-18-2008 @ 1:11PM

I have no problem with people hunting for food. I just find it strange that people are more tolerate of real guns than video games.

LS 11-18-2008 @ 3:30PM

I honestly don't know what video games you're talking about, Paul, that are rated Mature AND are hunting games. All the 'animal hunt' video games that I'm familiar with (and I'll admit that I know precious little about video games), are simply about the hunt, and show little or no blood at all.

The ones that I thought you were referring to, do indeed, glorify killing - games like Vice City, etc. And those are far more violent than any hunt.

And I am not glorifying the killing of any animals. Speaking with knowledge and authority on a subject does not glorify it.

And yes, I have less problem putting a gun in the hand of most 12-year-olds than I have putting an M-rated video game in their hands. One is a tool that comes with extensive training, including safety and first-aid, and possibly includes some outdoor/survival training. The other comes with a lack of adult involvement, and bonus points if you shoot a cop.

Paul Cyopick 11-18-2008 @ 3:41PM

Like I said, you're picking the one title out of hundreds of games of that genre and making a wide over generalization.

Killing anything for sport is wrong in my opinion, and teaching people that young makes it even more dangerous.

LS 11-18-2008 @ 4:11PM

and you're not doing the same with hunting?

Sorry, hunting (and fishing, for that matter) teaches respect for life, among other things.

Those games that glorify killing (which is not a generalization, but identifying a particular segment of a larger genre) do only that. They teach nothing but disrespect toward authority and contempt for life.

Bassfishga 11-18-2008 @ 10:55AM

I think you really have to look at the facts on this one. How many hunting accidents happen in Georgia over the last 5 years? How many were happen where the child under 16 had the gun? How many happen where the person over 18 had the gun. Some end up fatal, so how many were fatal where the minor had the gun and how many were fatal where the adult had the gun? I can only think of one case where a young boy shot and killed his dad by accident. It is very sad and a sad thing to have to live with. Look at the numbers, then decide.

Ms.Bean 11-18-2008 @ 8:17PM

I agree with this, I was raised from a family of hunters and was tought gun safety from a young age. I live in alaska where it not uncommon for "tweens" to hunt becuase their family needs this meat.

LegginMF12 11-18-2008 @ 8:18PM

Have you seen the advertisments for video games?! All of the top sellers involve a game that simulates killing another person. Let the kids hunt. I am woman and have killed, cleaned and eaten a lot of game. Been killing and cleaning them myself since I was 10.

Spikie 11-18-2008 @ 8:20PM

I was a hunter safety instructor for many years and had somewhere over a thousand kids (and often their fathers and mothers) graduate my class over that time.

I kept up with them in our state over the decades since. One of the hunters have ended up in the accident reports here in my state. If any more have had an accident, it has been in other states where I do not have access to the reports.

The one accident that occurred happened when the hunter fell asleep in a treestand and fell out of the stand. His safety harness stopped his fall, but it counted as an accident since he did fall and he did have to have help to recover from the fall and get down (the safety lanyard was too long - he knew better). Only his pride was hurt.

I have hunted since I was four years old with a .22 rifle. I have shot high power rifle since I was six years old. I was taught by my Father and two older brothers to respect firearms, learned what they are for, and respect them for what they are - simple tools, no more dangerous when handled properly than your everyday steak knife.

Hunters know where "meat" comes from. They respect the animal much more than those who believe that "meat" comes from a butchers shop and have no knowledge of what life - and death - is all about. Fishers fall into the same general category, but fishing is a bit less personal than hunting. You don't see the quarry when fishing (usually), but when hunting, you intentionally set out to take the life of your quarry for a specific reason. It's a very personal thing with a very strong and permanent impact on the hunted... and the hunter.

Video games... I agree with the poster who sees bad in them. There may be many games that do not glorify murder of your fellow men, but the ones that are most often played by early - mid-teens don't have a lot to do with little cute fuzzy balls and rainbows. They play games that count plus for killing and the killing is very seldom "animals" in those games most popular. A second type is the car chase / car theft games. Glorify stealing or driving recklessly.

I'll take hunting. Its a heck of a lot safer.

cobambam 11-18-2008 @ 8:21PM

going out to hunt and put meat on the table to take care of your family or to help take care of your family makes a lot more sense then gong out with a gun at the same age to bust a cap on another gangbanger cause he dissed you... and to the people who are talking about video games 90% of them are more violent than hunting ever will be.

boblupoli 11-18-2008 @ 8:55PM

Didn't taste like chicken? No kidding. Pheasant and Quail are far better tasting, a true delicacy. Have you seen the Dos Equis commercial? In effect, "he never says anything tastes like chicken, even chicken."
- Many video games simply are very violent in nature. I personally regard the killing of people as abhorrent and refuse to do it. I dislike the blood and death. I have seen enough real misery and destruction. Give me asteroids or space invaders anytime.
- Shooting an animal is also violent.
Easting a cheeseburger, fish, other animals, how to describe it... Nonviolent? No - non-hunters who eat animals are ignorant of the death involved and so they miss the opportunity to respect the animal and the process of death involved. Ignorance of death in this situation really is bliss. But enjoy that burger or the steak..
- Many teenagers are not mature enough as a group to hunt by themselves, drink alcohol, to drive, or to have sex, unfortunately for society the same goes for many adults.

Betty 11-18-2008 @ 8:42PM

This makes me so sad....I always hope that our next few generations will be a kinder, gentler people who want a kinder, gentler world. HUNTING when done for sport should be abolished everywhere!!! God Forbid..the NRA will be emailing me... GUNS make for violence...violence leads to killing of innocent animals and people everyday....and now to hear that one of our states encourages youngsters to go out, unsupervised, and shoot helpless animals is more than I can stomach.

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