What is your State's hunting age?

[Bones]

I know some states have a great difference in age for when a youth can start hunting.
In MA - a youth can start at 12 but has to "share" the limit of the mentor and there can only be one gun between them.
How does your state work with young hunters?
Bones

[JZ]

As long as they take and pass the hunter's safety class, Illinois has no set age limit. If they pass the class and have a F.O.I.D card there is no age limit in which they can hunt alone.

Wisconsin is 12.

[libertychesapeakes]

You cant get a hunter ed card here prior to age 11 and are not required to before age 16 if hunting with a adult who has passed a hunters ed class and is under direct supervision of said adult.No hunter under 12 may hunt alone even with a hunters ed card and any hunter between 12 and 16 that wants to hunt alone must have a hunters ed card.Hunters under 11 are required to only hunt under direct adult supervision and I dont think they are allowed to hunt big game until they are 12.

The reason they dropped the mandatory need for a hunters ed card before allowing a young person to hunt was to encourage young people who perhaps wanted to hunt with a friend who hunted but whose parents didnt want to commit to spending an entire weekend with there kid to get a hunters ed card and they go once and decide they didnt like it.So it is a lot easier to get a younger hunter involved here in Kansas as there isnt really an age restriction for small game and birds so long as you are hunting with an adult.Then at 16 they can go get there card on there own.The whole point I guess is with kids playing sports year round by the time many of them ar 12-13 years old you may have missed the chance to get them exposed to our sport as they are already commited to so many other things so here in Kansas we are trying to get them out as early as we can to try to draw more kids in before they find other things that will limit the odds of exposing them to something new.THis program hasnt been in place but a few years but I think its a good way to try to draw in kids who dont come from a hunting background.

[krat]

Have to pass a Hunters Education course here, must be at least 12 years old.
You can then hunt with a family member but you have to be with-in sight of each other, I believe you can go off on your own at age 16.

[Quacker-Wacker]

Have to pass the Hunter Safety course and be at least 12 years old for small game in NY. You used to have to be 16 for big game but I think it is 14 now, not sure. Must be 18 to hunt by yourself.

[Call'em N]

Bones,
In CA and OR: They must be able to comprehend the Hunters Saftey Material and pass the written test. (I know a few 7 yo that have done it, but most seem to be 8). They can start hunting small game, waterfowl, turkey, upland birds, etc but must be 12 years old to hunt big game.

OR also has a mentored youth program of which the youth does not need hunters saftey, they must be registered with the State Mentored Youth Program. Only one gun and one limit can be used between the youth and mentor. However this does allow a youth under 12 to kill a Big Game Animal on his mentors Deer, Elk, Bear, etc tag. There are also some other regs that go along with it. I think I will try and get Kailee into the Mentored Program for Turkey next year.

Hope all is well.

[Littman]

In CT it is 12 years old to take the hunter's saftey course

[Long Grove labs]

Iowa has NO minimum age. You can hunt as early as you want, as long as your with some one. If you want your child to hunt by himself, he can't do that til 12 and MUST have a hunter safety card.

Lance

[DE-Sussex]

No minimum age here in DE as long as they are with a licensed hunter. A jr. hunting license is required for ages 12-15 and the kids must attend the hunter safety course and pass an exam in order to get the jr. license. You can sign-up for hunter ed classes online thru the state's website. don't know the new site, but this one will get you there...www.dnrec.state.de.us

[Duckjunky]

Here in Michigan you must pass hunter safety and be at least 10 years old to hunt small game and 12 to hunt big game with gun or bow.