Last week this column lamented on New York being the worst state in the nation at recruiting youths into the hunting fold, primarily due to the highest-in-the-nation minimum age to hunt or use a firearm. This month the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation submitted the following bills regarding Fish and Wildlife programs for introduction during the 2008 Legislative Session: Unfortunately, these bills must pass through our legislature, the majority of which is controlled by NYC-area politicians, who historically have been anti hunting and anti gun.

The bills presented by the DEC to the legislature are:

1. Junior Hunter/Trapper Mentoring -- This bill would establish a junior big-game hunting license and a junior trapper mentoring program. The junior hunting license would allow 14- and 15-year-olds (who can already hunt small game with a firearm) to obtain a license to hunt big game with a firearm. The junior hunter would have to be accompanied by an adult who a) is 21 years or older and has at least three years of big-game hunting experience and b)exercises control over the junior hunter at all times during hunting. The trapper mentoring program would allow licensed trappers to serve as ìmentorsî and allow someone younger than 12 (who doesn’t have a trapping license) to assist with trapping.

2. Modernize Fish and Wildlife Law -- The bill would: (a.) Give DEC authority to regulate ring-necked pheasant and quail statewide. (b.) Enable the final federal regulations to set migratory game-bird hunting seasons in NYS, except where more restrictive regulations have been adopted by DEC. (c.) Permit the use of longbows beyond 250 feet of structures. (d.) Allow the taking of snapping turtles by hand, net or turtle trap. (e.) Allow the use of crossbows by seniors/persons with disabilities. (f.) Allow the use of live-restraint cable devices for trapping furbearing animals.

3. Increase Penalties -- This bill would increase civil and criminal penalties for certain violations of the Environmental Conservation Law, including illegal taking of deer (deer-jacking).

It's pretty easy to blame the lack of youth interest and involvement in hunting on the Internet, video games, abundant organized weekend youth sport activities, and television, but overly restrictive age requirements for those who may want to hunt or enjoy target shooting certainly play a part as well. Of course restrictions on youth hunting are not the only variable that may affect a state s hunter replacement ratio, as urbanization and access to public land are also factors.

For comparative purposed, according to the latest Youth Hunting Report by Families Afield, the state of Missouri, which has no age restriction on youth hunting sees a hunter retention rate of 1.16, meaning that for every Missouri hunter who stops hunting, there is more than one new hunter replacing him or her. New Hampshire's hunter retention rate is almost as high at 1.09. New York's rate of replacing hunters is a paltry 0.55.

Youth hunters are also safe hunters. The relative risks of all sports injuries compared to hunting’s 1.3 per 100 participants is also revealing. Football (Tackle) is 18.8 per 100; Soccer 9.3; Basketball 7.6; Volleyball 3.1; and Aerobics 1.7. These all see more injuries suffered by youth than when youths are hunting. When factoring in all injuries that occur during hunting, such as twisted ankles, cuts, broken bones, etc., hunting is remarkably safe. The researchers reported 207,000 injuries during 250 million days of hunting (a rate of one injury for every 1,207 days of hunting). Nationally, the 1.7 million young hunters, spending more than 15.3 million days in the field, had only 77 hunting related shooting incidents reported. Want to compare that with today's adult auto accident incident rates?

Least restrictive states have two key elements to their hunting laws that stimulate better recruitment. First, parents decide when youth are ready to hunt. There are no arbitrary age barriers in these states. Second, all of the least restrictive states permit parents to introduce youth to hunting before the completion of hunter education. We call this concept, “Try Before You Buy.”