Sun Outdoor Columnist Eric Davis

When the news came that the state budget had passed, many outdoorsmen and women were curious to see if any hunting related provisions were included. Many crossbow hunters had their hopes taken for crossbows to be officially recognized as archery equipment, allowing their use for all of archery season instead of the current limited season.

However, there was one shining glint of hope for the future of hunting that was included in the budget. There is a provision to allow 12- and 13-year-old hunters (who have passed Hunter Education and have purchased a license) to hunt big game with a firearm or crossbow when under the supervision of an adult hunter.

The hunter and their adult supervisor must wear hunter orange of fluorescent pink while hunting under the provision also. This provision is limited to “upstate” and requires counties to opt-in by adopting a local law to allow 12- and 13-year-old hunters to hunt deer in accordance with the Environmental Conservation Law 11-0935.

If counties opt-in and adopt local laws, this is a great step in helping get young hunters into the woods and increase their ability to be successful. For roughly a little more than 20 years, 12- and 13-year-old hunters could only archery hunt for deer. While some have been able to harvest a deer using archery equipment, some hunters cannot even try.

A bow must have a minimum draw weight of 35 pounds in New York to be used for big game hunting. There are some 12-year-olds who are not capable of drawing a bow with this draw weight, so they essentially cannot bow hunt. However, a crossbow or firearm does not require that type of physical strength while also allowing for a faster, more efficient harvest.

A press release by NYSDEC on April 7 said the NYSDEC is going to put a link on their website to show which counties adopt local laws for this. This website can be a way to help drive tourism to those counties who do allow youth big game hunting with firearms. This boost of hotel rooms, restaurant visits, and gas station stops can help upstate counties through occupancy and sales tax revenue. Additionally, youth hunters may require a different firearm than their mentor may already have because younger hunters tend to have shorter arms. Firearms and ammunition purchases to get youth hunters ready to harvest their first deer would mean more Pittman-Robertson Money would be available to be used for wildlife habitat and management.

Expanding big game hunting with a firearm to include 12-year-old hunters could be a steppingstone in fighting the loss of hunters overall in the United States. If you use the old system of only being able to small game hunt for the first few years before being allowed to hunt big game, this would mean that 10-year-olds should be able to take Hunter Education and start small game hunting. Lowering the age to start hunting could help get kids into hunting before their life becomes too busy with sports or other activities. While I am not opposed to sports (I did sports year-round as a teen), I think hunting, or even just fishing, needs to be shown as an option when letting a kid choose what they want to do in their free time.

If you think that Chenango County should opt-in to allow 12- and 13-year-old hunters to big game hunt with a firearm or crossbow in the appropriate season, I suggest that you contact your town supervisor to discuss it with them.