Amid law change, parents remain key in youth hunting

Ryan Borris' 11-year-old son, Cale, passed the gun safety and field tests he needed to receive his firearms safety certification. But, according to state law, the certificate won't actually be valid until he turns 12.

Borris, of rural Winnebago, says his son is likely to want to hunt more after his next birthday.

"Oh, he'll have plans for sure. What he gets to do is still going to be up to me," he said.

Borris and other hunting parents say the law sets important boundaries, but the daily decisions about whether and how children hunt aren't a matter of law.

"Obviously, it's going to be ultimately be my responsibility in what I think he can handle," Borris told the Mankato Free Press.

A new law, co-sponsored by Fairmont Rep. Bob Gunther, would allow 11-year-olds who've passed a safety class to hold valid certificates, instead of waiting until they're 12. The certificate is a requirement to buy a hunting license for those born in 1980 or later.

The bill, in its current form, would have little practical effect. Even with a valid safety certificate, 11-year-olds would still be unable to hunt by themselves. Until they're 14 (and have a certificate), hunters who are shooting big game must be near an adult, and this bill wouldn't change that. Thanks to a 2009 law, children as young as 10 can hunt deer with an adult.

But the bill is fostering discussions about youth firearms training.

Gunther said the bill will encourage children and their parents to hunt in the safest way possible. However, he acknowledges "it's like everything else, parental consent has the world to do with everything."

Gunther himself learned to shoot pheasants with his father. He remembers it well, especially the 20-gauge shotgun's recoil.

"I could not tell Dad that my shoulder hurt, even though it was black and blue," he said. His father was a busy grocer, so "any time I got to be with Dad was a positive thing."

Gunther tried to pass the pastime along to his daughter, but it didn't go quite the same. When they sighted a pheasant, she asked her father why he would shoot such a beautiful bird.

"I learned there's a lot of differences between girls and boys right there," Gunther said, chuckling. His daughter still learned how to shoot at targets, he adds.

Early training

One of the advantages to early firearm training is that children that age can be more attentive than teenagers, said Dale Vanthuyne, who has taught at the Nicollet Conservation Club for about 25 years.

"The 11-year-olds are a little more of a sponge," he said. "I don't know if you remember back to when you were 16, when you thought you knew an awful lot," he said.

Still, the requirement for adult supervision is important, he said.

"I think the state is still making sure that kids that young are not out there unsupervised, handling firearms," he said.

Tim Grant, a Lake Crystal resident, said encouraging children to shoot early can pay off.

"If you just said they can't hunt at all until they're 12 and have firearm safety, you've lost an opportunity to get some of them involved," he said. "They're stuck in front of their stupid TV screen playing video games."

But there should be limits to how young children should be shooting, he said.

"At some point you can't lower it too much more than that because kids are just not physically capable of handling a gun big enough," he said. A 20-gauge shotgun is a good starter gun, he said.

Though hunting advocates want to lower the barriers entry to youth hunters, the law is not always what's standing in the way.

"You have to have the parents or others who're driving it," Grant said. "If you know a family where Dad isn't in the picture, offer to take (the children) out."

Ryan Borris, whose 11-year-old son passed his safety test, said Cole will probably still have to sit by Dad when they're hunting big game.

"Just getting a certificate doesn't automatically allow him to go do what he wishes," Borris said. "He's still only 11 years old."

This is an AP Exchange feature by Dan Linehan of the Mankato Free Press.