How old?

[Maverick]

How old were you and your kids when you did hunter safety? Curious what the apropriate age is. I was 11 when I did it. My nephew was 10 years old.

[Timberstalker]

I was 8. I can barely remember it to tell you the truth. I feel like 10 is a good age to do it.

[Gobble Gobble]

I would like to put my son through at 10 or 11. It all depends on his maturity and ability to be responsible & trusted with a weapon. He will be 8 in July & is currently grounded till further notice from any kind of shooting or play hunting for his inability to follow safety rules. He frequently gets in trouble for hunting the dogs with this nerf gun and nerf bow. The straw that broke the camels back was he hid in the tulips like it was a ground blind & shot the neighbors service dog in the eye with a nerf gun. He was told not to do it by both me wife & the neighbor. He was lucky the dog was not hurt.

So to answer your question I believe it should be on maturity. My son at this rate will be a teen before he gets to go through it. 

[Timberstalker]

I would like to put my son through at 10 or 11. It all depends on his maturity and ability to be responsible & trusted with a weapon. He will be 8 in July & is currently grounded till further notice from any kind of shooting or play hunting for his inability to follow safety rules. He frequently gets in trouble for hunting the dogs with this nerf gun and nerf bow. The straw that broke the camels back was he hid in the tulips like it was a ground blind & shot the neighbors service dog in the eye with a nerf gun. He was told not to do it by both me wife & the neighbor. He was lucky the dog was not hurt.

So to answer your question I believe it should be on maturity. My son at this rate will be a teen before he gets to go through it.

I understand the problems here........ However, this is funny as hell.
Sorry you are having to deal with it.  He will learn from it.

[Maverick]

My nephew is currently 7. Not planning on him doing hunter safety this year but I do trust his maturity. I believe his biggest struggle is hes a smaller kid. Hoping he has a growthspurt lol. Hes been out hunting with me since he could walk. My plan is that if he passes hunter safety in say a year I would have him hunting just ducks, Turkey's and maybe coyotes until he got a little older to try deer hunting.

[PolarBear]

My daughter passed her hunter's safety at age 11.  I sat in on several of the classes and there were quite a few parents that were obviously forcing their kids through the course. a lot of them were 5-9 years old.  There were also a couple of kids in their mid teens that had no business being there.  As said before, it all depends on maturity level of the kid and not the age or desire of the parent. 

[splitshot]

   I think it was about 1956, I was about 15.  that was the first year that it was required.  started hunting at about 10 and did not need it unless I was illegal.  mike w

[jrebel]

I was 8 years old.  My daughter will probably do it next year at 9.

[MuleySniper]

My son just passed at the beginning of April. He's nine. He was the youngest kid in his class. Did very well, passed his written with a 70 out of 75. Start teaching basic weapons safely as early as possible as that is the major focus. I'll add he has spent a lot of time in the woods with his grandpa and I and that really helps too.
MS

[ghosthunter]

I have taught Hunter Ed over 25 years. Do t rush them.
Let them be kids. A toy gun is a toy gun. A real gun is a real gun.

Generally if the child is doing well in school. They will be fine in Hunter Ed.
8 years old to 100.

I see folks every year bring their child to class knowing they are not ready,but hoping they might slide through. It's a dis- service to the kid and the kid who was ready but couldn't get a seat because the class was full.

Relax

[goosegunner]

It defenitly comes down to maturity, not what age and all kids are different. I think the tuff part for the younger kids. Is sitting through a 4hr class every night for 4 nights. There's a lot of info to take in. I had twin boys that did it at age 9. One boy was completely fine and the other would check out mentally after a couple hours. He ended up not passing of course. So what I did with him was the online course where we could study and go at his pace. Then still after he passed and had a couple season under his belt I still made him go through the in class course.

[Jonathan_S]

9 years old back in '98 or '99.

[CP]

I've never been to a hunter's ed class.

My daughter was 21 when she took it.  To me it has to be their idea to hunt and she didn’t express an interest until then.  My other daughters have yet to express interest and I expect they never will.

[Dhoey07]

I was 12.  Shooting an animal isn't a game,and I won't let my kids take hunter safety and buy a license for them until they understand that.  I doubt that most young kids understand exactly what they are doing or the responsibility that comes with taking an animal.  It's not if they can pass the class, or if they can hike the hills, it's if they should. 

[Seahawk12]

I never took one. Started hunting back before there was such a thing.
My daughter took it at nine years old. I sat through all the classes with her. She loved it and did very well.
I believe that the question of "when" to put a kid through the course has more to do with the individual childs ability to pay attention and learn and less to do with how old they are. If the kid has a desire to take the class and you are willing to put in the extra time to make sure the kid is absorbing the information then I say to go for it.