I got a Crosman 760 pump BB/Pellet gun when I was 7 yrs old and learned how to shoot.
I started actually hunting small game at 9 yrs old with a .410/.22 over under. The first game I ever shot with that gun was a sitting ruffed grouse. That's when the obsession started......

My father was a hunter, fisherman and trapper, being as I was the oldest I was with him doing all those things as soon as I could walk. That was close to 80 years ago.

Got a daisy buck ( no the red Ryder those thing suck the buck had that powder !) When I was like 4 got sat in the garden and told to kill everything that tries to to uh the veggies and fruit

at age 9 we [kids] all got a 410

Hunted squirrels around neighborhood at 10, checked traps every morning before school on my ten speed
at 12. First .410 at 14 brand new moss berg 3 shot bolt for $38. I was adopted after real dad was killed and
My dad and 3 brothers never hunted but my best bud did.

Killed my first rabbit at 6 and first deer at 12 hunting by myself, the rabbit was in my grandpas pasture during deer season took dads 28 gauge without permission and put in only one she’ll come back up to my grandpas house carrying the rabbit dad come in from hunting all he said was I guess you learn how to clean a rabbit today. As far as deer hunting he put you in a stand and left and went somewhere else and got you later

And just think of the flack I got when I posted I let my kids hunt by themselves. After 3 years of successful hunting picking their own spots and methods with me sitting beside them. Having 2 kids makes it hard to sit in 2 spots so one gets to hunt alone. At first I was never far maybe 100 yards away with the other kid.

Never would have thought I would have got the flack here from all the Karen's considering the average age of the members here and understanding of rual life. Yet I did.

That’s how me and my cousins were raised dad taught you gun safety and that’s what he expected, if he would have saw otherwise my rear end would still be sore lol. You raise your boys how you see it . Dad knew just like you that time was not always in his favor but if you wanted the kid to hunt and the drive was there let them learn from experience and mistakes

8 yrs old. birds 'n Squirrels
12 deer

Have a buddy, age 70 that used to take his shotgun on the school bus in the morning and leave there till he got off and went hunting after school. Think a kid could do that today?

Well, pretty young. I know the shot gun was longer than I was. Hunting trips with the bb gun was an everyday thing at an early age.

Got my first .22 when I was 9. Had BB guns before that and was in the woods every day looking for red squirrels and chipmunks.

My dad never sat with me but he was on the same mountain
Instructions were: you better be here when I get back!

12, 13 in November

8 when I got turned loose with a 410 and had to buy my own shells.

Mom and dad would be locked up for that today.

I think I was about 29. Seriously. No men in my life hunted or trapped. Maybe a little fishing every now and then. That was about it. I read books and magazines and talked to people. Bought a Darton compound bow and had at it one fall day. Hunted everything from squirrel to deer with that bow. I still have it but it's my bowfishing bow, now.

Around two weeks old, hanging with the women folk at the vehicles, as the men folk enjoyed the annual family dove shoot in the field.

you couldn't buy a license or carry a gun till 12 with WI hunters ed

at 11 my dad bought a 22 and we started shooting at the range then a few months later at 11 1/2 he took me to a skeet range to try shotguns and he found a 20ga 1100lt he bought so I could get ready or deer season at 12 a good portion of WI was slug only back then.

before that I shot archery in the backyard first a red recurve then about 11 a compound

I had a couple rabbit and squirrel kills in around 11

that all changed since
most WI is now Rifle
you can go on a mentored hunt at any age but only one gun between the 2 of you

my son started with a Red Ryder at 4
about 5-6 22 rifle
8 on he was doing air rifle air pistol and archery with 4-H and at home
we took WI trappers ed that year also and started trapping
at 9 he was even shooting handguns with my at the range
10 he bought his first shotgun , so I bought it and he split wood to pay it off. Mossberg 500c 20ga
11 he mentored hunted as that was the year the law changed he also took hunters ed at 11 and not 12
12 he was able to participate in DNR youth field day and shot pheasants
at 12 he could also do 4-H 22 rifle , pistol , shotgun and muzzle loading.
12 he shot his first deer with that shotgun set up for slugs
some more youth pheasant hunts
at 12 he also started competing in club leave action pistol with a Glock 17

he is 20 now and been in USPSA since 18 yesterday he was #7 in the match and there were some professional trainers he was close on the heals of in 1-6.

Was raised in a family that raised Beagles and hunted rabbits, then squirrels, pheasant and deer. As far back as I can remember (about 3) I was tagging along with Dad and brothers while not carrying a gun until legally at the age of 12 here in Wisconsin. Got a BB gun back when I was about 6 and Dad built me a range in the basement. After that came a pellet gun and with that range I got very good. Sparrows and Grackles were in trouble.

One day when I was 10 I was tagging along with my brother when I looked into a short section of concrete pipe. Lo and behold there was a rabbit in there! Told my brother and he handed me the 16 ga. Mossberg bolt which my Dad had cut down for bunny hunting. (The action eventually got so worn I would get powder burns on my forehead when I shot.) I knelt down and took careful aim, and whoomp! I got him! I was a great warrior!

After school I would walk home through field and marshes checking brush piles for rabbits. If I spotted one I would run home and get a little 1902 Remington .22
single shot we had gotten from an old trapper neighbor which I think had been his dispatch gun. Ran back and would put one in their eye or ear, dependent upon angle.

I have always been a firm believer that you don't have to be killing stuff to be a hunter. Raised my son that way and he started off as a duck hunter when he was 3, carrying a gun when he was 12. I think it is important that a kid takes part in the hunt, thus hunting, but when they understand and respects the game they can learn where truly good meat comes from.

Moosetrot