[FCWood]

My opinion is that parents should decide if kids should hunt alone.

I'm only a few months shy of 23 and I can remember when I always hunted with my dad. I started deer hunting when I was 10, but I was the only one with a gun that year. My dad was right beside me, but that way he only had to worry about where one weapon was pointed. Every year after that both of us were armed, but sitting side-by-side.

I was probably 15 before I had even one day of deer hunting alone. However, even before then my friends and I would go off shooting turtles or what not without a parent, but only after asking permission.

As a side note, when I was about 5 or 6 my dad walked into the house, loaded a 12 ga with 00 buck shot, then told me to come outside where he had 4x4 sheet of plywood propped up against a fence. He said, "see that sheet of plywood," and upon my answering yes he leveled the shotgun and fired at it from about 15 feet away. He then asked for me to take a look at it now and I remember vividly to this day him saying, "that's what a gun can do to a person, they are not toys, and you don't EVER touch one unless you ask me first." From that point on dad never locked the gun cabinet unless other young kids were coming to the house.

FCW