02/09/2006
Utah Youth Hunting Bill Clears House Committee
Mentored hunters in Utah are one step closer to having more opportunities in the field after two bills unanimously passed through the House Natural Resources Standing Committee on Tuesday.
House Bill 328 eliminates age requirements for hunting upland game and wild turkey, while House Bill 329 reduces the minimum age for hunting big game. Under both bills, youth hunters would have to be accompanied by a mentor.
Both bills passed by a margin of 14-1 and now head to the floor of the House for a full vote.
"When you restrict the age at which a young person can enter the woods, you interfere with the family tradition of hunting and conservation," said Jon Leonard, National Wild Turkey Federation Utah state chapter president. "This law gives families another opportunity to strengthen their ties, while at the same time removing barriers for youth hunting."
Leonard represented the NWTF on the Wildlife and Habitat Legislative Coalition in Utah. The coalition is made up of representatives from sportsmen's groups, and was instrumental in getting the legislation passed through the committee.
The WHLC relied heavily on statistics from the Youth Hunting Report, which was written by Silvertip Productions, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and Southwick Associates Inc. The report shows youth hunters are the safest hunters in the woods when accompanied by an adult, and was funded by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the NWTF. The NWTF has led the charge in promoting youth hunting opportunities and has teamed up with USSA and NSSF to remove youth hunting barriers across the nation.
The research compelled the NWTF, USSA and NSSF to launch Families Afield, a program designed to work with hunters and elected officials about the impact of high age restrictions.
"Today's youth are tomorrow's conservationists and if we don't instill in them the love of the outdoors at an early age, the hunting and conservation tradition could be lost," said Rob Keck, CEO of the NWTF. "We need to hook them on hunting at an early age, so they become appreciative of the hunting tradition. This will also increase hunter retention and ensure the future of conservation remains strong."
While the Youth Hunting Report showed mentored hunters are safe hunters, it also showed hunter retention in Utah is on the decline. It also clearly shows regulations that limit youth participation have a negative impact on a state's ability to attract future hunters.
According to the Youth Hunting Report, Utah currently has 384,000 youth 6 to 15 years old, and a hunter retention rate of only 0.59, which means for every 100 hunters who leave hunting, only 59 take their place. Meanwhile, Mississippi has a comparable number of youth in the same age range — 438,000 to be exact — and a hunter retention rate of 1.01. Mississippi also has no minimum hunting age.
For more information about the NWTF or Families Afield, call (800) THE-NWTF.
