Hunters ages 12 and 13 will be allowed to take to the woods and fields of Warren County this fall after the Warren County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to opt into New York’s youth deer hunting program.
The new program will allow licensed youth hunters aged 12-13 to hunt deer with a firearm or crossbow under proper supervision of an experienced adult hunter. Previously the cutoff age for young hunters to use firearms for deer in New York was 14 years old.
The program’s full rules are spelled out in Warren County Local Law No. 4 of 2021, which can be found under the resolutions tab (Resolution 249 of 2021) at https://warrencountyny.gov/mma.
“We are very excited that we can now let our young people learn to hunt, an activity that helps put food on the table, teaches life skills, allows family bonding and helps control wildlife populations,” said Rachel Seeber, Chairwoman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors. “We have a great network of hunting safety instructors in Warren County who have worked closely with us on this issue, and they are ready to teach a new group of hunters how to safely take to the woods.”
“Deer hunting is part of the fabric of life in Warren County, a time-honored family tradition. Teaching our youth about firearm safety and how to hunt at ages 12 and 13, when they are developing hobbies, will give them valuable skills they can use for the rest of their lives,” said Doug Beaty, Chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors Governmental Operations Committee, which introduced the resolution for the program. “This change in New York has been a long time coming.”
The Warren County Conservation Council expressed support for the program at Wednesday’s meeting, and three members of the public attended to voice support for it as well.
Around Upstate New York, youth hunters will be allowed to participate in the upcoming deer hunting season courtesy of new guidelines from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that counties were given the option to adopt. The program will be treated as a pilot for upstate counties through 2023, with the potential for permanency at the end of the test run.
Forty-six other states allow those ages 12 and 13 to use firearms to hunt deer. Prior to the law change this year, New York has allowed young hunters of these ages to hunt big game using archery equipment and smaller game with a firearm.
Conservation groups across New York have lobbied for an expansion of big game hunting to include younger hunters as hunter numbers have dropped around the state and nation.
For more information, check the NYS DEC website here.