Bill,
You’re right about a ten-year-old with a shotgun being a bloody stupid thing. When I was a Scout, we could shoot from the age of 12, but only air rifle. As you got older and better, you could go to air pistol and further on. By 14/15, we were using full-bore rifles at proper ranges, but it was a continuous process of checking and double-checking that the kid involved could a) handle the weapon safely and b) was mature enough to understand what they were doing and the risks associated with it. With proper supervision at a range, it’s not a bad thing, but a shotgun in the field with kids, no matter how well supervised, is asking for a serious accident. Disclaimer: I’ve never hunted anything but circles on paper targets. On another note, are there a limited number of licences each year? If so, we could all apply and use up some of the quota, reducing the number of hunters. Cheers,
Tony
