Seaweed,

I in no way meant to deter from what you were saying. Even though my daughter is my hunting buddy, she is in no way ready for the responsibility of handling a weapon for hunting purposes. She will wait until around 12 for that priveledge. She is getting better by the day, but after a few years, she will fully uderstand the responsibilities she will have.

I agree that kids should be "mature" enough to deal with the situations, but I am not so sure that has a direct correlation with age per se.

My humble opinion is for my child to wait until around 12, which seems to be of adequate maturity for most kids.