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You teach youngsters to shoot early. Shooting reactive targets is very important to the process. Shotgun shells, 22 ammo boxes, etc., make excellent targets for young folks. I started my son off at 5 as I was tought at 5 and had a very long time safety learning process before actually allowed to hunt.
The tag along process is very important as is the effect of the instructor upon the student. You get a monkey see, monkey do situation and must execute the process with utmost care, it must never evolve into a "do as I say, not do as I do," situation. This is a life lesson, not a do something dumb for 15 minutes and they will not remember situation, they will remember.
I took my son with me hunting, not allowing him to hunt, until he got his safety certificate from the state. This created a desire to participate. Our state minimum age for taking the class is 12, but my son was a junior competitive shooter and a state shooting champion by age 9, so I went to, and got an exemption from, the state F&G for him at age 9 and we took the course together.
When he graduated from the safety course we started with squirrels, coons and rabbits. By 12 he was hunting away from me, within my sight, and had taken his first buck with a 444 Marlin.
Ed
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The three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
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