Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners Takes Step To Expanded Mentored Youth Opportunities
June 27, 2008 · Email This Post · Print This Article
HARRISBURG - Taking a step forward to grow the agency’s popular Mentored Youth Hunting Program (MYHP), the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners today gave preliminary approval to add coyotes to the list of species that may be hunted by youths under the age of 12 while under the supervision of a mentor. To take effect, the Board must approve the proposal at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Oct. 24.
The proposed regulatory change was recommended by the Governor’s Youth Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation and the Pennsylvania Fox and Coyote Hunters Association.
Under the program, a mentor is defined as a properly licensed individual at least 21 years of age, who serves as a guide to a mentored youth while engaged in hunting or related activities, such as scouting, learning firearm and hunter safety and wildlife identification. A mentored youth is defined as an unlicensed individual under the age of 12, who is accompanied by a mentor while engaged in hunting or related activities.
The mentor-to-mentored youth ratio may not exceed one mentor to one youth, and the pair may possess only one sporting arm while hunting. While moving, the sporting arm must be carried by the mentor. When the pair reaches a stationary hunting location, the mentor may turn over possession of the sporting arm to the youth and must keep the youth within arm’s length at all times.
“As with other MYHP opportunities, mentored youth who choose to hunt for coyotes must do so from a stationary hunting location,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director.Â
The MYHP, first implemented by the Board in 2006, also enables participating youth to hunt for squirrel, woodchuck (groundhog), spring gobbler and antlered deer.
Youth and mentors are required to abide by all fluorescent orange regulations, and the mentored youth must tag and report any antlered deer or spring gobbler taken. Mentored youth may participate in the youth-only squirrel season and the youth-only spring gobbler day, as well as the general squirrel and spring gobbler seasons.
Youths participating in the Mentored Youth Hunting Program are required to follow the same antler restrictions as a junior license holder, which is two or more points on one antler or one antler three or more inches in length. Mentored youth may only pursue antlered deer, and may only participate in seasons in which antlered deer are legal and must follow appropriate sporting arm restrictions.
In this country, don’t we have enough children shooting up our schools, shooting their parents or sibblings? Now, your commission wants to teach them how kill better. Desensitizing children to killing and or wounding animals leaves the opportunity to open doors that you will be sorry for in the future. I feel so sorry for these children, who will be applauded for killing and wounding animals, more so than academic achievements that could make them more worthwhile members of society. Parents, please put a stop to this. You have the power not to have your children become killers of animals.
Now isn’t that special? Yet another animal (coyote) to torture and hunt for recreation and dollars to the state coffer. Training youth to be desensitized is simply another cog in the culture of death sponsored by state agencies to maintain their jobs. Sadly, they do not see that the overwhelming majority of NONHUNTERS would support them in their jobs - they do not need to develop a lust for killing among youth. However, big box gun stores do not want to extend agency policy to non-hunters - it might diminish sales. The actual picture of young hunters (at risk, handicapped and special education) is not pretty. There will be fewer hunters, less land to hunt on - even if every handicapped and minority at risk student is brought into the death culture fold, there will NOT be more land available for hunting. Hence, the states will have to offer more and more canned hunts. A disgusting cycle. No kudos to you, PA. You are just trolling the depths for future hunters like all the other states are ……
Culture of death! That really does say it all about the society we live in.
I have to agree with Cecilia Lambert. Parents are the ones who are in charge of their chi ldren. I disagree with the MYHP for an innocent animal/animals are going to be killed. What did they ever do to us that would make humans want to kill these poor innocent animals. Parents need to step up and take charge over their children. Not only to not kill the innocent animals and to spare their lives,but also to protect their children from getting injured or even killed by a gun that could possibly kill them or severely injure them since there are so many people who get killed by hunting accidents.
Tree huggers! You probably don’t mind paying $4 a gallon for gas either……”Save the Caribou” in Alaska, right? Get a grip ladies; are you a bunch of vegans? Why do you think God gave you fangs….TO EAT MEAT WITH! By the same theory, when you pull a tomato off the vine, YOU’VE KILLED IT….KILLERS! Get a grip ladies. Tomatoes have feelings too.
PS - You’re probably all Democrats too aren’t you?
As a mother of 4 young girls, I would like to comment on the stupid remark Amanda Miller made! My husband and I have raised our children to respect others and to respect a gun! We are both hunters and have 2 daughters who love to hunt! Everything that is killed is eaten or donated to feed the hungry .. (Hunters against Hunger) It won’t be my children or children of another hunter who walks into a school and unloads on a class room of children it will be the children whos stupid parents were so uneducated on a gun that they themselves couldn’t teach their children a thing about gun safety! An accident is exactly that .. you can have an accident in your car, do you keep your children out of your car? Just wondering how much time you spend sitting down out in the woods on a cold morning watching the wildlife and educating your children on all the joys and responsiblities of nature? Sincerly, mother of 4 future responsible gun owners and hunters!
For the two ladies who feel that hunting is desensitizing our children, I think it would be a more accurate statement to say that the video games that children play with or without your blessing are probably more desensitizing…along with the TV shows that you they are allowed to watch and music they listen to..
To Rachel’s point, in every instance of a school shooting that has occurred that I am aware of, the shooters were urban kids that weren’t involved in hunting or sport shooting. If you will remember, in the Columbine massacre, the parents didn’t even know the kids had guns.
Poor misinformed Amanda…It is a statistical fact that hunting is the safest sport in the universe . In 2004, there were 1, 091,178 hunting licenses sold in Texas. There were 29 accidents reported. That would make hunting safer than baseball, tennis, golf, croquet, foosball, chess or drama club or any other activity that your children might be involved in. I bet there were more than 29 football injuries in your city last year…much less your whole state.
With regards to conservation of animals, you might find the facts to be somewhat enlightening if you were to do a little homework. The National Wild Turkey Federation was single handedly responsible for keeping the wild turkey from extinction. That organization is funded almost entirely from hunters. That is just one example. There are many other equally successful wildlife conservation groups funded almost entirely by hunters such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Texas Coastal Conservation Association, Ducks Unlimited…I could go on for hours…
Hansa, I hate to burst your bubble but your statement about the overwhelming majority of nonhunters supporting state game agencies just doesn’t hold water. They don’t give a crap. At least 90% of all of the state fish and game agencies’ money comes from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. The sad truth is that a portion of the money from every hunting license sold in the state of Texas goes to the “State General Fund”. What that means in plain English is that my money, that I paid to provide funds to conserve wildlife with, is going to some lazy inner city bum that is unwilling to work, and collects his weekly welfare check while he lies around watching TV and smokes another crack rock.
So let’s sum it up:
(1) Hunters don’t kill people; gangbangers and psychos do
(2) PETA et al doesn’t conserve wildlife; hunters do
(3) Hunting isn’t dangerous; hunting is safer than any sport
Live it…Learn it. If you have some contradictory FACTS that dispute anything I’ve said, lay it on me.
This message is in reposne to those ladies that have an issue with hunting. Mr Humphireis di a very good job with facts and numbers to prove his point.
All due respect, all you managed to say was that hunting is
“desensitizing children” and that hunting is adding to the “culture of death” What fact do you have to prove your point of view. Are you a child psychologist. Do you have any facts that prove children who hunt are more likely to kill humans? You can try to make that connnection but that does not mean that it is a logical conclusion. You need to base you argument on facts not your personal feelings. Honestly no cares about your views if you can not back them with facts
I can go back four generations of hunters in my family (86 people to be exact) that all hunted with their children. Not one has ever shot anybody in the field nor street. - that’s a fact.
You used a lot of “liberal” catch phrases or should is say “bumper sticker politics”