Lower NY archery age to 12

[adkarcher]

New Yorkers have a very small window of opportunity to help get this out of the codes committee. This bill will be read in front of the codes committee on AprilPlease contact all members ASAP and voice your support for this Bill. It is long overdue in NY

    LEGISLATIVE ALERT

    The New York State Senate passed a bill (S177) that would allow junior bowhunters to hunt big game at 12 years of age. The Senate bill was sent to the Assembly codes committee for consideration on February 28, 2011. Please contact your local Assembly person as well as the members of the codes committee in support of Assembly bill A2021.

    Chairman of Codes Committee

    Assemblyman Joseph Lentol

    LOB, Room 632, Albany , NY 12248 ,

    e-mail: [email protected].

    phone (518) 455-4477

    Assembly Codes Committee Members;

    George Amedore, LOB, Room 426, [email protected]

    Philip Boyle, LOB, Room 402, [email protected]

    James Brennan, LOB, Room 842, [email protected]

    Vivian Cook, LOB, Room 939, [email protected]

    Steven Cymbrowitz, LOB, Room 538, [email protected]

    Tony Jordan, LOB, Room 725, [email protected]

    Rory Lancman, LOB, Room 549, [email protected]

    Charles Lavine, LOB, Room 441, [email protected]

    Daniel O’Donnell, LOB, Room 819, [email protected]

    N. Nick Perry, LOB Room 704, [email protected]

    J. Gary Pretlow, LOB, Room 845, [email protected]

    Robin Schimminger, LOB, Room 847, [email protected]

    Michele Titus, LOB, Room 741, [email protected]

    Lou Tobacco, LOB, Room 433, [email protected]

    Helene Weinstein, LOB, Room 831, [email protected]

    Keith Wright, LOB Room 844, [email protected]

    Kenneth Zebrowski, LOB, Room 631, [email protected]


Click Me

[Al Dente]

Let's get this done.

[Stringwacker]

I always question why there are minimum age requirements at all. My own son was 11 when he took his first archery deer...by the next year he took a two with a recurve.

I have friends who have had children as young as 8 take archery deer successfully. Of course, I live in a state with no minimum age requirements. Quite a few kids around 6 years of age take deer each year with firearms here.

I hope you guys are successful in lowering the legal age in New York.

[JCJ]

Originally posted by Stringwacker:
I always question why there are minimum age requirements at all.

There is no good reason to have a minimum age for hunting. Some feel like you an I and other hunters have values that say a youth must be a certain age before they hunt. You can show these folks research supported data until you are blue in the face as to why no minimum age makes sense from a hunter recruitment standpoint and poses no safety risks, etc...and it seldom sways their beliefs.

It's another one of those value based arguments that are so common in the hunting arena.

[ronp]

I would like to see no age limitations as well.  By the time the kids are 14 (for archery) and 16 (for big game/gun), many are already too involved in too many other things.  Like sports, opposite sex, video games, etc.

[Stone Knife]

It should be up to the parents discretion not the states.

[Stringwacker]

In my state, the child of any age must hunt with an adult (that carries a valid hunting license) until the child reaches the age of 12. Seems like a reasonable and logical compromise to allow young kids of any age the chance to hunt.

[Mojostick]

Is there an age limit for kids to play football or be a swimmer? How about water skiing or tubing? Horseback riding, diving boards and close head injuries from football are unfortunately quite dangerous also. Those activities are far more dangerous than hunting. Last I checked, the state has no age limit on kids diving into a pool or 10 year olds playing football or riding a horse.

When there was the recent sad national story of the high school boy from Michigan that died after scoring the winning basket in a game, a sports medicine doctor on TV said that, nationwide, one teenage athlete dies every nine days of some sort of catastrophic issue either in training for, during or right after a game, similar to cardiac arrest, brain hemmorhage, etc., but this case just got a lot more national coverage than most.

If there is no age limit for those sports, there should be no age limit for hunting, when with an adult.

Hunting accidents get more press coverage than the kid who crashes on his bike or ATV and sadly has some terrible injury. But hunting is safer...

According to a report from the National Safety Council, hunting, often regarded as dangerous by those unfamiliar with the activity, is actually safer than such mild activities as badminton and ping pong.

The council's studies reveal that hunting has fewer accidents per 100,000 participants than football, baseball, cycling, volleyball,
swimming, golf, tennis, fishing, bowling, and billiards, as well.

Of the activities researched, hunting endures about 7 injuries per 100,00 participants while the next safest, ping pong, has more than
15 injuries per 100,000. As would be expected, football has the most, with about 3,313 injuries per 100,000.

Ironically, hunting accidents may get more media attention than injuries in other sports because of their rarity.

Mandatory hunter education courses throughout the United States is credited with dramatically reducing the number of hunting accidents
in the last 30 years, making it eight times safer than bowling.


Here is another interesting story from ESPN. This is the part that gets my attention...

"In 2001, there were 79 fatal accidents and 721 non-fatal accidents for the more than 13 million licensed hunters in the United States. In contrast, the National Safety Council reports that recreational boating and bicycling account for 800 to 900 fatalities per year each, and swimming fatalities normally exceed 1,000 per year."


Here's the whole thing...

Why hunters and shooters are the target

  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2689034&type=story

[Al Dente]

Passed the Codes Committee and will be brought to the Assembly floor for a vote.  Don't have a date yet, but will keep everyone posted.

[ronp]

Thank you, Al.

[Stone Knife]

Thanks Al  

[Al Dente]

Thanks Guys, my pleasure.  We're still waiting for a date for a full Assembly floor vote.  The Majority Leader makes that call.  We'll know a few days before.

[Al Dente]

Passed the Assembly on May 3rd.  Sent back to the Senate to be sent to the Governor for his signature.  Let's thank the Legislators who made this possible and also remind them to keep this Bill in mind so the Governor will sign it ASAP.  Thanks for all of the support.

[Stone Knife]

 About time something good like this happens.

[adkarcher]

The New York State Senate and Assembly passed a bill (S177/A2021) in early May that would allow junior bowhunters to hunt biggame at 12 years of age.  This bill will now be sent to Governor Cuomo for his signature.  Please contact the Governor’s office and urge him to sign S177/A2021 into law.  The easiest way to contact the Governor’s office is via phone at (518) 474-8390 or e-mail at [email protected].  You can also send your written comments via a Fax at (518) 474-3767 or a letter at the following address;

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of the State of New York
The Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

[Al Dente]

Sent to the Governor on May 6th to sign.  Let's light up the switchboards!!!!

[Al Dente]

Governor Cuomo has signed it into law.  Let's Celebrate.

[ronp]

Thank you for the update, Al.  That is great news!  I guess our emails helped the cause, maybe?  Thanks again for keeping us up to date.

[Al Dente]

10-4.  Thanks for the help.  It was all worth it.

[ronp]