My dad turned me loose in the woods with a shotgun when I was 10 years old. Very seldom did he ever let me sit with him. The only time I can remember him doing it at all was a few times he tried to call a turkey for me. I blew one golden opportunity at a big gobbler and he pretty much quit trying after that; just turned me loose with a homemade box and told me to call one up and kill it by myself. I finally did, and I'm proud to be able to say that the first gobbler I ever killed I called up myself.

But looking back, I was probably a little too young to be given that much responsibility. Let'd just say I shot some stuff I wasn't supposed to shoot. I got my whippings and moved on. I think it made me a better hunter and helped me grow up because he wasn't right there to hold my hand while I learned to hunt. But each kid is different, so only you can decide when they are ready.

All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.