Age bill takes aim at hunting safety

OLYMPIA – Thirteen-year-olds would be too young to hunt alone on public lands under a bill aimed at improving hunter safety.

The proposal would require hunters to be at least 14 to hunt on public land without adult supervision and set 8 as the minimum age to buy a hunting license and enroll in a hunting-safety course.

Currently the state has no age requirements.

“It’s not just a hunting issue – it’s an outdoor safety issue,” David Whipple, manager of the hunter education program for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday.

The bill isn’t restricted to hunting with a gun; it focuses “on the actual person hunting and not the sporting equipment used” and the age requirements would apply to trapping and bow hunting. They would not apply on private land.

Tom Eckels of the Hunters Heritage Council opposed the bill, saying the 14-year-old age requirement would be a hassle for prospective hunters.

“We feel that this provides one more barrier on entry into the sport,” he said.

The state previously had a 14-year-old age requirement. But Whipple said that was inadvertently deleted from state law in 1994, when the Department of Wildlife and the Department of Fisheries were merged.

The bill also would allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to charge up to $20 for online hunting-safety courses and up to $10 for duplicate completion certificates.

The bill has bipartisan cosponsors. Its prime sponsor, Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, sponsored a similar bill in 2009 after an incident in the Cascades when a 14-year-old boy shot and killed a hiker he mistook for a bear.