My dad and grandfather started me very young. I had BB gun at probably 4 or 5. I was squirrel and rabbit hunting with a 410 by the time I was 6. My hunter's ed was getting smacked in the back of head when I made a mistake with my toy musket. I fall just short of being required to take hunter's ed and I have never taken it. Keep waiting to take it with some kid that needs a ride. I deer hunted under my grandfather's stand once and the next time he left me in the stand by myself and told me not to tell my mom. I had probably ten deer come out in the field one night and I emptied my gun on them; looking back they were probably 300 yards away. They didn't even care that I was shooting at them. I killed my first deer when I was 8 or 9. I learned by listening to others and learning the woods. I spent probably 60 days or more every year hunting when I was in school. My grandfather would pull up honk his horn and I would leave class to go hunting or fishing. I don't think my son will get to learn the way I did. The only reason I am tempted to get him going now is so he will have memories hunting with my grandfather. He will have memories of going to the "deer woods" as he calls it and that may have to suffice. We take him and my 2 year old daughter out in woods now when we check cameras, mow, or cut shooting lanes.