A deer hunt this weekend is reserved for the youngest generation of hunters – The Boston Globe

“Youth weekend gives adult hunters the opportunity to pass their knowledge on to the next generation,” said Becky Fuda, the Deer Project leader for New Hampshire Fish and Game, about the hunt the state first established in 1999.

“Mentoring a young person can remind hunters why they started hunting and help preserve these traditions in New Hampshire,” she said. “It can be very rewarding to teach a young hunter to find and track deer and, hopefully, to harvest and field dress one as well.”

Fuda said the prospects for the hunt this year are excellent, pointing to a healthy deer population around the state.

Last year, young hunters took 249 deer during the weekend, and the harvest of adult bucks over the course of the hunting season was the second-highest on record — at 8,295 deer. Overall, 13,136 deer were harvested in 2023, according to a state report.

Severe cold and snow can have an impact on the deer population, but that wasn’t the case last winter, given the mild temperatures, according to the report. Warmer winters mean the deer population could continue to increase, the report said.

There is no minimum age for youth hunting in New Hampshire, but hunters under 16 must be accompanied by a licensed adult 18 years or older, according to Fish and Game.

Jill Kilborn grew up hunting with her dad in northern New Hampshire, and this weekend, she said she plans to take her 11-year-old daughter Elsie on the youth hunt for the first time.

“I think she’s excited,” said Kilborn, who now lives in Island Pond, Vt. “We’ve done a lot of prep. We try and get out and do a lot of shooting with the kids. We try to instill the need for responsibility to ensure you’re doing it in an ethical way.”

Along with her husband Dan Kilborn and her 14-year-old son Jackson, she said the family will participate in Vermont’s youth hunt, which is happening the same weekend.

The family will head to the small dairy farm in Derby, Vt., where Dan Kilborn grew up, which Jill Kilborn said has become a family tradition in the four years her son has been hunting. She recalled being with her son when he shot his first turkey, and the mixed emotions he felt after killing the animal.

“There was a lot of joy right off the bat, but then after that initial joy there’s the feeling of yes, this is serious. Like, we took the life of something, we need to treat it properly,” she said. “It’s a big thing to take the life of an animal. We use every part of it that we can and appreciate the sustenance it’s going to provide.”

Kilborn said that hunting from a young age shaped her interest in the outdoors and her career, leading her to become a wildlife biologist for Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, where she mostly works with threatened and endangered species.

“It is at the foundation of being connected to the land and to the wildlife around me. It all stems back to the relationship I had with hunting,” she said. Now, she said, she can see her children becoming more connected to the landscape through hunting.

Hunting deer is part of New Hampshire’s management plan, as there are several parts of the state where the deer population is higher than they’d like it to be. Too many deer can have a negative impact on plant and wildlife diversity, as deer can completely remove the shrubs and tree seedlings that they eat, according to PennState College of Agricultural Sciences.

Some question the merits of introducing children to hunting.

“It’s sad because children are born with a natural compassion for animals. That’s why we give them stuffed animals,” said Joan O’Brien, president of the NH Animal Rights League. “I think hunting trains that compassion out of children, and it’s tragic.”

She said there are plenty of ways for young people to get outside that don’t involve guns or killing anything.

To stay safe during hunting season, Fish and Game recommends people recreating outdoors wear blaze orange to be easily visible to hunters. It’s also recommended to stick to established hiking trails where encountering hunters is less likely. Choose the right time to recreate outside and remember that wildlife, and therefore hunters, are most active at dawn and dusk.

The state also has additional safety recommendations for hunters, including keeping control of firearms at all times. Hunters should also wear safety glasses and always keep track of where their hunting partners are. Hunters are expected to be sure of their target and know what is beyond it, according to the state.

You can keep track of the hunting seasons in the state here.

Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.