ALBANY, N.Y. – Conservation officials say more than 15,000 youngsters got licenses
this year to hunt deer and bear in New
York.

New York’s new law, meant to help reverse a decline in the numbers of hunters and
increasing numbers of deer, allows teens ages 14 and 15 to hunt big game with a firearm
when supervised by an experienced adult hunter. Previously, children 12 to 16 could
hunt small game with a gun or longbow, and 14- and 15-year-olds could shoot big game
with a bow.

Preliminary Department of Environmental Conservation reports show the new licensees
killed almost 3,700 deer in 2008.

The agency says hunters took more than 217,000 deer in 2008, approaching the 219,000
killed last year. They killed almost 1,150 bears this year, compared with about 1,100
in 2007 and almost 800 in 2006.