State Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma, is pictured speaking earlier this year on the state Senate floor. Gallivan has proposed legislation that would allow young hunters to hunt from a tree stand as long as an adult is nearby at ground level.

A Republican member of the state Senate wants to remove a section of state law requiring 12- and 13-year-old hunters to remain at ground level.

Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma, is sponsoring legislation (S.9943) that would authorize 12- and 13-year-old hunters to hunt deer with a firearm from an elevated position.

Current law allows 12- and 13-year-olds to hunt deer with a crossbow, rifle, shotgun or muzzle-loading firearm under certain conditions, one of which is to remain at the ground level. In its most recent report on said law, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has recommended, in part, allowing 12-and 13-year-old hunters to hunt big game with a firearm from an elevated position.

“This reduces sight distances, which limits opportunities to see and harvest animals and restricts shot opportunities which might otherwise be safely taken using the ground as a backstop. Hunting from an elevated position is safe when hunters follow appropriate safety precautions,” Gallivan wrote in his legislative justification.

In 2021, New York State enacted legislation that created a new section of the Environmental Conservation Law (11-0935) authorizing a license holder who is 12 or 13 years-of-age to hunt deer with a crossbow, rifle, shotgun, or muzzleloading firearm under the supervision of an experienced adult mentor in eligible counties. The legislation created a pilot program that has since been extended through 2025. Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties are among the counties that have opted into a program allowing 12- and 13-year-olds to hunt deer with a firearm.

Of the state’s 54 eligible counties, 52 participated during the first three years of the pilot program, with no hunting-related shooting incidents involving 12- and 13-year-old deer hunters documented by DEC staff.

“Over the first three years of the pilot program, 12- and 13-year-old hunters and mentors have proven

they can safely and successfully hunt deer with a firearm or crossbow and should be authorized to retain

this opportunity permanently,” a DEC report released in February states.

DEC officials had four recommendations for the youth hunting program, including making it permanent, extending authorization statewide with no requirement for counties to pass a local law opting into the program to reduce patchwork regulations and opportunities and allowing youth hunters to also hunt black bear with a firearm and crossbow.

The final recommendation is the one that sparked Gallivan’s legislation.

“Allow 12- and 13-year-old hunters to hunt big game with a firearm from an elevated position,” the report states. “Twelve- and 13-year-old big game hunters are currently able to hunt with long bows from elevated positions but are prohibited from using an elevated tree stand or blind when hunting with a firearm. This reduces sight distances which limits opportunities to see and harvest animals and restricts shot opportunities which might otherwise be safely taken using the ground as a backstop. Hunting from an elevated position is safe when hunters follow appropriate safety precautions. Two-person ladder stands and elevated blinds provide easily accessible, safe shooting platforms for 12- and 13-year-old hunters and their mentors.”