As someone whose son took advantage of each and every youth season (deer, turkey, and duck) for 10 years, and someone that bow hunts, I can see both sides of the issue.

My son is now too old to take advantage of youth season, but I think it is more important to get kids into the woods and enjoying hunting success than whether or not I get an exclusive bow only season.

The more the sport of hunting sees a drop in participation numbers, the more our rights as hunters will be threatened. I don't know about most of you out there, but the old timers that taught me how to hunt have all passed away, and the number of my friends and associates that hunt are few.

At the end of the day, if we don't all work to get new hunters into the sport, none of us will have any season to enjoy.

New England Arms makes a breech loading youth rifle/shotgun combo. It comes with an interchangeable shotgun and rifle barrel.

The stock is the perfect size. I have one and many kids other than mine have killed deer with it.

NEF gives you different combination options for the barrels, but I settled on a .20 ga. shotgun barrel and a .243 rifle barrel. The rifle will drive nails, and the shot gun is a great starter turkey, dove and duck gun. Having only one shot really teaches kids discipline and shooting skills.

Rossi makes a similar set up, but it is much lighter, so it kicks more, and I don't think it is as nice a gun.