Oct 8, 2026 · 1h 52m
A Wisconsin shooting tests the limits of youth hunting
Ep. 943: Did a 3-Year-Old Really Shoot Another Hunter?
The episode examines how firearm training, mentorship rules, and wildlife policy shape safety and public trust in hunting.
- 1A Wisconsin turkey-hunting shooting raises difficult questions about three-year-olds, firearm training, and the legal meaning of mentorship.
- 2Snow goose rule changes attempt to address declining Atlantic Flyway numbers amid disputes over whether regulators acted strongly enough.
- 3Colorado’s furbearer-limit lawsuit becomes part of a broader fight over hunting rights, wildlife governance, and political accountability.
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The hosts reconstruct the Wisconsin shooting and confront whether a three-year-old could legally be treated as a mentored hunter.
The brief
Steven Rinella and Pat Durkin reconstruct a Wisconsin turkey-hunting shooting involving a deputy, his three-year-old daughter, and two other hunters, then question whether the arrangement legally qualified as mentorship.
The conversation weighs Wisconsin’s military exemption from hunter education against the risks of introducing very young children to firearms, with the hosts debating whether national age standards are needed.
The episode then moves from meat-grind math and a Wyoming elk recovery dispute to the practical and legal dilemmas of dispatching wounded game after dark.
Snow goose limits, turtle trafficking, and the euthanization of 14 bears allegedly drawn to a Bozeman property by supplemental feeding broaden the focus to wildlife management.
The closing argument targets Colorado’s two-furbearer daily limit and proposed constitutional hunting right, framing both as tests of how hunters engage regulators and voters.