I believe there are a lot of variables here. I started my son shooting a chipmunk .22 around age five. The first hunting we did was for squirrels. At age 7 I started him practicing with a youth 7mm-08 and he took his first deer at age 8. I had decided early on that I would not start him turkey hunting until I thought he was mature enough and could handle sitting still and being quiet. I hunt almost exclusively in the woods and timber and wanted him to learn the same way I did. That was what to look for, how to choose your set up, pick the right tree, when and when not to call, and so forth. Now if you were hunting out of a pop up blind I'm sure you could start them earlier, I just chose not to do it that way. Not saying there's anything wrong with it, I just wanted to pass on my style and figured that he needed to be a little older to understand and grasp everything I was trying to teach him and for me that was the spring just before he turned 11.