I have met many adults that should not be in the woods with a firearm. They are careless and not really familiar enough with firearms handling.
I had a friend who had in-laws that he complained to me about. He tried to get them to load guns away from his house but was rebuffed for his effort. One day one of them while unloading blew a hole in his own tire while unloading by the house.
Even with seasoned careful experienced hunters things happen. One fella had rifle discharge on safe through the side of a hunting shanty we have. I deplore it when I am around people who have bad gun handling skills.
I had a timber crew working in Butler Co. years ago in Buck season. This fella came to the landing asking the crew if they could show him how to load his Marlin 30-30. Give me a 12 year old mentored by a conscientious adult any day.
     

Esox_Hunter
I like AR because the deer population has a higher percentage of bucks in the 2.5+ class than ever in recent history, which IMO leads to more enjoyable hunting.      

 
Ask the 40,000 to 50,000 folks who don't give two hoots about the age of a deer that used to harvest a buck during the season, but now do not, if they think it leads to a more enjoyable hunt.  I doubt you get a majortiy of positive answers.

DarDys

Esox_Hunter
I like AR because the deer population has a higher percentage of bucks in the 2.5+ class than ever in recent history, which IMO leads to more enjoyable hunting.      

 
Ask the 40,000 to 50,000 folks who don't give two hoots about the age of a deer that used to harvest a buck during the season, but now do not, if they think it leads to a more enjoyable hunt.  I doubt you get a majortiy of positive answers.

I think you are confusing HR with AR; AR is not the reason why we are killing less bucks.  Regardless, I'm not really interested in what that group has to say, because the fact of the matter is that the majority of PA hunters support AR, as shown in numerous polls.  The 2011 Hunter Survey that the PGC conducted stated that 60% of hunters were satisfied with AR's, while only 25% were dissatisfied.   

dpms

bingsbaits
And that is the exact reason I would like to see the mentoured Youth get some formal safety training... I know a couple young bucks that were mentored properly and they are some of the safest gun handlers out there..Your messin with life or death here and it should always be taken very seriously...

Should kids be allowed to target shoot without some level of safety training? Generally, target shooting has a lower level of supervision than the mentored youth regulations.

Yes, the range is where they should get the basics of gun safety.
Much safer there than in the woods shooting at moving animals and other hunters you can't even see..
Then throw in the excitement of the hunt...
 

bingsbaits

dpms

Should kids be allowed to target shoot without some level of safety training? Generally, target shooting has a lower level of supervision than the mentored youth regulations.

Yes, the range is where they should get the basics of gun safety.
Much safer there than in the woods shooting at moving animals and other hunters you can't even see..
Then throw in the excitement of the hunt...
 

Maybe we need to be on the same page with what "some level of safety training is"? 
 
I think it is fair to say that most mentored hunters have shot guns or bows on the range before going hunting? What I don't understand is why some feel the MY program is potentially unsafe when the level of supervision stipulated by the rules is higher than the supervision that
occurs on the range, in most cases. 
 
What the data does tell us so far is the program is the least of our worries from a safety perspective.