Good age to start young hunters?

BugleminToday · Jan 11, 2007

Just curious but what do you think is a good age to start a young hunter? I am not talking about them coming out on hunting trips as watchers but as actually being the shooter.

Justin

- Long-Range, The next best thing to being there !!!!

sremim · Jan 11, 2007

I started shooting squirrels at age 8, and deer at 10. I feel they should start shooting anywhere after age 5 and before age 10. It also may depend on what your states laws are on age limits. I feel the earlier, the better.

It's Bush's fault!!!

MrClyde · Jan 11, 2007

My kids are seven, five, two and one month. My oldest started shooting at four with his bb gun. At five he's shot a 410, now that hes almost eight, he shoots the 204 and handles it pretty good. I'm building him up to the larger calibers slowly. When he proves to me that hes ready to hunt animals I will enroll him into hunter saftey class and after he passes, I'll take him out for his first hunt. What decides his priviledge will be his maturity towards hunting. The same will go with all my kids. Only when they are ready. I'll guide them but won't force them into it.

Clyde

TripleK · Jan 11, 2007

My son is 8 and is starting to hunt this year. He's been tagging along for a few years now and is a great shooter. He just got a 20 gauge shotgun for Christmas and will be taking his Hunter's Safety shooting test tomorrow. I've been doing the online hunter's safety course with him and I'm impressed with his knowledge. His maturity level is there too and he is a very responsible kid. I'm with MrClyde...maturity level is important in deciding if it's time to start hunting or not. He's a great shooter too. He won a .22 in the kids draw at the NWTF banquet so he's been shooting that for a while now as well as his BB gun.

Funny that you mention this now, too but I was just at his school and they all wrote New Year's Resolutions and posted them in the classroom and his 2 resolutions (which he doesn't quite get the concept of it, so I guess we could just call these his GOALS for the year) are to make baseball All-Stars and to shoot a pheasant.

There is a radio contest going on here where they are giving away a few pheasant hunts and he is bound and determined to win one. LOL And of course now he's asking for a bird dog.

Once it starts....IT STARTS. lol Full commitment. Good luck and enjoy.

JACKELOPE · Jan 11, 2007

we took my buddy's 7 yr old son along this year to tag along with us....he was a trooper. got a little impatient when we were glassing, but we just handed him a small pair of bino's and that settled him down. he walked the few miles every day morning and afternoon with us no problem. we were hunting from the house, though...not a tent or camp. he got to watch his dad shoot a muley buck and judging by the reaction from him, he couldn't have been happier unless he shot it himself. we had him "trail" the deer after the shot even though we could see the deer down and knew he wasn't going anywhere. he couldn't see the deer because he was too short and we figured it would be good practice for him.

Slide · Jan 11, 2007

I have two boy's and I started both of them shooting .22's and Bow's when they were between 3-4 yrs old. I let my oldest when he was 5yrs old take his BB gun hunting around the property. I say this because I believe it is a important learning aid for them. They also started going with me hunting when they were babies and I mean babies. I believe children learn alot from watching us. We shoot alot as a family both guns and bows. I should state that when they were 3 and learning to shoot I was standing right there making sure safety was enforced. I still stand next to them when they are shooting their .22's. I bought my oldest boy a .410 for X-mas and he is not ready to shoot it, he tried several times but he just not comfortable yet. Most importantly I believe alot of it depends on the child and when they are ready. If you start them out young they should be ready and do fine when the time comes.

I always tell people when they criticize me for letting my children shoot at a early age, I say " I would rather go hunting with a child when he is of legal age that has been around firearms since he was 3 then a child who just got out of Hunter Safety Class.

Slide

groundhog · Jan 15, 2007

Start em as young as is physically possible. I have to girls and my oldest took the hunters safety course at 8. She has taken three turkeys and a couple of deer already and she is just ten. My youngest is eight but she is just too small to pass the shooting portion of the test. In Washington you have to be able to shoot a 20 guage three times at clay birds. Her problem is that she can't hold her sisters twenty up long enough to shoot it.

She is hell on wheels shooting from a bench or shooting sticks with a 22-250 though! I have found that a good set of shooting sticks is a must with kids. We practice with them on the range and have used them on almost every hunt. I use the Stoney Point tripod style. I also cut the stocks as far back as possible and put limb saver recoil reducer pads on the kids shotguns and rifles. My ten year old is shooting a 257 roberts (with a limb saver pad) and she insists that "it doesn't kick at all".

Hunt with you kids, not for them!