Youth Hunting Questions

[HotRod Hunter]

My son is 7yrs old and I'm just trying to see what age yalls children started being actual shooters while hunting with you. Did you use fire arms and or crossbows ? If Rifles which caliber did you start them off with ? I'm leaning toward .243 or 7mm-08 when he is ready.

[meathunter]

My son killed his first at 7 with a .223

[mechhead]

My now 16yr old, was 4 when he killed his first deer. Single shot. 223. At 8 or 9 moved into a 7mm-08. At 13 into a. 270. Stuck with his bow last yr and just took his first deer a couple weeks ago with it. He has 20 whitetail under his belt so far.

[PapaBear]

I killed my first deer when I was 8 with a .222. Grandad told me if I could hit a 1.5" dot on the center of a paper plate he would take me hunting. So I did and we went.

[dharris]

My seven year shot this last weekend with a 300 blackout.

[HotRod Hunter]

Thanks guys , I will now also look into 223 and the 300 blackout I haven't heard of the 300 before.

[WinslowBoy]

Both my boys took there first deer around age 8. Gun of choice was a 6 mm. Over the years, the boys have killed a lot of critters with that gun including the aoudad in my avatar.

[Shane]

6 yrs old with a .223. Killed 3 deer and a turkey that year.

[parkchief100]

223 single shot. I think every kids maturity level is different. I have seen 4 year olds who were poised and stellar and I have seen 8 year olds who were not ready yet. You know your kid better than anyone! Good Luck and enjoy the time with them!!!

[Codie]

My 7yr old shot his first deer last season when he was 6yrs old

(doe with his .223 at 12 yards)

I set him up with a single shot .223 and an open red dot sight - Super easy for him and don't have to worry about eye relief on a scope type site

[CRM_95]

Mine killed his first with a 243 at 7. I had been letting him shoot my 22 with a scope a lot so he was used to a scope and wasn't scared of recoil or noise. The first time he ever shot his 243 he got his first deer and he didn't even notice the recoil.

[Randy]

I started mine out shooting a .22 bolt action for fun and teaching them the fundamentals.

I switch them over to a .243 Mohawk when it comes time for hunting and they never notice any recoil. We've killed a pile of critters this way.

[theloneranger]

Mine was 5 years with my Colt LE6920 .223. One shot and one kill that year. I would make sure they could group well at your hunting yardage before letting them fire at an animal.

[TheBigWoods]

Mine was 6 when he killed his first two deer with a .243. He had lots of practice and could group shots at 100 yds with a good rest.

[dpatterson1976]

My avatar is my now 11 year old at 5 with his first deer. Used a Howa Youth 223. He sat on my lap and did all the work.

dp