I am not a young hunter but I figured i would answer this question. In my first year of hunting around 10-11 years old all I had was a sling shot to pursue my game. It was a homemade one madefrom some y shaped tree branch with a store bought rubber sling. I believe my first kill was some type of bird probably a sparrow. We used marbles as ammo which packed quite a punch for those birds. It never had enough punch to take a rabbit or squirrel. I then graduated to several different BB guns and got a .22 at age 15, followed by a 20 gauge then a 12 gauge at 16. I did a lot of duck hunting in those days. I beleive I received a 30-06 when I was 17 years old but really did not deer hunt till the age of 20 when I shot a doe. I then graduated to bow hunting at 21 andtook a button buck. well thats my story.