At what age?
 

I am sure that this has been asked a 100 times on here but, I am fairly new to this site. My son will be 8 in Oct and he says that the only hunting that he wants to do is archery. He doesn't think that it is fair to shoot a deer with a gun. That is fine with me I am just glad he want's to hunt some. My question, Is he to young to shoot a bow? I know i wouldn't let him in a loc on or a climber but I have a two man ladder that we both could hunt together. What bow would you recomend for him to learn with? Thanks guys.

RE: At what age?
 

I bought my son a recurve bow when he was 3 and now he's 7 and I'm going to buy him a compound for Christmas. 8 is not to young to shoot but he may not be strong enough yet to pull enough poundage to kill a deer.

RE: At what age?
 

Too young? Nahhh....My recommendation on bows, well you probably don't want to know.

Here is my son at age eight, bottom is 11.

RE: At what age?
 

gutshot said what I was thinking too. At 8 years old I was hunting with a crossbow, but even that my dad had to pull back for me. Now granted I was a pretty scrawny kid, but it worked. I first started with a crossbow at 6 and I loved it. Once I could pull the legal poundage back I switched to a bow.

RE: At what age?
 

I'm certainly glad to hear about your son wanting to get into the sport ,good for him .My kid's were 6 when they started shooting a bow ,I started with a small recurve and then they moved up to a BowTech Rascal which you can get down as far as 30lb's which might be a little much for him right now .I'd give hima year with the recurve and then move him up when he's strong enough to draw a small compound .

nubo

RE: At what age?
 

Whoa, them are fighting words. :D

RE: At what age?
 

No insult intended there Bob ,just myexperience withMY kid's .

nubo

RE: At what age?
 

Just messin with ya Nubo. ;)


FWIW, the longbow on the bottom picture is a 40# Howard Hill Cheetah. Rocky Mountain juniper limbs. Five pound over the legal minimum here in NY.

RE: At what age?
 

I though you might be Bob ,it's great to see the kid's picking up a bow ,regardless what type of bow it is and which they may prefer .Look's like the young lad may just have down pat ,congrat's

nubo

RE: At what age?
 

the benefits to a recurve are simple and no draw length, just get a weight he can EASILY handle. The downside to a recurve(and advantage to a compound), is arrow speed, penetration, can use a sight/release and it will probably look like yours, and easier to get accurate and consistent (though I have found kids have a natural knack for instinctive shooting.)

as for hunting, he's probably to young to bowhunt, check state regs for minimum weight etc. Also with my sons, who both gun hunt, I have told them they are welcome to bowhunt whenever they want, but they have to prove to me they can hit what they shoot at, which means to us, 20 yards at our 3D target.