Please Help with My Son
10-01-2013, 12:06 PM
#21
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: North Idaho
Posts: 1,071
I bought my 11 year old son a bow for Christmas last year. He is not strong enough to hunt with the minimum 40lbs draw yet. He shoots with me everytime I shoot. I shoot at least 3X/week....I feel I am ready when I can hit the cap off of a plastic coke bottle at 30 yards....I have been hunting for 20+ years, and the joy of just shooting my bow has not wavered....I love it. My son loves to shoot his bow as well....I make it fun for him...we shoot at different areas of the target to see who can get the closest. Without him knowing, he is developing skills that will allow him to become a better hunter as he gets older/stronger. I agree with those who say do not put a time to his shooting. You will know when he is ready.....and if he is not, have him sit with you and teach him the woods.
10-04-2013, 12:38 PM
#22
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,093
My son is 10 and he took his first deer with a bow the first day of season this year. He has been shooting for 3 years now. I won't let him shoot over 18 yards. I don't expect him to shoot for hours on end but we go down and take 12-15 shots almost every night. I feel like if he shoots for a long period of time he gets fatigued and loses his form which hurts his accuracy. As bow hunters we must remember that you get one shot generally so when we walk up to the target I remind him his first shot is the one that counts.
10-04-2013, 01:25 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: North Idaho
Posts: 1,071
My son is 10 and he took his first deer with a bow the first day of season this year. He has been shooting for 3 years now. I won't let him shoot over 18 yards. I don't expect him to shoot for hours on end but we go down and take 12-15 shots almost every night. I feel like if he shoots for a long period of time he gets fatigued and loses his form which hurts his accuracy. As bow hunters we must remember that you get one shot generally so when we walk up to the target I remind him his first shot is the one that counts.
10-17-2013, 04:21 AM
#25
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Northwoods of WI
Posts: 990
I didn't read through all the responses so I am sorry if this is a duplicate answer.
I was in the same boat this year with my 13yr old son. I will be very honest, I discouraged him from shooting more then 10 arrows a session with 2 sessions a day max. He had yet to develop the strength and stamina in his muscles to shoot many more shots then that. I did not want him getting in to bad habits due to him having to compensate. He fought very hard to shoot more arrows and I know if I would have let him he would have shot all day long. We made the short sessions count, plain and simple. As far as accuracy, let him prove to you how far he can shoot. He may be a natural. My son was dead on at 10,20,30 yards. Any more then that and he had issues. I limited him to 20 yard shots in the woods knowing that he had 30 yards down. He end taking a 6point on his 3rd sit of the season.
I was in the same boat this year with my 13yr old son. I will be very honest, I discouraged him from shooting more then 10 arrows a session with 2 sessions a day max. He had yet to develop the strength and stamina in his muscles to shoot many more shots then that. I did not want him getting in to bad habits due to him having to compensate. He fought very hard to shoot more arrows and I know if I would have let him he would have shot all day long. We made the short sessions count, plain and simple. As far as accuracy, let him prove to you how far he can shoot. He may be a natural. My son was dead on at 10,20,30 yards. Any more then that and he had issues. I limited him to 20 yard shots in the woods knowing that he had 30 yards down. He end taking a 6point on his 3rd sit of the season.
10-17-2013, 04:47 AM
#26
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,926
Learning
Learning the easy things isn't the problem. Learning the hard things is real tough.
The first time is harder than the tenth time, and it's better to learn that young and not older.
Make sure he knows how to shoot a bow, and let him judge how good he needs to be. He'll learn from that how good he really needs to be.
Some have all the answers when they ask the questions. Some need to learn the hard way.
The first time is harder than the tenth time, and it's better to learn that young and not older.
Make sure he knows how to shoot a bow, and let him judge how good he needs to be. He'll learn from that how good he really needs to be.
Some have all the answers when they ask the questions. Some need to learn the hard way.
10-19-2013, 07:47 AM
#27
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: SE Mn
Posts: 61
A typical teenager. Dad doesn't know a thing LOL. Thats why I always tell/told mine they should get out of the house now while they still know everything LOL
Seriously, we want our kids to be proficient. We want their skills sharp and to kill quickly and humanely, but each kid is different and most react/listen to those outside the immediate family more than they do to the ones closest to them.
Shooting for a set amount of time can fatigue them, causing them to make poor shots thus leading to frustration for both parties involved, ie, son and dad.
An idea for you and maybe it's been mentioned, I did not read thru all the posts, but start taking him to some 3-D shoots. Let him challenge himself by seeing how good the others are, and letting him save face by seeing where HE needs to make improvements.
Besides, both of you will have a good time. Making a game out of it will be more productive than a classroom session and he'll probably end up meeting some kids his age that he can relate to and heed the advice THEY give him.
Seriously, we want our kids to be proficient. We want their skills sharp and to kill quickly and humanely, but each kid is different and most react/listen to those outside the immediate family more than they do to the ones closest to them.
Shooting for a set amount of time can fatigue them, causing them to make poor shots thus leading to frustration for both parties involved, ie, son and dad.
An idea for you and maybe it's been mentioned, I did not read thru all the posts, but start taking him to some 3-D shoots. Let him challenge himself by seeing how good the others are, and letting him save face by seeing where HE needs to make improvements.
Besides, both of you will have a good time. Making a game out of it will be more productive than a classroom session and he'll probably end up meeting some kids his age that he can relate to and heed the advice THEY give him.
10-21-2013, 08:11 PM
#28
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Kansas
Posts: 143
I been bow hunting all my life and use to practice a lot more when I first started 20+ years ago. Shoot...I would get out of school and go to the local bow range and hang out and shoot my bow because it was just fun. Now with a kid and a job it can be tough to get motivated to get out and shoot your bow. I paid for it that mistake not practicing the last 3 years in Kansas. I would shoot about a month before the season would start. I would get the bow out and shoot and make a few shots and could tell I was really rusty. After a few adjustment to pins and If hitting fairly well on the target, I’d be done till I actually went hunting. Missed some easy shots on some good quality deer. Last year I got my wife into hunting and bought her a new Hoyt bow. We bought a Glendale buck to make it little funner to shoot. We practice every week. Might be a 2 days a week, might be only one day but its weekly. I've already killed my Kansas buck on Oct 13th with 43yd shot double lung. So to me...doesn’t matter if you have 20+ years of experience if you don’t shoot often you find yourself making simple mistake that you could prevent by just shooting on a regular basis. So don’t get lazy like I did and get over confident because your luck will run out. Practice Practice...and when the time comes your body will be trained to perform though buck fever and real hunting situations.
