What age is the right age to start hunting?
06-20-2022, 06:42 AM
#41
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
In 1957, Disney produced a film called '"Old Yeller". A 12-year-old boy went deer hunting on his mule during the Old West era. His smaller brother stayed home with mom and the dog. His father was out on a trail drive. Nobody held the hand of Travis Coates out in the field. If a boy is big enough to cut grass with a power mower, he is probably also big enough to go hunting with a gun. I was 11 when I first started to use the family lawn mower.
06-21-2022, 01:35 PM
#42
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,903
My son started training marksmanship when he was about 18mos, using small toys guns and plastic dinosaurs for targets. He shot a BB gun then a bit before he turned 2, and started shooting 22LR when he was 2. By 6, he was shooting centerfire rifles out to a half mile, and his 22LR out to 300yrds, and started wing shooting when he was 7. We started stalking rabbits when he was 4, but largely for show, as he wasn’t nearly stealthy enough at the time to get close enough, but by the time he was 6, he was hunting rabbits, squirrels, and wood rats. He went deer hunting at 7 for the first time. At 9 now, he’s getting big enough to shoot in competitive precision rifle and Precision Rimfire matches - PRS & NRL-22 matches.
Each child, and the parents which raise them, are a unique equation, so not all solutions will be the same.
Each child, and the parents which raise them, are a unique equation, so not all solutions will be the same.
08-24-2022, 12:32 AM
#43
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: Indiana
Posts: 9
Taking kids hunting can be a lot of work, it’s true. But youth hunting is also some of the best quality time you can spend with your child. If you start exposing them to the outdoors and wild game at a young age, they will be much more likely to become confident hunters one day. And you’ll have created one of the best hunting buddies you could ever have.
02-05-2023, 05:09 PM
#44
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,903
Circling back to this one after a few months: my son tipped over a nice one this winter at 9yrs old, shooting 172yrds over winter wheat.
Which is largely a chip shot for him behind this rifle, as he shoots his 22LR at distances twice as far on targets as small as a deer's heart - seen here racing the clock on coyote sized targets out at 600-800yrds at a PRS match this past summer (early May was CHILLY!).
We've been shooting together for years, as he started behind a rifle when he was just 2 yrs old, pictured here practicing from his standing sticks he used at the time for chasing bunnies back when he was 4yrs old.
Which is largely a chip shot for him behind this rifle, as he shoots his 22LR at distances twice as far on targets as small as a deer's heart - seen here racing the clock on coyote sized targets out at 600-800yrds at a PRS match this past summer (early May was CHILLY!).
We've been shooting together for years, as he started behind a rifle when he was just 2 yrs old, pictured here practicing from his standing sticks he used at the time for chasing bunnies back when he was 4yrs old.
03-23-2024, 10:12 AM
#46
Spike
Join Date: Mar 2024
Posts: 11
Taking kids hunting can be a lot of work, it’s true. But youth hunting is also some of the best quality time you can spend with your child. If you start exposing them to the outdoors and wild game at a young age, they will be much more likely to become confident hunters one day. And you’ll have created one of the best hunting buddies you could ever have.
