I had the pleasure over the Thanksgiving holiday to give my Nephew the gift of the shooting/hunting sport, the reaction I got was more than expected.
This little guy is 10 yrs old, and has had a pretty tough life until my brother married his mom, but they live in Salt Lake City and while my bro grew up in the outdoors like me, he seems to have lost his connection with it.
On a conversation about some recent hunting trips I have been on the little guy was just riveted to every word I said and even said that he would love to get into shooting and hunting, so.......
I went home Thursday night and started work on a project gun for the youngster, ended up grabbing a semi-auto marlin and refinishing the stock, giving it a overall cleaning and oiling, and mounting a 3-9X32 Simmons 22 mag scope, installing sling and studs, and putting it all in a nice locking case.
I gave it to him on Friday night and his reaction was priceless and the look on his face was as if someone just received a million bucks!! He actually said it was the best present he as ever got and will probably ever get in his life, and as his mom and my bro looked on with tears in their eyes he ran over and gave me the biggest hug I have ever received from this shy little boy, what a feeling!!
After the initial shock he would not let this gift out of his sight, he carried the gun around in the case all night as well as the next day and was asking when we could go shoot it. Saturday was very windy so he was going to have to wait until Sunday, so after breakfast on Sunday we went out to the range behind my house and after some sight in shots he was hitting bulls at 50 yards with ease, I was amazed to say the least at this kids shooting ability with the little to no practice he has had. After shooting about 100 rounds through his gun I thought I would let my brother take a crack at shooting also to try to rekindle his fire for shooting, it worked!! He shot everything from my 17HMR to my LR 6.5X284 & 300WM guns to the twin 45LC 6 shooter pistols, and the AR-15's. He was loving it!!
All I can hope for is that my gift has started the fire for a new shooter/hunter and hopefully bring back to life another and they will have years of fun and excitement together with their new hobby.
Wish I had a few more nephews!!
Thanks for listening.
This little guy is 10 yrs old, and has had a pretty tough life until my brother married his mom, but they live in Salt Lake City and while my bro grew up in the outdoors like me, he seems to have lost his connection with it.
On a conversation about some recent hunting trips I have been on the little guy was just riveted to every word I said and even said that he would love to get into shooting and hunting, so.......
I went home Thursday night and started work on a project gun for the youngster, ended up grabbing a semi-auto marlin and refinishing the stock, giving it a overall cleaning and oiling, and mounting a 3-9X32 Simmons 22 mag scope, installing sling and studs, and putting it all in a nice locking case.
I gave it to him on Friday night and his reaction was priceless and the look on his face was as if someone just received a million bucks!! He actually said it was the best present he as ever got and will probably ever get in his life, and as his mom and my bro looked on with tears in their eyes he ran over and gave me the biggest hug I have ever received from this shy little boy, what a feeling!!
After the initial shock he would not let this gift out of his sight, he carried the gun around in the case all night as well as the next day and was asking when we could go shoot it. Saturday was very windy so he was going to have to wait until Sunday, so after breakfast on Sunday we went out to the range behind my house and after some sight in shots he was hitting bulls at 50 yards with ease, I was amazed to say the least at this kids shooting ability with the little to no practice he has had. After shooting about 100 rounds through his gun I thought I would let my brother take a crack at shooting also to try to rekindle his fire for shooting, it worked!! He shot everything from my 17HMR to my LR 6.5X284 & 300WM guns to the twin 45LC 6 shooter pistols, and the AR-15's. He was loving it!!
All I can hope for is that my gift has started the fire for a new shooter/hunter and hopefully bring back to life another and they will have years of fun and excitement together with their new hobby.
Wish I had a few more nephews!!
Thanks for listening.
