What age were your kids when they shot there first big game animal.

[55stone]

Good afternoon, I was just wondering how old were your kids when they took there first big game animal. By big game I'm including whitetail deer. My son is 4 and will be 5 next year and I'm hoping if he keeps progressing he will be ready to go next fall so he will be towards the end of being 5 almost 6 by the time deer season rolls around next year. He has been wanting to shoot almost every night lately. We have just been shooting .22's and .17 HMR for now as I'm sure the recoil of any of my bigger rifles will be to much. He has been doing really good the last couple of weeks so I now have high hopes he keeps progressing. I wouldn't take him if I'm not fully confident in his ability to make a good ethical shot and I will keep the ranges close. Just wondering what you guys kids ages were roughly. A great side affect of this, I get to build another rifle even if it is for him. Will be much easier convincing the wife to let me build another one if its for our son lol. Thinking either 6mm CM or .243.. Probably make the rifle fairly heavy, adjustable chassis for him since he is small still, shooting off a tripod was my thinking. Undecided on muzzle brake yet I really don't want to run one but it will help a ton and make those small calibers feel like nothing. Feel free to show off any rifle builds for your kids, would love to see them and hear the build specs!!!

 

[Plinker147]

My kid was 8. As I look back I think he was a little young. 10 is a bout perfect to start. Each kid is different tho, some are more mature but but younger than 8 IDK?

As far as rifles the chassis idea is a great one. They can adjust as he grows and you won't need to get another one. I'm a big fan of .223 or similar for young kids, no recoil and enough for deer sized game and smaller. 6 cm or 243 will be fine too

 

[bassassassin104]

Started both of mine at 8. Not because of the age necessarily, but because that's when I was confident they were capable of shooting well enough and could make a good decision on shot timing and placement. If possible, start out with something other than deer. My son learned a very valuable lesson on the first pig he ever shot. Hurried the shot and made a poor hit. We did not recover the animal and he was incredibly disappointed. He takes his time with every shot on an animal now. My daughter took her first deer with an AR15 pushing a 62 grain Barnes TSX. She is small, probably about 55 pounds at that time and very recoil sensitive. She placed the shot perfectly and the doe made it about 10 yards. My son took his with an AR10 pushing a 168 Berger classic hunter. He is a little guy at about 60 pounds but is not recoil sensitive at all. I would caution you about making the gun too heavy. Heavy guns are fun and easy to shoot but very difficult for a kid to handle in the field. That's the main reason my son uses the AR10 to hunt. I can fit the stock to him and it is lighter than my 280AI Chassis rifle. If you do a build, make sure you have it threaded. You can always leave a cap on it if you decide you don't want a brake.

 

[55stone]

great points guys!!! Plinker i would love to let him use a .223 first but its not allowed for deer in indiana.. I may still get him a .223 first for a couple years or however long till he can hunt deer. I did think about doing something in a AR platform as they are very easy to get a short length of pull on for smaller shooters..

 

[Carp1]

I agree with bassassassin10 in that you have to have the confidence your child is going to make the right decision if it is time to squeeze the trigger or not. Both my daughters were around hunting all their lives. They each took their first animals at 9 and have been harvesting animals ever since (21yrs old and 18yrs old now).

 

[Rick Richard]

If those small calibers are not allowed, then maybe think about a crossbow?

 

[del2les]

If I remember correctly, my son was around 10, but I had a young cousin who killed his first deer at 7.
I like the 6CM and adjustable chassis idea, but also and where 223/5.56 is not allowed, I am a fan of the old 6mm, 6.5 and 7mm TCU cartridges in the adjustable AR15 platforms. Personally, I own and used the 7mmTCU with 120gr Sierra SP.

 

[memtb]

Neither one of my kids hunt! But, my daughter's 4 kids have all killed Whitetail Deer. The youngest was 5 (I think), her daughter was was oldest when she got her deer......around 8 or 9. Their father is an avid hunter, has access to good hunting locations, puts in food plots and built tree stands.

One of the boys video'd one of his deer kills on his cell phone when he was around 12 or 13. He is also a pretty serious fisherman. He plays baseball on a tournament team, traveled to Atlanta from near Baton Rouge for a very big tournament......first thing he did when getting there was to find out where the good fishing spots where!

All of my daughter's kids where pretty athletic and spend a lot of time out of doors! memtb

 

[Ramblin99]

Son was 7 and daughter 10 years of age. Both shot their first deer with a Ruger M77 carbine .243 with a 12" LOP. But a friend of mine has started all his kids with AR's because of the easy stock adjustment. I would think a lightweight AR-10 in .243 would be an ideal first deer rifle.

 

[shphtr]

My son's first hunt was when he was 11 yo. I waited until HE TOLD ME he wanted to go hunting. I had the stock of a Rem 660 in 308 cut down to fit him and loaded 160 gr NP to 2600 fps. The hunt was a backpack hunt into the Brooks Range for Dall Sheep. The first year he did not get one but the next year shot a 40" ram in his bed which he had stalked by himself -DRT. Made Dad proud - been infected with "sheep fever" ever since.

 

[Bghunter338]

Both my kids where 10 when they started hunting and harvested there first deer.

 

[Jeremy Henderson]

My son's first whitetail was at 4 years old shooting a 22-250. He killed 2 at 5 years old. He just turned 14 Saturday. He's killed 15 total. The only downside that I see now is that I wished I would have waited until he was about 10-11 because the rush isn't there like it was for me. I'm starting him into bow hunting hoping that it will give him a different perspective and maybe the rush too.

 

[jimbires]

55stone , I have an 8 year old grandson that I've been getting a rifle ready for . I bought it when he was very young , it was one of those " I can't pass this up " rifles . I've turned it into a project rifle , that I've really enjoyed . it's a 260 rem . I've made up a few threads on it , on another forum . here are a couple links . I hope this is the kind of info you're looking for . we get out shooting some with his 22 . I have him using a death grip , bog tripod . he does well with it . I have him shooting to 75 yards now .

links to part 1 and 2 are in this first link .

cutting the stock , the one I couldn't pass up part 3

here is parts 1 and 2 on this rifle . viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32610 viewtopic.php?f=9&t=39051 I decided it's time to get this rifle so the grandson can start to shoot it . a few years ago I bought a used Hogue stock to cut down . I didn't want to cut the B&C stock that I bedded , it shoots to...

forum.nosler.com

here is a reduced load I just did last weekend .

reduced recoil load

I did a reduced recoil load today for the grandson's 260 . I used the hodgdon procedure of 60% of the max load of H4895 . I came up with 26.0 grains as the minimum charge weight .I'll use this as I want to keep recoil as low as possible . 26 grains generates roughly 4.25 ft lbs of free...

forum.nosler.com

 

[cohunt]

Colorado is 12 yo, but you can get a "by" and get a tag at 11--- that's when my daughter took her first lope, 11 yo.