Starting them off right can yield a life long love of the sport.
Winter 2024
Article and photos by Wm. Hovey Smith
In a practice that seems barbarian to non-hunters, here in the South we often take our kids and grandkids out hunting starting at about three years old. By the time they enter grade school they may have not only shot guns, but killed one or more deer. Commonly this introduction to deer hunting is done by granddad who has been watching his deer for years and letting one walk year after year with the idea that that big deer would be taken by his grandson or granddaughter.
The young hunter has been out with grandad before as an observer to learn the art of patience. He is taught that hunting is not a video game and sitting quietly for hours may be required to even see a deer, much less shoot one. This is a difficult lesson and may not be achievable until the grandkid is beyond their teens, much less at age six or so.
A Youth Model muzzleloading rifle whose loads may be varied in power to give less recoil may be ideal for a youngster’s first deer gun.
I don’t want to be dogmatic about it, but it seems to me that girls at an early age are more patient than boys. A major problem is depriving a youngster from his or her smart phone for hours at the time. For some this will seem like punishment, rather than allowing them to enjoy the outdoors, possibly see wildlife of all sorts, and ultimately shoot this big deer that grandad has saved for them.
As a consequence of all of these factors and the limited time that a rural grandparent may have with his urban-raised grandkid, granddad is forced into making the hunt that he has been planning for years as easy as possible. On previous occasions the child has been introduced to a low recoiling hunting tool that is short enough for him or her to shoot well. This may be a Youth Model muzzleloader, which I prefer because the same gun may be lightly loaded to start with and the load increased as the child grows large enough to comfortably shoot 70 grains of black powder and a round ball.
Lightweight crossbows, such as this Barnett Ranger, may be used by younger hunters.
It might be a short -stocked .243 Winchester or perhaps even an SKS loaded with a single shot and the short .30-caliber Russian cartridge. Perhaps the worst tool would be a single shot 12-gauge shotgun loaded with a slug that will generate so much recoil that it will foster more bad habits than good. For archery hunting a lightweight crossbow can work well for close-range deer.
While grandpa’s intentions are good, I think it unwise to have a youngster kill the biggest deer that they may ever see as their first deer. “There’s nothing to it,” they might say. “You just go out into the pasture and shoot one. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.” Basking in the glory of their achievement and having done it once, they will expect the same results each time they go out, and after hours of sitting and doing nothing may give up on the sport altogether.
Never too old – or young – to hunt. Illustration by Alex Ehlers.
A better approach is to let the youngster shoot a young deer to start with and as they age progress to larger and larger deer. This will provide a challenge for the next year’s hunt. The Big One, the King Of The Farm; let your grandkid take that one at 18 years old and not at 8, and you will have a hunting companion for life.
Wm. Hovey Smith is the author of more than 20 books including “Backyard Deer Hunting,” “Crossbow Hunting;” and “X-Treme Muzzleloading.” These are available in the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association Bookstore.