Thread: How young is to young?

Nah they both good

Originally Posted by moonhunt

Something i have seen over the years is fathers wanting there kids to hunt, more so than the kids wanting to hunt, so i dont push it at all, i only take mine out when they ask
The teenagers get there pig fix now and then but would much rather go fishing
The 2 younger ones, its an adventure more than a hunt, we have food,drinks and a cup of tea and most importantly mummy comes too, we play with sticks and stones, look at birds and trees and if the dogs find a pig i deal with that and mum and kids keep on playing
Its never been about the guns or shooting, just an outing/adventure

Attachment 12851

Shot bro. I take my young kids "hunting" don't take a rifle usually.
We get into the outdoors look at trees creeks prints and poos play in mud and water cook some noodles and talk a lot. Well my girl never stops talking.

Also take them up the range occasionally and they use the 22 and 223

Been doing this since they were 5 and 4 years old.

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

And all the while they are having quality time with dad and learning lessons that they are not likely to ever learn at school

Personally, based on my own experience being introduced to guns and hunting as a kid, I'd say earlier than 8yo is potentially great, but perhaps only on air guns. One of the things I learned about young using air guns, was ricochet, as pellets would occasionally bounce back from tin cans etc and hit us! Obviously, this taught me about the safety aspect of checking firing zone and my father also made it clear that gunpowder cartridges were far more dangerous and wouldn't be forgiving if the projectile ricocheted back or hit anyone or anything else. Once we started shooting rabbits with .22 at about 8yo, I quickly developed a healthy understanding of "one shot kill" importance and aiming to achieve a quick, humane death. He bought me a BSA single shot .22 for my 9th birthday and I was absolutely hooked on guns and hunting from that point on. He encouraged me to strip and rebuild the BSA, bluing the barrel and oiling the stock, which taught me about the engineering and also the pride of ownership. Shooting a SMLE .303 was my next graduation and again, a very healthy respect was learned for the immense power I held in my hands (I'm not sure a smaller cartridge with less recoil would have taught me quite the same respect??) and pointing it in a safe direction at all times, as if it was permanently loaded.
However, in my early teens, I became quite irresponsible with our firearms and did some really dumb things I regret and in hindsight, my father was quite stupid to allow me to know how to get access to our firearms at such a young age. It was only luck no serious harm was caused by dumb-arse teenage boys. So, as long as adult firearm owners are giving immediate supervision to kids, I see no harm and only benefits from introducing them at any age over 5yo.

As long as you're realistic about the outcome, then start them as early as you want. I made my oldest girls a little .22lr, but it is very low key stuff - just 3 or 4 shots and then it goes back in the safe before she gets too bored.


Video of .22lr V's 2L Coke bottle full of water

Sorry its upside down - can't work out how to fix it, but you get the idea. That's about all I can realistically expect from her at that age.

kj

Mine have come out since they wanted to, including the wee tart when she was really wee, stopping half way up a hill wanting to have a sleep....
The boy kills shit, he also has a great respect for what a gun can do. Simple reason is he shoots rabbits with the 223. It opens their eyes.

By the way, I trust him one hell of a lot more than a lot of other clowns (read adults) I've been out with.