My sons are 10 years old and we have been talking about hunting for a while and finally got the opportunity today to go shoot and hunt
The gun I have for them is a 20 gauge single shot shotgun and it is an old gun with a pretty significant amount of recoil.
Would a recoil pad help lessen the impact on their shoulders? They each shot the gun two or three times and really enjoyed it.
As to the hunting, well we were slow stalking some woods with squirrels in it. Did not see anything other than a few chipmunks, but we did have a wild encounter.
We were half way down a pretty steep hill standing still when we heard something coming from the top of the hill. Thought it was certainly a deer and told the boys to freeze. Next thing you know, right over the top of the hill comes a huge coyote that stops about 15 yards away when he sees us! He froze for a second and then bolted away back up the hill.
Very exciting, got the blood going and left my kids with a great memory of their first hunting trip
$20 limbsaver recoil pad makes a world of difference. For kids, use a rifle pad that will fit the gun. The shotgun pads are thicker and will put the trigger further away for the kids with shorter arms.
Thanks Capt John
x2 on Limbsaver. I put one on my 7mm mag and it worked well.
I need one for my .308!
x3 on the limbsaver.
Also, if you want to get them into a rifle, a great rifle for younger shooters is a .22-250 or a .243
GREAT rifles, and can drop a deer in its tracks with good placement.
There is little to no recoil, and they are deadly accurate.
I have a great site (www.auctionarms.com) that i buy from.
Try snooping around there. They have some great deals.
Squid,
My first hunting shotgun was a hinged action 12 gauge. It has a heck of a kick and my dad didn't realize it was significantly worse than his shotgun for a few years...then we had a good chuckle over it.
The limbsaver pads work well. Like Capt John said one of the big things for the little guys is a the length of pull (dist. from the trigger to end of buttstock). It may be necessary to cut the buttstock down if it is wood to not only accomodate the limbsaver pad but the arm length if your kids are smaller. There are some pretty good videos on you tube showing how to do this. This will also help get the gun up in the shouder faster and sights on tgt faster if it is the right length.
Have fun huntin.
Ryan