Who is going to be out youth weekend? I will be taking my son out again.

I will. My 11 year old son has a new .357 New England single shot handirifle with scope. Got it sighted in last weekend, practicing in the cool weather this weekend.

I'm anticipating it more than going myself. My son has a football game opening morning but we are heading out after his game! Good luck to all the youths and be safe.

Luke and his friend Evan will be out all weekend at Cedar Branch. If the hunting is like it was during turkey season the deer are in trouble.

Zeb, I think Evan is planning on you being his mentor if you are going.

Had planned on taking my 8 y/o but after trying the 44 he changed his mind. May need to wait another year? Has anyone else experienced hesitation from their kids. I want it to be fun and don't want to make him hunt. I was sooo ready for him to take that next step.

Hey may I ask what happened w/ the .44? I know it is loud (very loud) and can kick a bit. I put a Sims Vibration recoil pad on Luke's .44 when he was that young and it made a huge difference. We also use muffs or plugs when shooting it. He also shot a red-dot scope for 2-3 years, so his range was limited but it still worked well.

If you can get him to shoot it a little bit and when a deer walks in front of him - he will never even know it kicks.

Good luck. Include him on your recoveries and everything that you can. The time will come.

I also put a sims recoil pad on my daughters rossi muzzle loader. She had problems around the same age.... I believe it was more the noise than the recoil.
Shes almost 15 now & hunts with a 44. girl is a deer killing machine.

Havent missed a youth hunt yet & not starting this year.
I'll have drive all night to make it back to Indiana. Im in Raleigh NC with work.

2 years ago we lost one of our firefighters in a fire, he was a great hunter and was just getting his youngest son into hunting before the tragedy . I now have the privilege of taking his son on his first youth hunt, he will be using a Marlin 1894 in .357 mag, we have been practicing for a few weeks and he is now ready for the giant whitetail to walk out Saturday morning. I don't know who is excited about this weekend, me or him.

Zeb will be there for Evan...

Very cool and congrats to you for being his mentor. h.h.

Recon if its recoil try a muzz w 50 grains of powder and a lighter bullet. My son is only about 50 lbs and he can shoot it all day long.

I was all ready to take my 7 year old son as well. I got him a Rossi Miniloader and a few weeks ago we went to sight it in. I got it hitting it's mark and was ready to let him shoot, but he decided he didn't want too. He was really hesitant when he got behind the gun and I told him he didn't have to do it. He ended up not shooting and I didn't want to pressure him at all. I will just have to wait until he is good and ready.

Yeah def don't pressure em it'll turn em off for a long time, always next year or maybe they will change their minds by gun season.

Sometimes I wonder if it isn't the killing part of hunting more so than the shooting part of hunting kids aren't ready for.

But I agree, don't pressure 'em and they'll let you know when they are ready.

When my son killed his turkey this year his exact words were" I'm kinda sad, then he turned to me and said we're gonna eat him so it's ok." Made me proud as a father that at 6 yrs old he already values and respects the life of the game he's hunting.

Almost forgot then he says man I smoked him look at his head.

It's just the recoil. It just doesn't sit in his pocket, like it does an adult. Next weekend may turn into a squirrel weekend. I'm not going to make him shoot a gun he doesn't want to. Maybe next year?

I'm sure you guys will have just as much fun.

Sounds like there are several people on here taking their kids. That's great to get them involved in the sport.

My son is excited about hunting with me. This will be his 3rd season of being the hunter for deer. He's been fortunate to take a nice 10 point for his first deer and last season he took a spike.

Recon, you're doing right by letting him wait and not pressuring him. He'll let you know when he is ready. Does he go with you when you are out there. I found it to be a lot more enjoyable when my son started just hanging out with me in the woods. Eventually he couldn't wait to get a deer gun that fit him and start shooting.

Good luck to all the youths!

Yea we actually shoot (22's) a lot and he likes watching me shoot some of the other guns. We also shoot bows together and hang out in the woods. With time it will all come together. I actually look forward to stepping down and focus more on him hunting.

Good luck and safe hunting to all the youth hunters and their partners! My son Chris and I are planning to visit down at Joe's farm, and renew friendships and fond memories of the years we hunted there when he was younger. Now at 19, he's too old for the youth hunt, but we can get after the coyotes or do some fishing along with telling tall tales at the evening get togethers...

My son and I will be back out again this year. Gonna be hard to top the memory of watching him take his first deer last year at the age of 6, but we are sure gonna try!!!! . Hopefully we will have some pics to post after this weekend. Everyone take care and hunt safe!!

My son has been using a marlin 44 mag since he was 6. He shot his first buck at 6 and he is a skinny little guy. I put a red dot scope on it for the eye relief and had him shoot it in my lead-sled so he couldn't feel the recoil. When he shot the buck, it rocked his world but he acted like it didn't bother him because his adrenaline and I started jumping up and down with excitement to take his mind off the recoil. He is 11 now and finally got rid of that dumb red dot scope and put on a 3x9x40 and its a little tack driver. Try the lead-sled, it works!!!!

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/sweet0769/bth_018.jpg?t=1380084714

Picture of his first deer. One proud daddy that day..

Recon get a crossbow. I got my daughter one and she is dead on up to thirty yards

I think you can shoot 44 special ammo and get him more used to the recoil and use the full strength stuff when you hunt.

Started my 7yr old daughter with a muzzleloader with about 60gr loose powder many years ago. It was Very accurate and had hardly any recoil. She now shoots a 44 H&R at 12yrs old. Biggest thing I did for her was buying the amplified hearing muffs from Walmart sometime ago. I think I paid $40 for them. She can hear everything until the gun fires. I really don't let her shoot anything but a 22LR or my AR15 in 223 through the summer. I like keeping her fresh and not fearing the recoil to much.

Well we are in camp, Gunnar is asleep. After setting up the camper we watched 12 deer; 2 bucks from our camp chairs, feed in a picked bean field. Deer we're coming out of the wood work; until Wiley spooked 6 off then it got too dark to observe. It's should be interesting in the morning.

This morning he lasted an hour and a half, we had a lot of fun though. Decided to squirrel hunt for an hour or so. This evening we went to a ladder stand in an inside corner. As soon as we sit down he says he sees deer in the pumpkin patch (150yrds) away. I'm thinking great the boy is at least seeing deer. He watches for a bit then decides to listen to music with war buds. I say go ahead, just trying to keep him in the stand. 5 min later I hear crunch to the right. A big ol doe is walking in on a string. I lean over and say deer and Gunnar's whole demeanor changes; like a switch he says hand me the gun. He gets eyes on and his breathing goes into yep buck fever. The problem is the deer is behind some limbs with leaves that is hiding our stand. She is relaxed and we have already discussed shooting holes but I get excited. I can see her legs and a little bit of her hind quarters. I tell him if he can see her shoot. 20 yards. I'm still having my doubts that he will pull the trigger (see above posts). All of the sudden he holds his breath and BOOM. we both see as she is running off the shot is way back. We do a little celebrating; I was so proud but knew the shot was marginal I let him shoot instead of making him wait for her to move into a lane like we discussed. We did not find her. Found a little blood. Had 6 ppl looking well into the night. I explained that it was my fault and I should of held him off for a few more minutes, she wasn't going any where. However the boy pulled the trigger and didn't even hear the gun nor feel any recoil. It was a milestone for he and I. He is excited for the morning and do am I!!!!

We all make mistakes in the heat of the moment. It's great you two were able to make it out and he was able to take a shot.

We have all made shots that we weren't proud of. It's a shame you didn't get the deer, but it's a start. He'll get one soon enough!