Setting kids up for the shot

[STOMP442]

I have been working with my niece since she was 10. We practiced a lot her first few years shooting from prone with a bi-pod. I had a steel pig silhouette that I would place out in the hills that was painted bright pink or orange that would simulate a real world scenario of shooting out in the field. She would be responsible for finding a suitable shooting position and finding the pig in the scope while I ranged the target and told her the dope she needed to dial.  She got to where she was good at it and had no problem finding the pig in the scope.  But, a bright pink or orange pig is a far cry from finding a deer in a real world scenario. I would almost always have to help her when the time came to find the deer. It always worked out but it always became a stressful moment when the time came. Fast forward to this year, shes 17 and it was her last youth hunt. I put an arca swiss adapter on my rifle and mounted the rifle to my glassing tri pod. I sat down on the side of the hill locked the rifle in on the deer got out of the way and had her slide in behind it and get comfortable. Boom! One and done 430 yards easy peasy. Makes me wish we were doing it that way from the get go. 

[northAZarcher]

12 hours ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

And this is where I am going to struggle. I lack patience sometimes.

Few years ago I bought him some Mavens for Christmas. First day out, with binos on a tripod, "Levi be careful don't knock your binos and tripod over." literally 30 seconds later he knocked them over. I chewed on him pretty good... Had to realize they weren't broken and it was an accident. Made it up to him, and am more cognizant of situations like that. 

If you struggle with patience, Maybe it's better to have a friend tag along and be another voice if things get crazy.  I can get to excited at times and just another person reminding me the deer have no idea we are there and to slow down or whatever the situation calls for can be helpful to everyone. If you haven't yet, explain that you struggle in that area and that it's not on purpose.  Good to show kids that us parents make mistakes but own up to and work on them.

[More D]

This year my boy could only hunt the first three days of the hunt. Friday mid-morning I glassed a beautiful 3x4 not counting the eye guards at 700ish. We did our Elmer fud stalk to 350. Any closer and he would get lost due to angle. We were on this deer for nearly 40min. He was calmly feeding but not staying still. He probably moved 40 yards the whole time in nasty thick brush. Tuff shot? Absolutely. Doable? Absolutely. 

He stood, laid prone, sat down but just could not get comfortable so he did not shoot. Talk about patience....it was all I could do to not shoot myself but that was not the goal. 

Two years before he got a deer right at 300 no problem so 350 was not that much more especially with all of the practice we did.

We turned it into a learning opportunity. One should not shoot for the sake of shooting. We only shoot when we can CONFIDENTIALLY make the PROPER shot.

In the end we had a wonderful time. The time spent together and the conversations had were unforgettable. 

 

Have fun. Tagging a deer is not the ultimate goal. Having fun is. Not being fun, THEIR FUN, will cost you later...

My wife and daughter no longer like to hunt deer only elk they say. So I do everything possible to keep it fun for my 12 yo. If not I will have to hunt solo...

 

257 mag may be too much. I have a sweet little 243 you can borrow. 

[firstcoueswas80]

3 hours ago, More D said:

This year my boy could only hunt the first three days of the hunt. Friday mid-morning I glassed a beautiful 3x4 not counting the eye guards at 700ish. We did our Elmer fud stalk to 350. Any closer and he would get lost due to angle. We were on this deer for nearly 40min. He was calmly feeding but not staying still. He probably moved 40 yards the whole time in nasty thick brush. Tuff shot? Absolutely. Doable? Absolutely. 

He stood, laid prone, sat down but just could not get comfortable so he did not shoot. Talk about patience....it was all I could do to not shoot myself but that was not the goal. 

Two years before he got a deer right at 300 no problem so 350 was not that much more especially with all of the practice we did.

We turned it into a learning opportunity. One should not shoot for the sake of shooting. We only shoot when we can CONFIDENTIALLY make the PROPER shot.

In the end we had a wonderful time. The time spent together and the conversations had were unforgettable. 

 

Have fun. Tagging a deer is not the ultimate goal. Having fun is. Not being fun, THEIR FUN, will cost you later...

My wife and daughter no longer like to hunt deer only elk they say. So I do everything possible to keep it fun for my 12 yo. If not I will have to hunt solo...

 

257 mag may be too much. I have a sweet little 243 you can borrow. 

I have a 1955 model 70 243, but he will try the 257 with the brake and hearing protection. I think he will be ok. He is not small, just a little thin. (didnt get that from me) 

The 257 will be about perfect. It isnt heavy but it isnt light. its accurate, and has enough speed and killing power to allow for a little bit of room for error. Plus, it will be awesome for him to kill stuff with the famous Chupacabra. 

[PRDATR]

3 hours ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

I have a 1955 model 70 243, but he will try the 257 with the brake and hearing protection. I think he will be ok. He is not small, just a little thin. (didnt get that from me) 

The 257 will be about perfect. It isnt heavy but it isnt light. its accurate, and has enough speed and killing power to allow for a little bit of room for error. Plus, it will be awesome for him to kill stuff with the famous Chupacabra. 

Casey,

I have a 243 Savage Axis Compact. Barrel is probably 20" and the LOP is probably 12" but I can measure it. It's pretty light and has a trigger set to aboit 2#'s. Let meknow if you want to borrow it for a while, I have ammo too.

You can shoot it and compare the recoil to the 257 to see which one is lighter. I think I have a Zeiss 3x9 on it. LMK I won't be shooting it for the rest of the year.

[SunDevil]

I agree, I would find another caliber with a milder recoil, with a brake, with a recoil pad and use reduced recoil loads. Recoil fear is real and will take time to get over. 

[trphyhntr]

Why would he need another caliber? A .257 with a brake he said. That thing doesn’t kick at all. 

[Chef]

1 minute ago, trphyhntr said:

Why would he need another caliber??? A .257 with a brake he said. That thing doesn’t kick at all. 

We don't want any more broken skull plates.

[5guyshunting]

33 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

Why would he need another caliber? A .257 with a brake he said. That thing doesn’t kick at all. 

Your in box is full.

[trphyhntr]

6 minutes ago, 5guyshunting said:

Your in box is full.

I cleared out some space 

[NMBPMAN]

Honestly, you’ll get 100 different answers on what works.  With all three of my kids they’ve shot everything prone from a bipod and I also carry a small, lightweight, rear bag.  Depending on the years rain, and where I’m at, I may throw my 12-25” bipod in my bag just in case.  I always have a 9-13” bipod on my guns.  There’s almost always going to be grass, etc…..  I normally try find a shooting spot where I’m glassing, but sometimes you might have to be creative and make a spot to shoot from.  

My kids are all skinny too, so not much upper body strength to be holding a scoped hunting rifle in awkward positions.  I tried the triclawps thing when my daughter was 10, she just couldn’t keep it from bouncing without carrying more junk to support the rear end.  When they were all that age I would get rifle set up with the crosshairs hovering on the buck, then it was up to them to control the rear bag as I had taught them.  I generally try to sit behind my tripod, on the bolt handle side of the rifle to make scope adjustments or help manipulate the bolt if they manage to get hung up, which they will, haha.  

Meanwhile, constantly reminding them to get the rifle in their shoulder and not under it so we can avoid any child meltdowns after getting scoped in the eye. Sometimes on their first and second hunt, it helps to have a third wheel to spot and keep eyes on the deer as you will be busy helping them with the gun manipulation. These things are what I’ve always done, that have worked for my kids.  They’ve made some amazing shots on deer and cow elk because they were stable and not fighting their gun bouncing around.

[Jcubed]

Ummm...my dad didn't let us hunt until we could shoot.  

Target practice isn't hunting.  

Ymmv

[stanley]

On 11/14/2022 at 9:00 PM, northAZarcher said:

If you struggle with patience, Maybe it's better to have a friend tag along and be another voice if things get crazy.  I can get to excited at times and just another person reminding me the deer have no idea we are there and to slow down or whatever the situation calls for can be helpful to everyone. If you haven't yet, explain that you struggle in that area and that it's not on purpose.  Good to show kids that us parents make mistakes but own up to and work on them.

This resonated with me!  Brought back fond memories of my best friend from Utah very calmly coaching/guiding my daughter while buck (doe 😂) fever set-in on her first deer hunt on the Kiabab MANY years ago!  Patience, of which I often didn't have when my kids were little, can be key!

Super happy for you, Casy!!  Hunting with your children beats anything, IMO!!!!

BTW, regarding rifles for anyone with small kids starting out, the Remington 7400 in .308 was awesome for all three of mine.  The semi-auto action acts as a nice shock absorber.   (We always used it as a 'single shot' when starting out, for safety reasons....)

 

[AZbowhntr]

That .257 with a brake on it will be completely fine.  I have a .243 that my daughter shot for a while and while I was working up a load for it I realized that it kicked more than my .270 WSM with a brake on it.  So she started shooting it and actually enjoyed it more. And we only carried one rifle in the field instead of both.  Just make sure you have hearing protection all the time. I accidentally shot once without it and after the initial shock and confusion of what I did I realized that concussion grenades really do work.

[firstcoueswas80]

So I got the hog saddle today.... how about tripod heads that work best? 

 

I assume a fluid head? Maybe a ball head?