Kids Prefer Bows to Rifles?

[YosemiteSam]

Last weekend, I went with our local cub scout pack for a day hike.  I was asked to bring some equipment for archery & BB gun shooting for some "unofficial" fun after our hike.  So, having made several kids bows over the last year plus what I had already bought for my own kids, I brought a small arsenal of bows/arrows, BB & pellet guns & some foam targets.  We setup a small range near an empty campground in the National Forest for the kids to get some range time.  For a few, this was their first experience shooting anything.  Most had some small experience with one or both but were mostly all newbies.

After going through the range rules (booger hooks stay off the boom switch) and protocol (range hot/cold system), I divided up the parents & kids based on who wanted to try archery vs rifles first.  To my surprise, out of about a dozen kids, only a few were all that interested in the rifles.  Archery was clearly the hot ticket in the group.  Even a couple parents commented that it was more fun than rifles & one of the moms even stepped in to try  out a bow (none of the moms tried a BB or pellet rifle).

So for those of you who have led groups in shooting both, what is your experience?  Do kids seem to naturally gravitate to archery gear when given the choice?  Or was this just the dynamics of my group on this particular day?

Whatever the case, I was glad to see the oldest tech being the most popular & enjoyable.  I enjoy firearms plenty.  But they've never been as fun as flinging arrows to me.

[reddogge]

Kids are funny. Some boys (and girls)are gun crazy from an early age on. I know I was, my son was and my nephew in TN is too. I liked archery too. Probably why I like to shoot target and 3-D archery, bowhunt, target shoot with rifles and pistols, rifle hunt for deer, shotgun hunt for waterfowl, birds, and rabbits. I don't think I'm alone in these feelings either.

[Trenton G.]

Growing up I always enjoyed shooting my bow over my air rifle. I was a much better shot with the gun, but my bow was just more enjoyable. Maybe it was because my dad and I would both shoot together in the evenings whereas the gun was usually just me or me with him watching.

[woodchucker]

After years of my Grandpa building me split sapling self bows, my first "real" bow, was a Bear "Red Bear" glass bow. I shot it a lot and had a back quiver full of miss matched and over spined arrows, including some broadhead arrows.
I also had a Daisy "Winchester" BB gun that I shot 1000's of BBs through.
One day my friend & I were "hunting" ... He had a Daisy "Remington" pump BB gun, and I had my Red Bear bow. He shot a squirrel, rolled it then it headed up a tree. I took one of my broadhead arrows out of my back quiver, drew & shot... Pinning that squirrel to the tree.
Never was very impressed with BB guns after that.....

[McDave]

Don’t have much experience comparing BB guns to bows, but have taught kids’ archery classes for years.  I’ve noted in recent years with the popularity of movies showing young people with trad bows that kids now ask for trad bows rather than Genesis compound bows.  It used to be that everyone would grab the compounds and later on in the class might try the trad bows, but now it’s the other way around.

[YosemiteSam]

McDave -- good point.  We don't let the kids watch a lot of the action movies, like Marvel.  But I forget that we're odd that way.  Probably a lot more to inspire kids out there than I think about.

One town where I lived years ago, the hunters safety people made sling shots for basic training for shooting outdoors.  Those kids really lit up having their own bag of marbles and a sling shot.

[BAK]

Myself I was shooting both at an early age, but was more likely to make kills at 6 with a pellet gun and .22 than the bow so it wasn't until mid teens when I went back to the bow for hunting.

[tecum-tha]

I think it is mostly "your state", since guns are much more a pain there then in other parts of the country and kids are not exposed too much to them. Kids can't prefer what they have no experience with and seeing bows in movies I consider experience. We "learn" through watching and imitating...