Kids Small Game Setup?

[YosemiteSam]

My oldest turns 8 this year and my wife and I are discussing his progression into hunting.  He's got a couple board bows that I made for him -- one is about 17# at his draw.  At 5-7 yards, he does okay but I'm often amazed at what he can do.  His arrows are pretty heavy for his draw since they're mostly all ones that I've busted myself but are now too short for me.  They're easily 20+ gpp.  Has anybody had any experience letting kids hunt rabbits and squirrels with these light setups?  I assume I'd also need to set him up with broadheads to hunt since he's not getting much power.  I could use some help and ideas or setups for getting young ones into hunting with traditional gear.

[jamesh76]

No experiance with mine shooting game at that weight.    other ideas.....stump shooting?   my kids also enjoyed walking through the timber spotting and shooting old stuffed animals.

[Jerry Gille]

I have lots of experience here.  My kids all shot longbows made by me from the time they were knee high so they started with light set ups like you are talking about.  We hunt squirrels more so than rabbits so my experience is limited more to them.  Hitting the target was always very difficult for all my kids.  There were only a couple times over those years when they actually hit squirrels.  And I'm not sure how solid those hits were.  I can say that without a cutting tip you have virtually no chance of getting that squirrel - of course I feel cutting tips are a necessity for adults on squirrels too.  Anyway, I saw a few hits with bladed field tips and bladed 38 casings bounce off and/or out of squirrels with their set ups.  

I bowhunt squirrels religiously and started all of my kids on that with me at a very young age - they were all carrying bows at about the age of 5.  I can honestly say that it took several years for them to harvest the first squirrel. And harvesting the first squirrel was never the point of the hunt so it never mattered.

Have fun and just let them shoot.  I always let my kids "air" them shots out anytime they wanted to just so they were having fun even though I knew they had no chance of hitting the squirrels.  We refined our tactics as they got older.

And yes, broadheads would be the best chance of recovering anything hit.

[macbow]

Agree with Jerry totally.
Just walking around the woods shooting is great.
Agree also that actually killing a squirrel is not likely. I suggest just staying with blunts or field points and shoot a lot.

My little ones grew up going bowfishing with me. I tried hard to make arrows that could penetrate a gar, almost impossible with light bows and short draws.
Just let them shoot.

[Sam McMichael]

I am just not sure 17# will regularly and cleanly take a squirrel.

[bunyan]

It's a tough choice. Most kids aren't gonna have much chance of hitting a squirrel. Heck, I have a hard enough time! So not worrying about poundage and just having fun seams like a fine idea. Buy what if they do connect? Then you have the ethical responsibility to the animal to do what you can for a clean kill. I killed my first rabbit as a kid with a light poundage bear recurve and I think my family was more surprised than me that I hit it! But rabbits aren't squirrels by a long shot and I still had to chase that Bunn down with my arrow sticking in it.  My daughter is five and I'd be worried about her flinging broadheads or other cutting heads, but every kid's maturity level is individual. I'd try to up their draw weight if possible to twenty pounds or more if possible and be ready to pounce on that squirrel if they do Stun one.

[3arrows]

Make sure you give them arrows that match the bow or they will lose interest and not stay with it.

[Mike Vines]

Chipmunks are made for kids with stick bows.

[mahantango]

Squirrels are tough to kill and even tougher to hit. IMO rabbits are much better to start a youngster on, especially with low poundage is. My kids started with Black Rhino longbows in the 25# range. 1616 and 1716 aluminum's with cheap not-so-sharp broadheads will work better than blunts and mismatched over spined broken adult arrows.

[Chuck Jones]

I got feedback from several customers that bought bows for their kids for small game hunting. Many of the kids hunt ground squirrels and have a great time. One woman bought a 15 # bow for her son, and said he was a holy terror on the ground squirrel population. She bought the 1/4" ace hex blunts for him to use.

I agree that larger squirrels are had to kill with kids bows. I would recommend at least 20# at their draw length with cutting heads.
Chuck

[Chuck Jones]

I got feedback from several customers that bought bows for their kids for small game hunting. Many of the kids hunt ground squirrels and have a great time. One woman bought a 15 # bow for her son, and said he was a holy terror on the ground squirrel population. She bought the 1/4" ace hex blunts for him to use.

I agree that larger squirrels are had to kill with kids bows. I would recommend at least 20# at their draw length with cutting heads.
Chuck

[YosemiteSam]

Thanks for the ideas & thoughts here.  I was raised with a strict "you eat what you kill" ethic so we'll stick with rabbits and tree squirrels.  But we'll probably give him another year to grow & improve his aim a bit before signing him up for a hunter safety class.  He has some impressive shots so far.  At a recent 3D shoot, he nailed a heart shot on the flying goose (moving target) at 10 yards, spined the beaver at 10 yards & hit foam on the iron turkey at about 5 yards (obviously, I let the boys scoot closer to the targets).  It's not consistent but it's still impressive.

I think that once he grows a bit more, he'll get closer to 20-25# at his draw and should have that much more practice under his belt.

Thanks again!