Introduction to Shooting

As we begin the journey in teaching our kids to hunt, it seemed obvious that the place to start is teaching our kids to shoot. I was a little unsure on how soon is too soon but as our oldest child hit eight years of age and I began to get the questions “When can I shoot a duck?” “When can I shoot a pheasant?” “How old do you have to be to carry a gun?” “What gun do you need for pheasant and duck hunting?” and I thought to myself, it is time.

Shooting a pellet gun at cans in the backyard is the only gun handling experience my daughter has had to this point, so I had to figure out where to start. After some research and a trip to the store to see what gun would fit her, a Christmas present was in the works.

A solo run to Scheels gave me a chance to get the kids their first gun, and everything else needed to go with it. The gun I decided to start with was a .22 rifle. I also purchased 200 rounds of ammo, a case, a shooting rest, and a spinning steel target. I wrapped them all separately.

After unboxing the gun we found out that the gun was fairly simple to put together but that it was pretty oily. The last thing I had to find was a bore snake (I had everything else needed to clean the gun), so I could get the gun all cleaned up and ready to shoot. Of course, as I cleaned the gun on the kitchen table, the kids were eagerly watching and I was able to fit in some nice child friendly gun safety rules.

Before going to the gun range for the first time, we took some time to learn about gun safety. Now she was only 8, so I needed to keep it simple to make sure she understood before she had a gun in her hands. I boiled it down to the four main rules. Never point the gun at anything you don’t want to destroy. Always know what is beyond your target. Keep your safety on until ready to fire and make sure to put it back on as soon as you are done firing. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. I made sure I took care of the rest of the details, like making sure you have the correct ammunition, the gun is cleaned and in working condition, etc.

When I felt confident that she understood, it was time we took a trip to the range. We got to go on a weekday afternoon. I wanted her to go for the first time when there would hopefully be less commotion there so she could more easily focus on what she was doing. We signed in, and learned that there was only one other group of two people using the range. We read over the rules before grabbing our stuff. After getting our hearing protection in, we headed over to the rifle range. The other group was very welcoming and when seeing how young my daughter was even offered to shoot smaller caliber guns for a bit. We took a little time to watch them shoot and waited for the all clear signal to go setup our target. After setting it up and returning behind the firing line we got the signal that we could start shooting. I went first so I could walk her through the process of making sure the safety was on, loading the gun, taking it off safety, and then firing. I also had to give her a quick lesson on how to line up the sights. I took the first couple shots and then she was chomping at the bit to give it a try. She hopped over, and we again together worked through the entire process and her first time ever shooting a gun. She hit the paper. She couldn’t get enough of it, and we went through quite a bit of ammo. And she wanted to go back as soon as possible! I am hopeful that this is just the beginning of these types of trips.

The one thing I wish I would have remembered was a pair of binoculars so we could have seen exactly where we were hitting the paper right away instead of having to wait for the all clear signal to go check our targets. Next time!