At what age would be best to introduce my son to guns/shooting/hunting?

I think you can introduce him to a .22 rifle at around 6-7 shooting short distances. I like more fixed target shooting at that age. You could set him up to shoot it at some sporting clays sitting still with the 410. I'd be real hesitant to let him shoot anything in the air with it. I'd also only load 1 shot at a time.

For me I'm focused on teaching my boys the repetitiveness of the safety around guns. Like asking if it's loaded when I hand it to them and then checking it themselves. Always treat it as loaded even if someone says it's not. Understanding where the safety is. All of these can be taught with just a BB gun. I base it more on maturity rather than age.

Have you ingrained gun safety rules with him with the BB gun?

If not do so now.

Muzzle control, trigger discipline, knowing your target and what is behind it, use of fire arm safety, use of safety equipment, treating every gun as if it is loaded at all times.

If so, it is time to give him the .410 with the caveat that he only gets to use it when you are present and with permission. His individual size and maturity will dictate when he gets to use the gun solo.

Show him how the gun works, how to hold it, how to manipulate it. Let him explore the gun supervised for as long as he wants and answer all questions. Reinforce the gun safety rules at all times and take the opportunity to be extra stern at this point. You want him to remember the lessons.

Go out and shoot the gun at destroyable objects. buckshot or a slug (adult shoots) into a watermelon makes a great demonstration that things are destroyed when a trigger is pulled. Let him see dead animals and reinforce that 1 trigger pull equals (has the potential) to equal 1 dead animal. Show him the carnage on a shot mammal and explain how that could/would happen to a human if shot. At a young age children still hold some magical ideas and death in video games, cartoons, and childhood play is not permanent. You want him to understand, respect, and hold reverent the ability to take a life with a firearm.

Get and use electronic ear muffs, and make sure he is able to handle the gun (weight length, etc) prior to allowing him to shoot it. Make sure he shoots low recoil loads to help prevent bad shooting habits.

My boys are 8 and 10 and both hunt with me. They use a Mossberg mini bantam pump 410, a Savage rascal .22, a Savage youth model 7mm-08, and occasionally shoot my bushmaster carbon lite AR and my wifes BL22 lever action .22.

The oldest shot his buck last year, his first duck from the sky this year, and the youngest gets to skillet shoot ducks and has shot a pig or 2.

I agree with the maturity aspect as well. I also will not let me kids shoot a gun that they can't handle (meaning holding safely), and when they can load and unload safely. No hurry to get him shooting deer until he/she can do it all on their own with out your help.

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Muzzle control, trigger discipline

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This. It's amazing how many adults suck so bad at this. I've taken my girls' bb guns away for days for bad trigger discipline or poor muzzle control. Caught my oldest (9) shooting her bow with her sister in the back yard. Took it away for a week. They catch on. They'll get tired of having their hand slapped down off the trigger and learn what it's about.

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At a young age children still hold some magical ideas and death in video games, cartoons, and childhood play is not permanent. You want him to understand, respect, and hold reverent the ability to take a life with a firearm.

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+1

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My son is 7 and if he wants to go hunting or shooting, we do that. If he doesn't want to, we don't. I don't want to ruin it for him by forcing it upon him too young

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THIS and it applies to individual outings too. If you walk into the stand and when he gets there he is bored and cold (they don't make good clothes for kiddos) and wants to go do something else after 10 min of sitting, then go do it. After a few hunting trips when he is still asking to go, then you start working on the sit still quiet and be patient part.

Technically, my son was hunting with me the morning before I inseminated his mother.

Like everyone has said, every kid is different; but after muzzle awareness and safety are ingrained into him, I'd teach respect of the animals you are hunting. Don't just teach him to go kill shite because it's fun. If that's the case, if you go and don't kill, he'll become bored and not enjoy himself. I tried to make trips fun for my kid to look for tracks on the way to the stand, to set up feeders mineral licks and all those things. Even if you just squirrel hunt, teach him to look for cut acorns and pine cones on the ground.

I think 7 is plenty old to have grandpa's 410. Just make sure he appreciates whose it was and where it came from.

All that being said, I had my son shooting a 22 at 5 years old and he killed his first deer at 7.

Don't just teach him to go kill shite because it's fun. If that's the case, if you go and don't kill, he'll become bored and not enjoy himself. I tried to make trips fun for my kid to look for tracks on the way to the stand, to set up feeders mineral licks and all those things. Even if you just squirrel hunt, teach him to look for cut acorns and pine cones on the ground.


This dad gets it!


appreciating the sunrise/sunset, the sounds of the woods, the movements and antics of all the creatures not just the target species, the beauty of His creation is what it is all about. Make sure he gets to appreciate putting meat on the table too. Those young boys are so proud to bring home even 1 lil squirrel to "feed the family"

I'll also add don't take it too serious, make it fun. I put too much pressure on my daughter to get on that buck Sat and when she started crying as it walked into the woods I felt like absolute crap. Took her into the room at the camp and apologized to her and told her she made the right decision not shooting if she wasn't sure she could kill it.

That's not usually my style as we eat, fart, sleep, and play games in the stand. I just wasn't expecting a buck that afternoon bc we were hunting for a doe. I regret it.

I started around 6. Safety is the biggest lesson as is very well stated above. My dad saw me use bad muzzle control once and lit into me worse than any other time in my life. I got my gun taken from me for the rest of the hunt, but I've never made that mistake again.