This video is a game Matthew and I started playing when he was about 8 years old. We use a hand thrower to toss pigeons in a manner, direction, speed, and angle that you think will make it hard for the other guy to hit them. When he first started shooting, it was about him breaking birds and getting accustomed to shooting. Within a few years, he was making me look bad and it became much more of a competition.
I think this pic was one of our first trips out playing the game and he was already plenty handy with his youth model 20 gauge.
Since he turned fourteen, I think I've only beat him in one round of sporting clays or other shooting contests. But when we get out in the field and the birds are flushing or the mallards are coming in, I'm usually the guy with the smug look and not many empty cases needed for my limit. I will hold my own when the birds have feathers, not clay.
If you have young kids and you want shooting to be fun, get them a gun that fits right, give them good hearing protection and safety gear, take them to a spot that is well set up for shooting yet not crowded with people, and let them shoot until they want to call it quits. It will be as much fun for you as it is for them. It will provide good teaching opportunities, safety habits, and if they take to it, give them something to be good at that builds a lot of confidence. Most likely, it will be something they take with them through life as a passion and interest.
Here is a video we shot in August of us playing the game. Thanks to the editor conspiring with Matthew, the outcome was pretty similar to all other times we play this game. The smiles were as good as always. And the new Pointer shotguns impressed us. As they did when we used them for dove hunting in Arizona last month.
[video=youtube_share;ckLfvikAqns]https://youtu.be/ckLfvikAqns[/video]
I remember one of the first times when a wisp of spent powder rose like smoke from a hot barrel. Matthew turned to me, almost as if he was going to tell me a big secret about his first girlfriend, and whispered, "Dad, I love the smell of gun powder."
Take a kid shooting. You'll be glad you did.
I think this pic was one of our first trips out playing the game and he was already plenty handy with his youth model 20 gauge.
Since he turned fourteen, I think I've only beat him in one round of sporting clays or other shooting contests. But when we get out in the field and the birds are flushing or the mallards are coming in, I'm usually the guy with the smug look and not many empty cases needed for my limit. I will hold my own when the birds have feathers, not clay.
If you have young kids and you want shooting to be fun, get them a gun that fits right, give them good hearing protection and safety gear, take them to a spot that is well set up for shooting yet not crowded with people, and let them shoot until they want to call it quits. It will be as much fun for you as it is for them. It will provide good teaching opportunities, safety habits, and if they take to it, give them something to be good at that builds a lot of confidence. Most likely, it will be something they take with them through life as a passion and interest.
Here is a video we shot in August of us playing the game. Thanks to the editor conspiring with Matthew, the outcome was pretty similar to all other times we play this game. The smiles were as good as always. And the new Pointer shotguns impressed us. As they did when we used them for dove hunting in Arizona last month.
[video=youtube_share;ckLfvikAqns]https://youtu.be/ckLfvikAqns[/video]
I remember one of the first times when a wisp of spent powder rose like smoke from a hot barrel. Matthew turned to me, almost as if he was going to tell me a big secret about his first girlfriend, and whispered, "Dad, I love the smell of gun powder."
Take a kid shooting. You'll be glad you did.