Wasz
Member
Im feeling kind of proud of myself today. Last night my Dad and I were out with some family friends. The youngest son asks "When are we going back to camp?!" To which his mother scolded him and told him he hadn't even been invited and that he was being rude. We had taken them up to a camp we get to use for a week over the summer. It was myself my father and my brother along with our friends (a mother, father and 2 sons age 14 and 16).
Camp week means shooting there on the private property and fishing mostly, along with some hiking etc... The 2 boys had never shot before so I geared up with plenty of ammo and targets. Made sure I had enough hearing and eye protection to go around, bought a box of clays and a hand thrower. I decided that reguardless of if they liked or hated it they should have a taste of everything before they make a choice one way or the other.
The first day at camp I pulled out all the guns. Handguns, .22 rifles and the shotguns. Showed them how each one worked, and went over the 4 rules. Made sure everyone understood and explained that I would go over this stuff again when it was time to shoot. I let them pick what they would like to shoot first. They wanted to shoot handguns (I probably should have done rifles first, but it worked out ok). They loved it and gradually worked up to .38s from .22s and then really wanted to tackle the .357s by the end of the shooting.
They had a blast! It worked the same way for .22 rifles and clays too. Started out slow but by the end they were asking how much more ammo I had because they wanted to shoot more. Both the boys started trying to bust clays with 20 gauge and then both had to do it with the 12. There was a lot of missing with the clays but they didnt care they were all grins. Between their father (not a shooter or gun owner, but not anti) and my brother father and me I lost count of how much ammo we burned.
The 16 year old got a Single Six for his birthday in November (hes the first gun owner in the house) and a remington .22 rifle for Christmas. We take him to the indoor pistol range with us at least monthly. The younger son wasn't able to shoot at the range, but we just found one where he can shoot too now and hes itching to go. Their father is interested in starting to shoot trap.
Im just really proud that they have taken to shooting so well. I was totally blown away that the 14 year old was so anxious to get back to camp because that was the only place where he was able to shoot for the time being. Im looking to join a local gun club with a range and get him involved in youth .22 and hook the father up with some place to shoot trap. Its a work in progress, but its coming a long.
Camp week means shooting there on the private property and fishing mostly, along with some hiking etc... The 2 boys had never shot before so I geared up with plenty of ammo and targets. Made sure I had enough hearing and eye protection to go around, bought a box of clays and a hand thrower. I decided that reguardless of if they liked or hated it they should have a taste of everything before they make a choice one way or the other.
The first day at camp I pulled out all the guns. Handguns, .22 rifles and the shotguns. Showed them how each one worked, and went over the 4 rules. Made sure everyone understood and explained that I would go over this stuff again when it was time to shoot. I let them pick what they would like to shoot first. They wanted to shoot handguns (I probably should have done rifles first, but it worked out ok). They loved it and gradually worked up to .38s from .22s and then really wanted to tackle the .357s by the end of the shooting.
They had a blast! It worked the same way for .22 rifles and clays too. Started out slow but by the end they were asking how much more ammo I had because they wanted to shoot more. Both the boys started trying to bust clays with 20 gauge and then both had to do it with the 12. There was a lot of missing with the clays but they didnt care they were all grins. Between their father (not a shooter or gun owner, but not anti) and my brother father and me I lost count of how much ammo we burned.
The 16 year old got a Single Six for his birthday in November (hes the first gun owner in the house) and a remington .22 rifle for Christmas. We take him to the indoor pistol range with us at least monthly. The younger son wasn't able to shoot at the range, but we just found one where he can shoot too now and hes itching to go. Their father is interested in starting to shoot trap.
Im just really proud that they have taken to shooting so well. I was totally blown away that the 14 year old was so anxious to get back to camp because that was the only place where he was able to shoot for the time being. Im looking to join a local gun club with a range and get him involved in youth .22 and hook the father up with some place to shoot trap. Its a work in progress, but its coming a long.
