[Ind. Deer Hunter]

My daughter is 7 yrs old. She is already an accomplished hunter. Some of you may say this is way to young, but tell her that. She took her first buck last season with an H&R compact youth 223. Last Sat morning she pounded a nice gobbler with her Grandpa's boyhood .410.

I'm looking for some crossbow advice. I want to teach her the fundamentals of shooting a traditional bow, but her response to this is "I don't want a wimpy bow that I can't hunt with." So, How can I argue with that?

I've looked at several models at local sport shops. So far everything is very heavy and clunky. I could probably put a bi pod on one and make due, but am wondering what others use with their kids. Light, compact, fun to shoot,and reasonably powerfull, are what I'm looking for.

 

[big cow down 80]

i got my boys a barrnett from dicks sporting good ..shoots great has a scope ..yes you will need a adjutsable shooting stick or tree stand with rails . my boys are 9 and 10 years old.no shots with it last year.but i used it 2 take 2 deer .works great.congrats on the turkey .my boys also each got one on sat.

 

[RB]

Light, compact, fun to shoot,and reasonably powerfull, are what I'm looking for.

Parker Enforcer. For a kid I would go Enforcer with Hawke Mulit-rec, in fact I just did. It is really light and is compact becasue of compound limbs. 300FPS at 160 draw is plenty (you are likely going to have to cock anyone you get for a couple years)

We really like ours so far...my son (13) wants to carry it for gobbler in fact over a shotgun. He got a deer with our Tornado last year, and is very accruate with it. Although better made and a little more compact, it is quite a bit heavier and I see no accuracy advantage at least in normal bow range over the Enforcer.

They are all fun to shoot.

You will get many responses here but stay focused on the kids...my kids hunting is why we got into crossbows, but I love shooting them too...ENJOY DIVING IN and let "arrowhead" set you up, takes all the hit and miss out of it.

My 6 year old son is not ready to hunt yet (hope he does not read this

), but my daughter is 12 and going out this year for the first time, we got some shooting to do there , but 2010 is going to be a good year.

 

[arrowhead]

I would agree that the Parker Enforcer is a good bow for your daughter. The Parker also has a lifetime warranty, where most of the other brands are only 5 years. (and it costs less than some of the others too)

You asked for a bow that is "Light, compact, fun to shoot,and reasonably powerfull, are what I'm looking for. " All of that seems to describe the Enforcer. Put together a page or two of questions and give me a call. I'd be more than happy to help. Just click the link below for my phone number. I've shot all the current crop of crossbows out on the market, and can tell you what to watch our for and the good and bad of each.

 

[dpms]

So far everything is very heavy and clunky. I could probably put a bi pod on one and make due, but am wondering what others use with their kids. Light, compact, fun to shoot,and reasonably powerfull, are what I'm looking for.

For a 7 y/o, most everything will be heavy and clunky. A bi-pod or rest of some kind is a good idea. As for which bow, Parker Enforcer or Excalibur Vixen II. Excellent bows and great customer service.

 

[Stant]

One more for the enforcer, wifey loves mine. Stant

 

[dce]

I wouldn't even consider letting a 7 year old girl shoot at any live game without the aid of a rest.

 

[Ind. Deer Hunter]

There isn't a hunter out there that can't benefit from a solid rest. Girls,boys, and a whole lot of unsupervised adults out there.

I wouldn't even consider letting a 7 year old girl shoot at any live game without the aid of a rest.

 

[Ind. Deer Hunter]

Guys thanks a bunch for your input. There are some really slick rigs out there. We were looking online last night, and found two companies that made a ladies model in pink camo.

I was kinda hoping she would let me borrow it when she wasn't using it. Maybe I'll have to get my own.

 

[I_hunt]

Ahhh....pink camo. I just bought my daughter a 20 gauge to hunt turkeys. We came across the pink camo and her eyes LIT UP. But after a few minutes she said to me "that there isn't pink in the woods and that pink camo doesn't make sense, all the animals will see us."

 

[dce]

There isn't a hunter out there that can't benefit from a solid rest. Girls,boys, and a whole lot of unsupervised adults out there.

I wouldn't even consider letting a 7 year old girl shoot at any live game without the aid of a rest.

Can't argue with that.

 

[arrowhead]

Parkers Stinger in pink camo is very difficult to see that it is pink. If you know it's there it is pink, but if you don't have anything to compare it to, it looks like camo. The pink is a hue rather than a coloration.