opinions

[spotteddog]

Well I was gonna ask you guys about 20ga for turkey but I found the earlier post on it and that answered most of my questions. Still have a couple ,if you guys can give a little advice on them.One is can anyone suggest a brand of 20ga 2 3/4 #6s ,Feds,Rems,Wins or others that work for them so I have a starting load. This will be used by my son who is 5yrs old and weighs all of 52# so I think 3" would be to much recoil for him. We will be setting side by side with a friend doing the calling ,should I back his shot up or will the 20 be enough to do the job. The place that we will hunt gets little pressure and birds can be gotten in to 20yds or less most of the time.
As soon as the weather breaks I will have him shooting at turkey targets to prepare him for the hunt and will limit him to 20yd max shot at a live bird.

[I am CAL.........]

I would not leave him at home if he wanted to go! Just don't turn him against the sport with too hard a kicker would be my suggestion.My first gun was at 6 and a 410. To me the fun was always and still is "just going".Good luck to you and your son,I am CAL...

[1GLOCK]

In all honesty I would have to say he's a little too young to really hunt turkeys. All of the 5 year olds I know just dont have the attention span and cant keep still enough to get a bird within 100 yds let alone 20, But if you must then I would go with the 410 in a single shot. Also I cant stress it enough, SAFETY!! if he has a loaded weapon in his hands you should NOT be hoping for a back up shot from yourself, anything that takes your full attention from him even for a second is too long, at 5 you may think he can handle a weapon but in all truth he just cant fully comprehend the destructive power of a shotgun, even a 410.
Just my oppinion, I could be wrong ! :?  :?

[Frog123]

IMHO, Take Him!

I can remember always being the kid who begged for someone to take me hunting and being told "No, you're not old enough" "wait till you get bigger". Since you asked for an opinion, here it is. I don't think five is an age that's ready for harvesting turkeys. The experience and memory of just being in the woods with dad should suffice for most kids. Consider getting a full blind for the two of you to sit in and call some birds in range. Let him see the birds come in and gobble. Just spending time out doors together is in my opinion more important than trying to rush him into "growing" up to fast. Besides it may not be legal for him to actually harvest a bird at five, for example here in Tennessee, ten years of age is the minimum age for a youth to purchase a license and harvest a bird and this is only after completing a hunter safety course, along with that a number of state's have mandates requiring a minimum of a 20 ga to be used for turkeys. Just don't rush things, carry him scouting, buy him a turkey call (past experience; kids love those gobble tubes that you shake) watch some tapes together even carry him in the evening to roost birds but I wouldn't put a gun in his hand just yet.. Good Luck in what ever you decide to do. The decision's yours.


Frog

[spotteddog]

Thanks for your replies guys,I will give it some more thought before I decide if he will go this year or next.Im not sure what the( to early to start thing is), he has a extreme interest in the outdoors and nature.He loves to go fishing,go with me varmint hunting, crow hunting or even just scouting.
He must not be normal in his attention span because he he has been motionless for two bow kills with me at less than 15 yards. I do thank you for your replies you have brought up some good points for me to ponder.

[HoundDog55]

My opinion- (and I speak from experience). Take the boy with you. I would get him involved in a little calling where he feels like he is doing something. I would not let him shoot this year. I have had my son hunting along side me since he was five also. Mostly quail and squirrell hunting when he was that age.  He now is almost 13 and is more experienced with firearms and being in the fields and woods than a lot of grownups I know. He has asked for nothing but hunting and fishing gear for birthdays and Christmas since he was seven. I have seen too many of my friends and co-workers boys that sit at home playing those dang computer games and never take anything else up. I would rather have an in house hunting partner and a good one at that. Sorry for the long reply but this is a subject that I feel strongly about. I have been hunting one time in the last 3 years without my son. (grades and a grounding) he is active in school and  in football and baseball but his heart is in the woods and that is just fine by me.

[luckydawg13]

yes i would bring him i would let him use a push pull call  a redrider BB gun l let my boy shoot his 20ga when he was 9yrs winlite loads like real lite trap loads dont wont him to hate a sport i love