The American Beagler Forum

I guess what I should have said ...is at what age were you allowed to fire a gun. Whether it was a .22 or small cal. shotgun. I'm talking about doing some target practice with adult supervision ONLY. Not actually going out and carrying a weapon on your own or shooting at animals. We've had some discussion here at our house and was curious what alot of you were allowed to do and at what age.

8 yrs old i was took out inback yard and taught no to point gun at anything thati didnt know what it was and to carry it on my shoulder and keep the barrel pointed up and then shot a few pine cones out of tree right before we went dove hunting had to sit with cousin but got to shoot that single barrel 12 gauge stevens all by my self it kicked like a mule but i wanted to hunt like all my family member so i didnt let anyone know it hurt and my shoulder was black and blue i shoot bb gun at 6 im 41 now and never had a hunting accident THANK GOD

I started shooting a bow at age 4 but never had a bow kill until i was 16 guess i wasnt that good. i got my hunting license at age 8 guess i was around 6 or 7 when i fired a gun. first beagle came when i was 15

dad gave me my first 22 rifle at 8yrs old started rabbit hunting with my uncle and brothers at 9 by 13 i was squirrel and rabbit hunting on my on been hooked ever sence.

started shooting in the back yard at 5 and started hunting at around age 8. I started my son shooting at age 5 and he has been hunting ever since

I got my first shotgun at age 7. It was a single barrel 410 Revelation. First gun I ever shot was a .22 rifle at either age 5 or 6.

I was at most 5yrs old when taught firearm safety and got to shoot a .22 single shot, among other things. I had older brothers, so I got to shoot alot!. I didn't get to go along on real hunts until I was probably 8 or 9. I was allowed to run dogs with the big boys forever. By the time I was 11 or 12 I was allowed to take the .22 into the woods myself. Thinking back, that was not such a good idea

Hunted with blow gun, hatchet and homemade flip at 4-5 and fished and frog gigged with spear. Poisoned and trapped fish and game at 5-6.
I remember feeling pretty proud to see my mother cooking what I brought home.

It's alot different nowadays. I was brush hogging on an old Ford 9N when I was 9 and also squirrel hunting by myself at the same age. Also, sitting on the back of a tobacco planter and driving the hay wagon. The only thing I worried about at that age was what the Reds were doing and if I was going to pitch or play shortstop that day.
My dad and I have a laugh over it now that I'm in my thirties but, we both agree that that is way to young to go out by myself hunting unsupervised. BB guns taught me an awfull lot about how to handle guns. I more than once messed up with the BB gun!
I shot my biggest buck ever with a Jennings 45lb bow at age 14. Started shooting a bow when I could draw a Bear Whitetail. I had to work 2 weeks cutting fire wood for the Jennings. Kids are just not up to the tasks nowadays. You show me one that is, and he has a job straight out of High School making good money!
The human brain does not develop enough problem solving skills until 12 years of age. After fully realizing the predicaments I was in during my first unsupervised hunts, I would say 12-13 is what I would go with but it in this situation, it depends on the kid. I was pretty much a loner farm kid, as my dad ran a feed mill and my mom was running a soil and water conservation district. I had 2 beagles, 99 acres and a 1-1/2 acre pond at my disposal. I didn't have a computer or Nintendo, all I did was feed horses, pigs and cows. My favorite days were when everyone gathered to plant tobacco. After being around kids now, I think it should be the atleast legal draft age!

I started shooting when i was 7 and got my first hunting license when I was 8.Hunted beside my dad for 2 years and then was able to hunt on our farm by myself after school.My son turns 5 in October and is getting a 22 for him to start shooting in the back yard.

I got my first gun when I was 10... Single Shot 20GA. but I had a BB gun when I was 7 or 8...Im 14 now and ive shot assult rifles (AK-47) the whole 9 yards!


Jr.

4yr's old i got a ruger 10/22 and was shooting it in no time at all with my dad helping me out. When i was 7 for my birthday i got a red ryder BB gun and started shooting targets in my basement. I started shooting shotguns single shot 16ga around 9yr's old at clay pigeons. I was hooked the day i shot that .22. I was out hunting when i first learned to walk my dad would take me out for walk on a backpack just so i could see the woods and the animal tracks. Got our first beagle when i was 10 and i've been hooked ever since. I spend as much time in the woods as i can with my dogs. Studying tracks deer trails the foods that are out and what the animals are eating. Hunting keeps me out of trouble and my parents don't have to worry about where im at.

Im 15 now and up to 3 dogs, with more to come later on down the road. With 2 of them being from Red Briar Kennels. And my first one which was given to my brother for a christmas present which he gave to me when he lost intrest.

i was about six was given a .22 and shot at some cans hit all of them and then was given a varmint gun and was shotting plates at 300yards and been shoting every given chance made a good living at it for sometime

I went with my dad quail hunting in 1946-48 (I was born in 1940). I walked till I give out and he would make a circle, and come back by and then I would make another circle with him. I really loved watching his two pointers work and retrieve. He gave me my first gun, that I still have in 1949. It was a winchester single shot 16 ga. semi hammerless. We watched urban flight take away all our hunting areas in the fifties and sixties, so I went to rabbit hunting with beagles. We didn't need as much acreage to rabbit hunt as we did to bird hunt. It nearly broke my dads heart when I quit bird hunting and started chasin rabbits. However he decided that beagles weren't 2nd class dogs after all. So he sold his birddogs and started rabbit hunting with me till he became disabled. After that I would use a battery powered tape recorder and get the hounds running on tape and he seemed to enjoy listening to hound music a lot. I really wish he could have seen video cameras, he would have loved watching the hounds run on T V.

MY DAD WAS A COP, SO WE MY SISTER AND I WERE TRAINED EARLY.
STARTED AT AGE 3 WITH AN OLD SINGLE ACTION LEVER DAISY BB GUN ON THE TARGETS. AND THE DO'S AND DON'T OF GUN HANDLING.
MY FIRST SHOT GUN WAS AN OLD REVELATION 410 SINGLE SHOT AT AGE 7. AND I PASSED IT ON TO MY SON, AS HIS FIRST, AT AGE 9. NOW I KEEP IT BEHIND THE SEAT OF MY TRUCK AS A SPARE!!!

JAMES DAVIS
YELLOW MT. KENNELS