AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
I promised my daughter that when she turned 7 and if she behaved herself, I'd start teaching her to shoot a .22 to start getting her ready for an elk/deer rifle for when she turns 10 (legal age for big game hunting in AZ). I have an old Mossberg 144LS that is absolutely dead-nuts accurate. Its an old military trainer with a bull barrel and a Lyman Peep Site. The stock is a little short on my, but I've used that rifle to hit bullfrogs barely sticking their heads out of water from 30-40 yards across stock tanks down here (its fun to get paid for that, too 
).
I had to re-zero my .30-06 after remounting the scope, so we got up early today and made the 90 minute drive down to the shooting range in north Phoenix. There are no shooting ranges up here (yet) and there is too much snow and its too cold to head out near the house. So after getting my rifle dialed back in, we put all of my stuff away and it became her morning. On the drive down, we discussed all of the safety rules for the range as well as reemphasizing shooting safety, in general. So when it was her turn, I walked through the rifle, aiming with the peep site, and had her dry fire a couple times to get used to everything. She was very ready and eager to punch holes in paper, so I loaded 1 round in the magazine and let her give it a go at 15 yards.
A little high and a little right, but very close. I loaded the magazine up with all 7 rounds and had her slowly work her way through it. By the time she was done and the 15-minute shooting session was done, she had started punching a hole in that bullseye! She was ecstatic to see her results up close and I was as proud as any dad could be.
At the end of the next 15-minute session, she had made a HUGE hole in the center and all I could think about was getting her after her first elk and deer. Of course the early morning wake up and hunger started getting to her so the shots started flying all over, but, needless to say, she can't wait to make that drive again and asked me if we could go back tomorrow. Unfortunately, I had to remind her of her dentist appointment in the morning or we'd probably head back down! Its hard to say no to that. In 2-3 years, you'll be seeing her first harvest photos on here! South Texas when she's 9 and has some time behind a large caliber rifle and here in AZ when she's 10. :way:
).I had to re-zero my .30-06 after remounting the scope, so we got up early today and made the 90 minute drive down to the shooting range in north Phoenix. There are no shooting ranges up here (yet) and there is too much snow and its too cold to head out near the house. So after getting my rifle dialed back in, we put all of my stuff away and it became her morning. On the drive down, we discussed all of the safety rules for the range as well as reemphasizing shooting safety, in general. So when it was her turn, I walked through the rifle, aiming with the peep site, and had her dry fire a couple times to get used to everything. She was very ready and eager to punch holes in paper, so I loaded 1 round in the magazine and let her give it a go at 15 yards.
A little high and a little right, but very close. I loaded the magazine up with all 7 rounds and had her slowly work her way through it. By the time she was done and the 15-minute shooting session was done, she had started punching a hole in that bullseye! She was ecstatic to see her results up close and I was as proud as any dad could be.
At the end of the next 15-minute session, she had made a HUGE hole in the center and all I could think about was getting her after her first elk and deer. Of course the early morning wake up and hunger started getting to her so the shots started flying all over, but, needless to say, she can't wait to make that drive again and asked me if we could go back tomorrow. Unfortunately, I had to remind her of her dentist appointment in the morning or we'd probably head back down! Its hard to say no to that. In 2-3 years, you'll be seeing her first harvest photos on here! South Texas when she's 9 and has some time behind a large caliber rifle and here in AZ when she's 10. :way:
