You are a hunter just like your father before you and his father before him. You take pride in that heritage, lifestyle, and culture, and now you are looking to get your young child started on that same path. You want them to grow up with that same love and appreciation of the outdoors that you did, and you're hoping your days can be spent enjoying the pursuit together. Many of us, myself included, have feelings and thoughts just like these. It is an admirable and traditional path to take, and one that can be infinitely rewarding and heartwarming. The trouble is, with your son or daughter still being quite small, you don't know exactly where to start. What kind of bow should they start on? How big is too big? When can they actually start to hunt? All of these questions are probably rolling around in your head (and under your old camo hat) right now. Don't worry, because we are all in this together. Let's get those questions answered, shall we?
Before you even think about them getting out into the woods for their first hunt, they'll need the proper practice, understanding, and ability - that should go without saying. Given the most likely young age demographic we are dealing with, if they have yet to shoot a bow at all - or maybe they are REALLY small and you are looking to get them started once they can walk - then going with a very low poundage, starter kit is a good place to begin. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. As long as it can teach them how to draw, hold, aim, and release, it will get the job done here. There are a bunch of just such bow kits - ones that include at the minimum arrows - that would be great here. Bows such as the Barnett Wildhawk G3 include arrows, a rest, adjustable sights, and an ambidextrous design for just such a shooter. Just get your kid used to the motion of drawing, aiming, and shooting for fun for a while before we start to get super serious.
The arrows that are included with this bow will work fine, but they probably won't penetrate any targets or fly very well. If you want to be able to have your child shoot alongside you and get consistent, repeatable flight, then try out these Easton Vectors. You will want to go with the 1400 spine option, as that will yield the best results with this starter bow. The feathers fletchings that come with these arrows will be easier to shoot and more forgiving as well.
If you're the kind of hunter that takes their toddlers in backpacks on their pre-season, high-country scouting trips, then your kid was probably already born with the ability to hunt elk with a bow - you can just stop reading now.
As for the other 99% of us that made it this far - the ones whose children do not frequent mountain peaks - it is time for the next step. Things are starting to get a little more serious, now. They might be growing bored of that Barnett at this point, or they might just be really strong and they want something with a little more 'oomph.' It is perfectly natural to want your arrows to fly faster and faster as you age (here's to you, elderly crossbow users), so what about getting your kid into a compound bow that resembles an actual hunting bow a bit more than that Barnett did? Something like the Bear Frontier RTS is a more 'serious' compound bow and it includes a three-pin sight, rest, quiver, and 2x arrows right out of the bow. It allows for twice the draw weight to be reached when compared to the first youth bow, and it can get back 6" more in draw length as well. You still won't be hunting with this bow, but it is much closer to what your kid's first hunting bow will end up looking like. The true practice begins now - with a new bow and hunting opportunities on the horizon.
When your child gets past the development stage that the previous bow occupies, then it might just be time for a bow finally capable of taking down game. This stage is also a great place to start for adults that are just looking into archery hunting, as well, as these bows are capable of extreme levels of adjustment and can grow with the archer. This stage is also the point where bows will require release aids to draw and shoot, and where you will have to start getting arrows independently of the bow kit - I will touch on that a bit later. The bows from this growth stage can generally produce draw weights in ranges such as 10-50lbs, just as a generalization. They also often come with D-loops and peep sights pre-installed, so you won't have to do much work on the bow with you or your archer being a beginner. The Bear Royale RTH and Diamond Radian are both compound bow packages that are capable of taking down game and include rests, sights, peep sights, d-loops, and quivers. These bows have draw length ranges from 12" to 27" and from 16.5" to 29.5" respectively. Between these two bows, you will encompass the greater majority of all archers draw lengths from childhood to adulthood - mine is 31.5" but that is a distant exception. Like I touched on a bit earlier, it is at this stage that you must curate your own arrows and start using a release aid. Here are a few important notes on each:
Your release aid is needed to ensure consistent, comfortable, and safe drawing/shooting of your compound bow. A few variations of release style exist, as you probably know, but the one that I would highly recommend for a beginner/child would be an index finger release. These come with straps that wrap around your wrist and ensure a drawing and shooting experience that is both safer and more intuitive. Good beginner options here would include releases such as the T.R.U. Ball Shooter and B3 Rival.
(If you are experienced and understand the concepts of building arrows, arrow spines, and spine charts, the you can jump to the next section. If not, read on). As far as arrows are concerned, you can't use youth 'out of the box' arrows with bows like the Bear and Diamond that I mentioned above like you were able to do before. Here, you will have to know your child's (or your own) arrow length (using draw length as a guide), draw weight, and the IBO speed of the bow you are shooting. Let's use the Diamond Radian as an example. If your child has a draw length of 25.5" and is pulling 42lbs, using the speed rating of 305FPS for the Radian, you can use the manufacturer spine chart to determine your arrow spine. This can vary based on how much weight is added to the front of the arrow (adding weight to either end of an arrow changes its dynamic spine), so for this example we will be using the Easton 6.5 Bowhunter fletched arrows. They include 23 grain aluminum inserts, and the vast majority of field points you will encounter are 100 grains. With these inserts and points taken into account, and the archer/bow specs mentioned, your child would need an arrow with a 500 spine rating based on Easton's arrow recommendation charts. As it would happen, those Easton arrows I linked to are a great budget option for beginner hunting arrows, though many great options here exist. I find that many enjoy the unique design of the Ted Nugent Signature Series arrows - and they aren't that expensive, either.
The big next step in every bowhunter's growth cycle is getting a bow capable of reaching that prestigious '70lb' draw weight that so much of the archery industry uses as a benchmark and testing point for compound bows. Sure, you could take that experience your child (or you) gained from their previous bow and jump right to a market flagship (Mathews ARC, Elite Varos, Hoyt Alpha), but what if you want something that will get the job done - and done well - but you still have a budget you're looking to stick to? What if you still want a bow that comes with the required accessories? Well, the PSE Brute ATK and Mission Switch are two such bows. Both are capable of reaching that 70lb draw weight. Both can reach to 30" of draw length. Both come with a quiver, rest, and sight. Both are comfortably below that $1400 area that most flagships sit at. Once you or your kid are comfortable with these, you can start to upgrade the accessories and have a fully built-out and unique setup. Bear Archery also famously has quite a few RTH (Ready To Hunt) bow packages out there in the intermediate price range - the most highly regarded of these being the Alaskan Pro.
After that, the world is you and your kid's oyster as far as bows and accessories are concerned. Having said that, there is still a lot more that goes into archery hunting than just the bow itself. Broadhead choice is a big one, and then of course you have your optics. I will go over a few introductory versions of each of these that would work great for young or inexperienced hunters.
As far as broadheads are concerned, unless you are shooting a high draw weight with a reasonably long draw length, you are going to want to steer clear of mechanical broadheads altogether. For all youth/small/entry-level hunters, you are going to want to stick with accurate fixed blades to maximize any potential lethality. Examples of these include the B3 Destrukt, the QAD Exodus, and the Grim Reaper Micro Hades. Each of these have a smaller overall profile, are based around a ferrule-first design, and have a track record of lethality across setups.
Moving to the 'hunting accessory' side of things, you'll need a pair of binos, a rangefinder, and a harness to carry them both. There is a WIDE range of each of these within the archery and broader hunting markets, but there are solid choices that beginner hunters would do well to utilize. The Terrain Mesa Deluxe has comfortable adjustment, a silent camo exterior, and enough space for your binos and rangefinder plus a little extra. The Vortex Triumph HD binoculars and rangefinder are fantastic budget options that will be more than enough for a beginner archery hunter.
Remember, if you have any questions at all, or ever wish to explore alternatives to what has been provided in this article, please do not hesitate to reach out to our dedicated product expert team here at Lancaster Archery Supply. We would be more than happy to help out with any issues or questions you may have.