I’ve raised 7 hunters. 4 girls and 3 boys. First granddaughter just arrived...grin!!
My oldest boy killed his first doe the day before he turned 5. Most everyone else started close to the same age.
We started with BB guns - my youngest son cut his teeth shooting red wasps down by the stock tank when they’d come to water. He started earholing them to up the challenge, and we’ve all seen him hit them in the air with a little daisy. The kid can shoot.
He, and all the rest started with 4 power scopes on .22’s and worked up to .223’s.
They’ve literally killed hundreds of deer among them with .223’s running 55, 62 and 70 grain Barnes TSX’s, and quite a few 60g Partitions.
We drill shoulders and have stopped all of 2 bullets over the years and they’ve never lost a deer shooting .223’s. Central TX and some big south Texas Whitetail included. Mostly does, spikes and quite a few mature bucks - culls and trophy deer.
The only really bad shots came as we moved up to larger cartridges, although we did have a couple of follow up/tracking jobs on longer shots that were slightly back with .223’s - one because of wind, one a deflection off brush, and one from good ole buck fever - but we found them all.
I love the 7-08 - my go to for years. I’ve also got a couple of 6.5’s I really like.
However, I wouldn’t let a young (or even older) first time hunter use either if I had access to a .223 that shot TSX’s of any weight well and my shots were under 200 yards.
There’s no substitute for the confidence gained with years shooting .223’s with premium Bullets.
Whatever you use - protect their ears at all costs. That’s what will make them flinch.
Go with the best bullet and lowest recoil combination that makes sense. I like the fast .223 with a premium bullet at reasonable ranges. No recoil and good results come easy.
Best of success to you, and may God bless the time you spend hunting with kids.
DJ
