Keeping them intrested?????

[buck1]

For me guns came natural. DaD WAS A SHOOTER and granddad was too. I was loading my ammo by age 10 and knew more about guns reloading and hunting than most folks i had met thanks to my dad. BUT today video games seem to have trhe upper hand with the younger generation. Not all of them but lots of them including my boys.
I need advice on how to keep shooting fun for them. I have started saving plastic bottles to take to the range filled with water but that only goes so far. I know i am not alone with this delema. What have you guys done to help hold their intrest and break the chain on the video games a bit.
Thanks much....Buck

[jsizemore]

Hunter rifle or pistol silhouette. There's also air rifle and pistol silhouette for limited space and range time.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Try some balloons. I can keep my granddaughter's attention that way. or something that spins or makes noise. On video games, I put a time limit on them. I figure that they are kids and have to learn when it's time to play and when it's time to learn.

[sundog]

Buck, reactive targets are much the rage for a lot of folks now a days, along with high ammo consumption. Certainly not the way I was taught so many years ago. Be creative with your targets, award more ammo for best target or most hits. Teach them how to reload, cast. Find out if anyof their friends' dads are shooters and have group shoots. Take them to a turkey shoot, and let THEM shoot.

Fortunately, I have a range behind the barn, and we occasionally have a 'family shoot'. Burns up a lot of ammo!

[sundog]

Thought of something else. Show them all the guns and let THEM pick out the ones they like best and then work with them on that gun.

[starmac]

You probably won't like this answer, but I didn't allow video games, or even regular tv in the house. It actually kept them interested in other useful things too.

[runfiverun]

no video games here either.
maybe thats why little girls g.p.a has been 4.0 for the last 4 years.
the one consolation however is that vid games help with hand- eye coordination.
but so does texting..

[btroj]

My 18 year old daughter still enjoys shooting. Sometimes. She did go hunting with me when she was younger but between school and sports she ran out of time.
I would say keep it fun and don't force it. They are people with wants and desires of their own. If you force something on them they may rebel and learn to hate that activity rather than love it.
I wasn't ierested in the same things my parents were but they let me go my own way. I think I turned out just fine.

[P.K.]

No good answers here really. If they don't have an intrest it's because they think it's easier to enjoy video games that to actually put a little "work" into having fun.

I don't think the young'uns will have them but I can't comment for a 4 y/o and a 11 m/o yet. What I can do is limit time on them and stand firm about it. They may just be interested in what you are doing rather than doing "boring" things like reading a book.

And no I don't think reading is boring, I need to get ahold Amazon to see about fixing my Kindle. ;-)

[Doughty]

buck1,
There were some things my boys HAD to learn. How to swim, ride a bike, build a fire, safely handle a gun, and cook food. They all had to pass Hunter Education class. After that if they wanted to do these things more then they could, but didn't have to. I made it a rule for me, that if any of them wanted to see, handle or shoot any of the many guns I had around the house, that I would stop what ever I was doing, and help them "scratch their itch." This also went for any of their friends who might be at our place. However, I let them know with absolute certainy, that if they tried to do so without my permission, they would be in a world of hurt. Of the 3 boys, only 1 took up shooting and hunting as a hobby, but the other 2 know how if they have to.

You have to let them have room to be themselves, but be ready to feed their interest if they show one. The one son is a soldier in Afghanistan today. His son Sam and I were going on a sledding trip today when half way up the mountain he said he wanted to shoot a gun. Guess what we did?

[shooterg]

Steel targets and exploding targets, mixed in with paper and learning fundamentals. Keep moving 'em farther back. When they beat you on a paper target for score or group, they get to pick the junk food on the way home.

[Blacksmith]

Reactive targets! Look at a Midway catalog for any that move. Or use some of the old time ones such as Necco Wafers, Ritz crackers, or Life Savers, the night critters will clean up after you.

Another suggestion is Minisniping. Read the original article by Peter Capstick under Articles on this web site.
http://www.minisniping.org/

Blacksmith

[Rokkit Syinss]

Cheap reactive target for close range smallbore, hang Lifesavers with string over a blank sheet of paper.

[Blammer]

if you have a couple of boys shooting or for that matter a couple of anyone shooting. make a game or so.

line up 5 targets at various distances give them 5 shots, see who gets the most. Reset targets go to the next person, keep REAL score, not just what you remember.

First do it sitting on a rest at the bench, then at the bench no rest, except elbows, etc....

make it progressively harder or different. Remind them being younger doesn't mean you can't be Better than your older siblings, or even dear old Dad!

if you make challenges, games and other entertainment you'll keep them going.

[WILCO]

[QUOTE=buck1;1498679] What have you guys done to help hold their intrest and break the chain on the video games a bit./QUOTE]

Some things I've shot at are the following:

A) Empty metal food cans.
B) Full cans of expired food.
C) Expired egg on a post.
D) Clay targets, when broke, shoot up the smaller pieces.
E) Golf ball on a tee.
F) Tic tac toe target : www.carlbarnes.com/airtictac.pdf

Was also thinking about a paper lunch bag filled with baby powder but haven't tried it yet.

[Harter66]

All of mine,mine, walked,hunted,cut fire wood,camped out,off roaded,skinned critters or at least participated from the time they could walk far enough to go along,so about 3 or 4 yo. Of the 4 only 1 is not carrying his load , I want to blame Iraqistan,1 doesn't hunt but lives for the "autopsy"the other 2 just can't seem to get both the time and resources in one basket on the same day but when it does come together the family days are golden.

The 2nd family of steps,hers,well he,12,likes to shoot ,she ,14, has aspirations of VMD so she's been around for the "autopsys" . Both seem to be intrested but,attention span is an issue w/ them.

I've used the "boys club" rules for all of it ,road trip means ice cream, morning shooting means lunch in town. We shoot clay pigeons and steel rail road slip plates in wood blocks and play the "see that spot over there next to the bush" game,as well as paper and trap (ours not the range kind).

[Ickisrulz]

Zombie targets??

http://zombieindustries.com/?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=zombies

[JJC]

Zombie targets??

http://zombieindustries.com/?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=zombies

I think my kids are going to get another present, thanks for the link, John

[buck1]

Great advice everyone! Thanks for your help....Buck

[canyon-ghost]

I had a neat Thanksgiving with that. My nephew is 12 and plays the video games constantly. I had his undivided attention when we handed him a Ruger flattop 44 Special! Seems a softer shooting big bore is for ALL the big boys, including the younger ones. I had 100 rounds with me and he shot all but about 15 of them. I told him I had more at home, so enjoy. He made an outing of it.

You can hold their attention with bigger calibers.

[jonas302]

Kids sure love them pop bottles full of water we always take a walk after shooting clays to pick up pieces to shoot with the rifles

I had a best friends 9 year old over to shoot had a blast with all the bottles and empty cans on the range next day he shows up to help me cut firewood says he has to work off all the ammo he shot up I think that boy is going to turn out well even with his video games

[Bullwolf]

My friend brought his daughter over to my place, to introduce her to the joys of shooting. We were mostly were using 22 rim fires. We wanted her to have a positive experience, and a good time in general.

I have a steel gong set up outside that's a real kick to shoot handguns at. She really enjoyed hitting it with subsonic 22's, and she had a good time making it ring like a bell.

One of the biggest hits with her, surprisingly enough were little filled water balloons.

Of course you just haven't lived, if you have never shot a tin can with a 22 as a kid.

My favorite reactive target to date has to be old cans of expired food, coupled with high velocity ammunition. Messy, but fun.

I also save 1 gallon milk jugs from the recycle bin, fill em with water and shoot them. I have friends who do the same thing, just so they can bring them to my place to shoot as well.

Another favorite reactive target of mine are leftover pumpkins from the end of October.

For some reason I always seem to have an uneven ratio of shotgun shells, to clay pigeons. I guess it's like the package of hot dogs, and the package of buns each having a different count. Either way, a clay makes a fun reactive pistol target too.

I am not sure if they still are available, but those adhesive backed exploding targets that go boom when you hit the bulls-eye are a kick to shoot. Be warned though that they are also a pretty big fire hazard.
http://www.gadgetrivia.com/photos/o/31198-bullz_i_targets.jpg
We used to sell them at the gun range where I worked, but they caused so many small fires, it got old really fast, and was pretty expensive to constantly be re-filling the fire extinguishers.

They are a lot of fun to press onto a target board out in the desert, and you sure know when you have hit one. They will often set a perforated back board on fire, but if you are careful with them it is easy enough to put it out.

We had quite a few informal competitions between friends using them to see who would get the bulls-eye shot first, and make it go boom. Using shot capsules to do so was considered cheating!


- Bullwolf