Hello from Chattanooga, TN

[Guest nrgeek]

Hey all ... buying my first gun , my grandfather took me hunting as a kid in WV, mainly squirrel, I never owned a gun, always just used one of his.. I more of a fisherman, but last few yrs my son now age 9 has been bugging me about taking him hunting.. I moved to Chattanooga 22 yrs ago .. I love WV .. but TN is home .. Ive now lived here longer than I lived there. Any way he hears all the other kids at school talk about hunting .. and he is a very good shot with bow and pellet gun.. I told him if he takes the hunter safety course I will take him, he is in cub scouts as well, and will be a boy scout in a few yrs .. so the more he can learn about the woods and guns the better off he will be.

I had to do some research on where to take him hunting in the area that is public.. when I was a kid we could hunt pretty much where ever we wanted to .. now its tough to find a place that isn't posted.

Im going to teach him with a muzzleloader, and bow if he can take game with these he can take it with any gun.

[Timestepper]

Greetings fellow newbie!

Having a background in muzzleloading (4-H muzzleloading instructor, living historian, experimental archeology) myself, I doubt there's a better way for him to learn. Just start him with a smaller caliber (.32 or .36) and he'll do just fine. I'm sure you'll do fine by yourself, but if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a line and I'll help in whatever way I can.

(BTW, I'm just an hour or two up the road from you, just above Knoxville.)

...Timestepper...

[Guest Chattanoogan]

Welcome to TGO!

[Guest pfries]

Welcome to TGO

Father/son(s) (daughters too in my case) time spent like that is a wonderful and enriching experience that lasts a life time. My oldest daughter 22 still reminisces about it with me, my oldest son19 asks and gets excited about the younger ones ventures with it (12,10 and 3).

Enjoy it you might find you do more than he does…

[mav]

Welcome.

[Guest nrgeek]

I just put a Knight American in layaway 50 cal was $69 buck at pawn shop, looked fairly clean, but Im gonna clean the crap out of it before I take him with me to shoot it. I know its a liitle big for him , but he aint your average 9 yr old lol .. he is 5'2 and weighs in at about 150 size 10 mens shoes. Im 6'3 and a big guy my self .. Im gonna let him shoot with bean bag rest and see how he does .. he wanted me to buy a AK47 lol .. he plays to many video games lol.. It may just scare the crap out of him .. but we will see. I dont have tons of money .. if this is too much for him .. will see if I can locate a 32 caliber on the cheap .. but he wants to shoot deer .. 32 caliber would be tough to take a deer with if not impossible

Hey all ... buying my first gun , my grandfather took me hunting as a kid in WV, mainly squirrel, I never owned a gun, always just used one of his.. I more of a fisherman, but last few yrs my son now age 9 has been bugging me about taking him hunting.. I moved to Chattanooga 22 yrs ago .. I love WV .. but TN is home .. Ive now lived here longer than I lived there. Any way he hears all the other kids at school talk about hunting .. and he is a very good shot with bow and pellet gun.. I told him if he takes the hunter safety course I will take him, he is in cub scouts as well, and will be a boy scout in a few yrs .. so the more he can learn about the woods and guns the better off he will be.

I had to do some research on where to take him hunting in the area that is public.. when I was a kid we could hunt pretty much where ever we wanted to .. now its tough to find a place that isn't posted.

Im going to teach him with a muzzleloader, and bow if he can take game with these he can take it with any gun.

[DWARREN123]

Howdy and Welcome to TGO

[Timestepper]

32 caliber would be tough to take a deer with if not impossible

Not to mention the .32 is too small to take deer with legally. BUT, the .32 IS a great squirrel gun and rabbit & squirrel hunting is a great way to introduce a youngster to the woods and hunting.

Luck to you! And like I said, if you have any questions feel free to give me a holler. I'll readily admit that I am strictly a traditionalist where muzzle loading is concerned and have virtually NO experience with modern inline smoke poles, but otherwise, I'll do my best to help you out.

[jtmaze]

Hello from West TN. Still have my first muzzleloader hanging over the fireplace at my parents house. .45 caliber Kentucky rifle reproduction. 12th birthday present. Hasn't been shot in years. This gun will be something special between you and your son.

[bvarnell]

Welcome aboard. Good to get some more Hamilton countians on the forum.

[Guest nj.piney]

welcome

[UncleJak]

Greetings!

[Guest capt usa]

Welcome to TGO. Let me give you an idea since you've already got your gun. I shoot a .50 cal with 3 of the 30 grain pellets. When my son was 8, I put 2 pellets in it and it still shot dead on at 50 yards so that's what I loaded for him. He took a nice doe that first afternoon with it. Best of luck to ya'.