Thread: Starting out slow... places for beginners

Great parenting Gruntzer, nice intro for your kids.....good onya Spook

They brought some nice toys with them



I like this one though...kak handed, right eyed using "normal" rifle...hitting everything he shoots at.



Always said those AR's were kiddie guns @Happy



Once again the kak handed, right eyed kid showing how it is done.

Originally Posted by Spook

Here you go
Attachment 30269

Does this bus go to the top of the mountain?

Originally Posted by Maca49

Does this bus go to the top of the mountain?

Only if you sing that kiddies song about the wheels going round and round...now lets see if you can get that song out of your head over the next hour or so.

Kak handed and right eye dominant. Damn talk about overcoming adversity

He started off kak handed, using his left eye as all his initial shooting was with iron sights, but later his accuracy dropped, and he later told me it was much easier using his right eye.
Some of the RO's at the local range said he should try and adapt his right hand, but that made him feel like he was no good, so made him a little sad...
Adding the 4x scope raised the line of sight, and he was back into it.
To me its all about enjoyement at this age, so did not want to turn him off.

Good on ya @Spook

Wadda ya mean Grant I've seen you and the boys on the 25 at NZDA river head range... let a lone the 50/100

Awesome what those boys do, and well managed and safe on the range too...
Let the young fella find his rhythm - he'll work round it no problem... just ask us cack handers!! The only thing they need to learn is ammo conservation LOL.
Maybe you can pay them their allowance in rounds Ha ha !!!

All the best and great you could make use of the great resource spook has there..

...it was one day on the 100m range, with one RO who actually was offering good advice, but Troy interpreted it wrong which made him think he was not doing it right... you know how kids are...
Thanks all!

Good on yah for getting the kids out.

I suspect you have already heard the following so feel free to ignore it.
Left handed, right eye dominant - Enjoyment at his age is important, and they can be quite competitive as well. Shooting left handed with his right eye will work ok at this age but as he gets older / bigger it will become harder to do with standard firearms and damn near impossible on clay targets with a shotgun. You can train your body out of the right eye dominance though or simply learn to shoot right handed.

Training to change eye dominance - this takes time, practice and technique.
Start with a full black eye patch - looks funny but effectively stops him using his right eye, forcing his brain to use the left. Use this for a while then shift on to shooting glasses with a sticker/patch of the right lens, in front of the right eye. This will give him back his peripheral vision but still force his brain to use the left eye. After some time of this he should be able to remove the glasses and the brain will focus through the left eye. Because he is not shooting the whole time he may find his right eye will still be dominant for everything but shooting - with training though he will be able to switch eyes seamlessly. This technique worked with a couple of competition shooters I know - it takes a long time and a lot of practice though. I would not recommend you train to simply shut the right eye.

Learning to shoot right handed is simply practice and technique.
Of course he will start off not shooting as well but he will get much better with practice.

Shooting is all about sight alignment and trigger control. It is not about holding the rifle steady - it is about having the patience and control to squeeze the trigger when the sight alignment is correct. Trigger control should be practiced to the point it is subconscious, so you want all your focus on sight alignment - not on trying to work out which eye to use.

You might find that he ends up being ambidexterous Grant. I had all sorts of the same issues as a kid except the other way round right eye left hand.

Had one of my teachers point out that they noticed me writing with my right hand(usually left handed) one day and it was near as neat as my left so they thought I was ambidextrous. Once I knew that was the case and embraced it it became pretty handy.

I can now kick off both feet, write with both hands. I still throw like a girl with my left hand though, never worked that out

Served me well throughout my boxing and kickboxing career being able to switch stances at will. Shoot a rifle righty, a bow lefty and can change eyes shot to shot with a handgun.

Get him to embrace his unique traits and they may well end up serving him very well

Originally Posted by grunzter

Hi all,
Hope I don’t get told to suck to many eggs for this, but here goes…

I would like some advice on a good location to get out doors and introduce my kids to hunting, or more to the point, shooting away from a range until they are ready for something on four legs… (they are ready for bunnies…)

Some background; they are 10 & 8 years old, seasonal tampers, however this year has been pretty well non-existent… and have spent all their shooting time on the local DS range shooting 22LR and 223 mostly. Both are safety conscious and enthusiastic.

I was planning on heading to the Tongariro National park, Kiamanawa’s or somewhere closer to home for a few nights, but just wanted to drive off a side road and walk into the bush for a few km’s and set up a tent.
Then spend the time looking for animals (but not shooting them unless it’s a bunny…partly because I would not know what to do with it if it was any bigger…) or finding nice safe clearings with embankments or whatever for some recreational shooting.

My youngest would like to take in his 22LR, but DOC don’t allow this small calibre without a small game licence, something I am investigating now.

And looking at the online maps it seems the public access land is the same as the open public hunting area...

Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated.
…we don’t really want to get in the way of the more serious recreational hunter, especially if we end up making a lot of noise!

Cheers in advance, Grant, Ethan & Troy.
(Auckland)

Hi Grunzter, I have a bit of land in the B O P that you could go and camp on. It has a few small mobs of goats, rabbits, possums the odd deer.

It may be a bit far for you but I will be going over in the next couple of weeks and I will check out the game supply.

The company that are going to mill it have begun to put in the roading so I will see how that has affected them.

Thanks Gillie & Nick on the eye left handed thing, i will keep this in mind and start warming him to the idea, it must be easier to start young!
@Scribe, this sounds great, i will never say no to an offer, I'm BOP born (Rotorua)... still need to head up north to take up Moonhunts offer

When i know when i am allowed out next i will make contact and get the ball rolling, kids want to spend more time with their new friends from Spooks place as well...
This has been a fantastic site and appreciate all the feedback and help!!!
Grant

where is this hut?? ive been trying to find it for ages mate. i know Kaimais but thats all i know lol. what is it called?

Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

where is this hut?? ive been trying to find it for ages mate. i know Kaimais but thats all i know lol. what is it called?

It's Spooks bus. He lives at the bottom of Thompsons Track. good old bugger and knows the Kaimais better than most around here.
I don't think he has been on this forum for a long time though however someone would have his number.