Tips for Maximizing Youth Deer Hunting Success

I started taking my daughters deer hunting when they were 10 and 12 years old. Back then, it was relatively easy to find time to hit the woods. Fast forward a few years, and like all teenagers, their increasingly busy schedules can make finding time to hunt challenging. As a result, I’d like to share a few things we’ve learned to maximize our time and success in the stand.

First and foremost, if you plan to take kids deer hunting this season, make absolutely sure that you purchase youth tags. The 2020 youth season runs from 9/19-10/4, and if a hunter doesn’t harvest an animal during youth season, they can continue hunting with their unfilled tag during the early or late muzzleloader season or one of the two shotgun seasons. As a result, being sure to buy youth season licenses can extend deer season dramatically and provide invaluable scheduling flexibility. It’s important to note that party hunting with a youth tag is not allowed.

Choosing a firearm that is safe and comfortable to shoot is crucial to youth hunting success. A gun with too much recoil or muzzle blast can discourage kids from practicing and honing marksmanship; increasing the likelihood of missing or simply wounding animals in hunting situations.

The most common firearms choices for young hunters are shotguns and muzzleloaders. Both are effective and capable of harvesting whitetails. However, when my daughters started hunting I didn’t want them to be intimidated by the recoil of a shotgun or be forced to awkwardly handle my full sized muzzleloader. As a result, after much research I chose to purchase a less conventional single-shot .44 magnum as the girls’ deer hunting rifle.

For less than $400 I was able to buy a high quality CVA Hunter rifle combination with a mounted and bore-sighted scope. When loaded with Federal 240 grain jacketed hollow points, my girls consistently shoot 1-2 inch groups at 100 yards with the petite rifle. Recoil is very mild with a factory CrushZone recoil pad and monte carlo cheek piece absorbing the kick. Most importantly, my daughters love shooting the rifle, so much so that we often go through an entire box of ammo during practice sessions!

Ballistically, the .44 magnum cartridge is similar in trajectory to a standard shotgun slug, and for shots out to 125 yards, it is a welcome alternative. For longer shots the pistol caliber projectile rapidly sheds velocity and energy, and point of impact drops significantly. Consequently, if you expect longer shots on your hunts, you may want to carefully work up to an appropriate muzzleloader powder/bullet combination the young hunter can comfortably shoot well.

Defining a successful hunt with young hunters is vital before hitting the woods. Would it satisfy them shooting the first deer that presents an opportunity? Do they want to shoot a buck, or would a doe suffice? If they want to shoot a buck, would they be okay with a spike or basket rack? If not, are they willing to risk eating tag soup if they pass on smaller bucks? Setting expectations before you’re in the stand ensures everyone is on the same page and eliminates confusion when the moment of truth arrives.

Last and certainly not least, making the time to hunt may be the most critical tip for maximizing youth deer hunting success. My family is fortunate to live within a few miles of several productive areas, and when weather conditions cooperate, we take advantage of every opportunity to hit prime areas immediately after school.

During the season, I keep hunting essentials in the truck at all times so precious time isn’t wasted when the girls get home. The girls make sure their hunting clothes, coats, hats, and boots are always clean and ready to go. These preparations ensure that on days we want to hit the stand after school, we can be in the truck and heading to the farm within a few minutes. When their schedules conflict, I often pick my youngest daughter up from school and she simply changes clothes in the vehicle on the way to the farm. These strategies enable us to pack in several hunts during the week instead of solely depending on hunting over busy weekends.

The tips described in this article have maximized my daughters’ success in the field:
Making sure to purchase youth tags extends our season and enables us to hunt during shotgun or muzzleloader seasons. Due to volleyball and other conflicts, we’ve never had an opportunity to hunt during the actual youth season!

Selecting a mild recoiling rifle the girls can comfortably shoot, instead of a hard kicking shotgun or muzzleloader, helped them fill 6 out of 6 tags in 3 years without losing a deer. The .44 magnum devastated every deer hit in the vitals from 55 to 115 yards and even dropped 2 in their tracks. All other deer were within 100 yards.

Determining what kind of deer the girls want to shoot beforehand made it easy to select targets in the heat of the moment. During their first season, both girls shot the first buck they saw and since then have shot bigger bucks each subsequent year. Challenging each other to shoot larger deer has been fun for me to watch and has taught them how to be patient and calculating hunters. In addition, they’ve learned how being selective about what type of deer we harvest improves the overall quality of the local herd.

Making time during the week to go hunting provided my daughters the opportunity to harvest 3 out of 6 bucks without sacrificing a weekend. This flexibility also allowed us to hunt under ideal conditions vs. being totally dependent on unpredictable weekend weather.

Finding time to get youth hunters in the field can be challenging, especially as they get older. However, getting youth involved in hunting is critical to preserving these time-honored traditions. I hope these tips help you create more and better opportunities to hunt this fall and maximize your sons’ and daughters’ success.

by Joel Johnson

Home – Iowa Sportsman

September 2020

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Check out this article based on youth deer hunting – Youth Deer Hunting – A Father/Daughter Perspective – The Iowa Sportsman