We should definitely encourage our future to get into the adventure of bowhunting. My family is no different; myself, my sister and brother all started young. However, I did run into some issues on selecting equipment that I think all fathers/mothers/teachers could learn from when selecting a bowhunting setup for their young hunter.
First and foremost we need a bow! There are many youth bows on the market and choices may be tough. The utmost importance should be to whether or not the youth hunter can shoot the bow accurately. In such a case, I would be recommended to select a bow that has a deflex or at most very little reflex in the riser. I personally like the Browning Micro Midas and at most reflex, the Mathews Ultra Max (if you don’t mind the cost) as examples. The less reflex, the less possible chance for the inexperienced shooter to torque the handle. Nothing would be more discouraging to a youngster than missing a lot, so select a shooter friendly bow for them. I cannot stress this point enough because I have seen too many times where mentors get too caught up with technology that their student cannot handle just yet.
Now that we’ve selected a bow; how much draw weight should we use? I’m from the thinking that there’s no substitute for heavy draw weight, however most youths have not yet developed these muscles to shoot. In that case, stick with the local laws on draw weight and have them shoot a weight that they can shoot comfortably all day. They’ll need the practice and in the meantime it should develop their muscles to increase the poundage steadily. Keep in mind that you ultimately will have to penetrate the animal to make a clean kill. Wounding an animal and having it not recovered as a result will definitely be discouraging to your youth hunter who has worked so hard to get that shot so save the hassle and work toward as high a poundage as comfortable.
On the note of wounding game, I would like to state an observation I made during a few years of the PuuWaaWaa youth bowhunt. I saw a few youth hunters setup with the latest carbon arrows and mechanical broadheads and I heard a lot of discouraging stories as many animals ran away after being shot. With that correlation, I would like to recommend that the youth setup stay away from carbon arrows and mechanical broadheads. First because it will save you the money and second because it simply does not work; let me explain. Most youth hunters are not pulling over 45lbs. and light arrows, although giving speed, does not give penetration. Carbon arrows are fine for adults pulling the weight and screaming those arrows downrange, but with lower draw weights, the speed does not compensate for the lack of arrow mass. Also, mechanical broadheads require energy to open the blades. Where is it going to get this energy? From the arrow of course and with the lower energies of youth hunter arrows, it would be detrimental to squander energy for a mechanical broadhead. I would suggest, for youths pulling under 50 lbs, to use aluminum arrows and fixed blade broadheads. 1816,1913,1916 shaft sizes are excellent choices for example. My younger brother, who was using a Browning Micro Midas set at 35lbs. found no difficulty having pass-throughs on goats. Yes, the arrow will drop faster and the pin gap will be larger, but would you rather have a large pin gap or a dream animal running away with your youth hunter’s arrow? Were talking about youth hunters here, so make sure they get their shot game and use heavier arrows to avoid any penetration problems. I have also had personal experience in using carbon arrows and light aluminum arrows with youth hunters and to make a long story short – we wounded a few and recovered none. You owe it to the animal you hunt to make a clean kill and you probably owe more to the youth that you take hunting to make it a positive experience. I cannot stress this idea enough because it seems that so many father/teachers go with light fast arrows for their sons/daughters/students and it simply does not work with Hawaii game animals!
The rest of the setup as far a sights, stabilizer, and silencing are of no real importance and just on a personal preference basis. However, I would recommend safety first at all times! Which brings me to saying that I recommend that you place the quiver on the bow and not separate (ie. on the hip). The hunter could fall on a hip mounted quiver and have nice broadhead cuts or aluminum skewers. Believe me, those arrows are a lot stiffer that you think and your youth hunter may be more clumsy, so put the quiver on the bow so that the body is far from the arrows in times of catastrophe.
I hope this post helps clear up some questions about setting up your youth with a bowhunting setup or maybe inspired you to teach a youth the great adventure of bowhunting. You owe it to your teacher to teach another, so get out there and have fun and always SAFETY FIRST.