24 BOWHUNTER /// SEPTEMBER 2019
For any type of traditional equip-
ment, including youth bows, arrows,
targets, etc., for any age, I advise check-
ing out 3Rivers Archery (3RiversA-
rchery.com), or talking to someone who
has experience with youth equipment.
It should be inexpensive, and it doesn’t
take much gear to get kids going.
One question I get a lot is at what age
should you start a kid out in archery?
That is a tough one, and every child is
different, so that is a decision best left
for parents or guardians to make. That
said, I personally would say five or six
years old, although I’m guilty of putting
bows in the hands of children much
younger than that.
If you’re serious about wanting to get
your kids (or someone else’s children)
hooked on archery, then starting them
out with traditional bows is your best
bet. Not to bash compounds, because
I think they’re certainly a great option,
but the fact is a recurve or longbow is
easier, has fewer working parts, and usu-
ally requires less instruction. Let kids
develop a passion for flinging arrows.
They’ll always remember it, and even if
they grow up and try all sorts of other
things, odds are they will eventually
come back to where they started.
My next column is about how to
introduce kids to hunting. My goal is
to help other parents and mentors with
what I’ve learned. I will share what I
did right, as well as what I did wrong.
The reason I feel qualified to write
both this article and my next column
is because my archery experience in-cludes working at the pro shop at Bear
Archery, as well as two other archery
shops, and even managing one of those.
I have taught kids’ archery classes,
and besides my own, I have intro-
duced a lot of children to both archery
and hunting.TRADITIONAL WAY
For more information, visit fredeichler.com, and
don’t miss Fred’s new show, “Everything Eichler,”
every Sunday at 12:30 P.M. on Sportsman Channel.The key to getting kids excited
about shooting a bow is to keep
things simple and fun.