My 9 year-old son has been wanting to get into hunting lately, I figure small game is most likely the best place to start. I've been deer hunting and pheasant hunting, but the 30-06 and 12g are a little too big for the boy yet, so I'm thinking squirrels and rabbits would be a good place for the boy to get started since he can shoot my .22lr all day long.
I've been digging through the MN DNR website looking at WMA's and such, but it really doesn't have enough detail on each one to help me decide where to go. Can someone recommend one within about an hour's drive from the NW metro area that has lots of dumb, slow squirrels and rabbits?
Don't know about the camo, but I do know you should stick to squirrels on the ground, at least at first. You always need to know where your shot will go if you miss, and with a .22 LR round, a 'blue sky shot' can travel more than a mile.
You could head north on 169 and hit Vietnam Veterans WMA and Mille Lacs WMA. Remember to take a compass - if the sun in obscured, you can get turned around pretty easy in areas like Mille Lacs.
You might do better for small game heading west and hitting a few of the smaller WMAs in farmland, rather than the forest ones up north.
In general, the WMAs close to the cities are hunted for rabbits and squirrels pretty thoroughly. Further west, most of the hunting is for pheasants and waterfowl, so some rabbits and squirrels might still exist this time of year.
I rarely wear camo for them. MN small game hunting requires at least one article of clothing above the waist be blaze orange now days.
I hunt in most WMA down here in the south east metro. They plainly mark those that are off limits to guns but guess I'd contact the game warden in your location and quiz him about legal spots to hunt.
I'm not sure if MN requires it, but he may need a hunter safety course. Typically the class has a Conservation officer come visit and the instructors are fairly up to date on public areas. There may be other parents there you can bounce ideas off of too. Even if it's not required, I'd say it's recommended. Sometimes information has a different perspective when it's not coming from a parent.
if the child is of pretty much average size, I'd probably go with a 20ga. .22's are great, but require a different skill set. a 20ga shotgun would be more forgiving possibly yeilding better results.
I have not found a dumb or slow rabbit or squirrell yet. Matter of fact, I think they are genetically getting smarter. Or I'm getting old and slower.
Yeah we've been to the stores and he's held all the "youth model" 20g guns. Still need another couple inches on those arms of his.
Pretty sure he is not yet required to take the course at his age, but you're right about it being a good idea anyway. No such thing as too much safety training and it hadn't occurred to me that I might make a connection or two at the class. Thanks for the suggestion!
