Archery Lessons for a 3 Year Old

A couple of months ago I ventured out to Hamburg Game Association for my first 3D Archery Shoot in years. I wound up having a great time and was invited out to their weekly 15 Target 3D Shoot on Thursday Nights. I didn’t have a baby-sitter so I wound up bringing my daughter the following week.

We both had a great time. I spent time with my daughter and shot my bow, she got to hang out with her Dad and help me hunt for animals. As we were leaving, she asked if I could teach her how to shoot a bow. I got excited at the thought and immediately started looking for a bow that she could manage.

I was having some trouble finding something to fit my daughter and turned to the Archery Talk Forums for advice. In addition to some great youth bow suggestions, one very generous person sent me his daughter’s old bow. His daughter was about 3 when she started and had long outgrown the bow, it would be a great fit for my little girl.

I have since got my daughter all set up to shoot but we’ve run into a little snag. Hamburg Game Association has finished up their archery program for the year and I didn’t know how I was going to get my daughter shooting. I mentioned this on Facebook and got a great recommendation to create my own walking course in my yard. I could print out targets and post them around for my daughter to shoot.

I tracked down a couple of deer targets online, scaled them up to fit on 24×36 plotter paper, and printed them out at work. I used a couple of pistol target stands to hang the target. With my daughter shooting such a light bow, the paper alone would be enough to slow down the arrow.

We spent a little time shooting today and my daughter had a great time. I only went with one target this time but I can see this turning into a full blown archery course in the coming weeks. It is a bit premature but I’m already looking into a more substantial bow for my daughter just as soon as she is big enough to handle it.