Youth elk rifle?

I’d grab a tikka another 243 or 6.5 creed. Depending on how old your daughter is and how she handles recoil a 7mm-08 might still be a little sporty for her if not suppressed. Backfire recoil pads work really well

This.

RAR with the LOP adjustment does seem like another nice option.

I've heard good things about those Sauers for the $ but the LOP is 14"+ from the factory IIRC.
 
Last edited:
Getting a set up with decent glass at that price, all in is going to be tough for new stuff. The closest would probably be Savage Axis II (450), Weatherby Vanguard (550) or Ruger Am II (599), rail and rings (+-80) and then your pick of the best of Sig/Burris/Vortex/Leupold ( at that price point all of them will be Chinese or Filipino) you can afford. I would suggest looking for decent used deals. I know when we buy used stuff the optics don't really add much to what we pay or charge due to the widely varied opinions so you can find some pretty good combos. I am working tonight so I will check the used rack to see what we have in currently....for reference if nothing else.
Didn't see anything that would hit in your wheel house. A couple of decent deals but were on larger caliber rifles.
 
My daughter has a Tikka 243. My son will also be hunting this fall. I'll need another youth rifle. I'm thinking my daughter will be ready to bump up (slightly). And my son can take over the 243. I'm looking really hard at a 7mm-08. There's obviously a lot of other options. My budget is under $1k with optics. Thoughts or suggestions?
Ive been searching on HuntTalk for a while and finally decided to make an account. I wanted to actually ask instead of guess. I run a business in the outdoor/forestry space in Oregon, and I'm looking seriously at whether there's room for a real youth hunting gear line — actual technical stuff (good insulation, real waterproofing, boots built for a kid's foot) instead of sized-down adult gear or the cheap stuff at the big box stores.


Before I go further I want to hear from people actually dealing with this, not just assume I know the problem. If you've got a kid hunting:


  • What have you actually bought them, and what drove you nuts about it? (fit, warmth, price, availability, whatever)
  • Ever sized down adult Sitka/Kuiu/First Lite/etc. for an older kid? How'd that go?
  • What's your ceiling on price for one piece — a jackets, pants, base layers, boots etc — that actually performs?
  • Would you ever ship gear back for store credit once your kid outgrows it, or is that more hassle than it's worth to you?
 
Ive been searching on HuntTalk for a while and finally decided to make an account. I wanted to actually ask instead of guess. I run a business in the outdoor/forestry space in Oregon, and I'm looking seriously at whether there's room for a real youth hunting gear line — actual technical stuff (good insulation, real waterproofing, boots built for a kid's foot) instead of sized-down adult gear or the cheap stuff at the big box stores.


Before I go further I want to hear from people actually dealing with this, not just assume I know the problem. If you've got a kid hunting:


  • What have you actually bought them, and what drove you nuts about it? (fit, warmth, price, availability, whatever)
  • Ever sized down adult Sitka/Kuiu/First Lite/etc. for an older kid? How'd that go?
  • What's your ceiling on price for one piece — a jackets, pants, base layers, boots etc — that actually performs?
  • Would you ever ship gear back for store credit once your kid outgrows it, or is that more hassle than it's worth to you?
I've never had much of a problem with kids clothing. Plus I'm cheap. They rock almost exclusively used outdoor/mountaineering-esk gear I pick up from eBay or Goodwill. If you don't coddle them they're actually way tougher than we are.
 
Ive been searching on HuntTalk for a while and finally decided to make an account. I wanted to actually ask instead of guess. I run a business in the outdoor/forestry space in Oregon, and I'm looking seriously at whether there's room for a real youth hunting gear line — actual technical stuff (good insulation, real waterproofing, boots built for a kid's foot) instead of sized-down adult gear or the cheap stuff at the big box stores.


Before I go further I want to hear from people actually dealing with this, not just assume I know the problem. If you've got a kid hunting:


  • What have you actually bought them, and what drove you nuts about it? (fit, warmth, price, availability, whatever)
  • Ever sized down adult Sitka/Kuiu/First Lite/etc. for an older kid? How'd that go?
  • What's your ceiling on price for one piece — a jackets, pants, base layers, boots etc — that actually performs?
  • Would you ever ship gear back for store credit once your kid outgrows it, or is that more hassle than it's worth to you?
I sort of disagree with the previous post - my boys weren't coddled, but just don't really like tough, cold, wet conditions. I pushed them a bit too hard in bitter cold and I think it ruined it for one of them. For that reason, I stopped worrying about super technical bombproof gear for the kids. Cheap walmart gear is where it's at. If the weather is brutal we're not going to be out there grinding it out.

Just my 2 cents.
 

We settled on the 7mm-08 and topped it with a Leupold VX2 from @schmalts. A huge hit in my house!

View attachment 402914
Ive been searching on rokslide for a while and finally decided to make an account. I wanted to actually ask instead of guess. I run a business in the outdoor/forestry space in Oregon, and I'm looking seriously at whether there's room for a real youth hunting gear line — actual technical stuff (good insulation, real waterproofing, boots built for a kid's foot) instead of sized-down adult gear or the cheap stuff at the big box stores.


Before I go further I want to hear from people actually dealing with this, not just assume I know the problem. If you've got a kid hunting:


  • What have you actually bought them, and what drove you nuts about it? (fit, warmth, price, availability, whatever)
  • Ever sized down adult Sitka/Kuiu/First Lite/etc. for an older kid? How'd that go?
  • What's your ceiling on price for one piece — a jackets, pants, base layers, boots etc — that actually performs?
  • Would you ever ship gear back for store credit once your kid outgrows it, or is that more hassle than it's worth to you?

I've never had much of a problem with kids clothing. Plus I'm cheap. They rock almost exclusively used outdoor/mountaineering-esk gear I pick up from eBay or Goodwill. If you don't coddle them they're actually way tougher than we are.
Ha, fair — no argument there. Curious though: would something like store credit when they outgrow a piece change how you think about buying new vs. secondhand? Or is thrift/eBay just the better deal no matter what? Store credit being some sort of trade in value to get a different size as they grow.
 
I sort of disagree with the previous post - my boys weren't coddled, but just don't really like tough, cold, wet conditions. I pushed them a bit too hard in bitter cold and I think it ruined it for one of them. For that reason, I stopped worrying about super technical bombproof gear for the kids. Cheap walmart gear is where it's at. If the weather is brutal we're not going to be out there grinding it out.

Just my 2 cents.
Appreciate you sharing that — sounds like a real lesson learned, and I think a lot of parents probably land there eventually. Good reminder that the “gear problem” isn’t the only variable; how hard you push matters as much as what they’re wearing.
 
Back
Top