Youth elk rifle?

[Bowmannate2000]

Anyone have experience with the Sauer? Looks like a good deal, but I've never shot one.

https://www.eurooptic.com/sauer-100-classic-xt-65-creedmoor-22-1-87-1-2-x28-bbl-rifle-s1s65ct

 

[Wild Bill]

Anyone have experience with the Sauer? Looks like a good deal, but I've never shot one.

https://www.eurooptic.com/sauer-100-classic-xt-65-creedmoor-22-1-87-1-2-x28-bbl-rifle-s1s65ct

Guy I work with wheels and deals guns pretty frequently and he liked his first Sauer rifle so much he bought a second the same week. He’s had nothing but good things to say about them. That looks like a hell of a deal.

 

[kbhillhunter]

Gun.deals - search for any model here and you'll almost always find the lowest price. Gen 1 Ruger Americans going for $350-$450. Throw a trijicon huron 3-9x40 on top and you're set.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

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.

 

[SFC B]

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.

 

[OregonHunter4]

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?

 

[Irrelevant]

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.

 

[Chingon]

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.

 

[OregonHunter4]

Vanguard® Synthetic Compact – Weatherby, Inc.

weatherby.com

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.

 

[OregonHunter4]

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.

 

[brymoore]

My kids wore REI/military surplus type gear. They grew too quick to spend too much money on cloths.

It rained two hours on us after the above pic packing out the deer. We survived.

 

[OregonHunter4]

View attachment 416272
My kids wore REI/military surplus type gear. They grew too quick to spend too much money on cloths.

It rained two hours on us after the above pic packing out the deer. We survived.

Awesome pic — and that’s exactly the kind of situation that makes “why spend a lot on gear they’ll outgrow” hard to argue with. Would a trade-in credit when they size up change that calculus for you, or is REI/surplus just the right call either way?

 

[brymoore]

Awesome pic — and that’s exactly the kind of situation that makes “why spend a lot on gear they’ll outgrow” hard to argue with. Would a trade-in credit when they size up change that calculus for you, or is REI/surplus just the right call either way?

My kids were hard on gear. If it survived the first kid, it was used by second kid. I’m not sure I would have used a return for credit program.

 

[OregonHunter4]

My kids were hard on gear. If it survived the first kid, it was used by second kid. I’m not sure I would have used a return for credit program.

Appreciate you weighing in — that’s a good point, hand-me-downs between kids is basically a built-in trade-in program already, no shipping required. Good to know that’s a real alternative I’m up against, not just secondhand from strangers.

Thanks for your insight. Good luck out there

 

[Wind Gypsy]

My girls are little still but the older one is going into nature based preschool where she’ll spend the majority of her time learning outdoors (even in MN winter). In trying to outfit her for those conditions it seems like there’s technical enough gear for kids to get outdoors in cold/wind/rain. Doesn’t need to be designer camo to work well.

 

[Jnasa]

@OregonHunter4 I would suggest starting a new thread. You've sorta hijacked this one and taken it another direction. Not saying what you are asking is bad just more appropriate to start your own thread.

 

[OregonHunter4]

Good point — functional gear matters way more than the camo. Appreciate you sharing, good luck with the nature preschool this winter.

 

[OregonHunter4]

@OregonHunter4 I would suggest starting a new thread. You've sorta hijacked this one and taken it another direction. Not saying what you are asking is bad just more appropriate to start your own thread.

I just joined and couldn’t start my own thread. I will stop replying to this chain. I apologize. It wasn’t my intent to overtake this.

 

[Irrelevant]

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.

Maybe, depends on the details. Used clothes are really cheap