Mackenzie shooting

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cecil30-30

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Mackenzie turns 6 the 19th of this month, and I was hoping to get her to shoot her first deer this year. We have been practicing, with her scoped 22 cricket and her youth cz carbine in 223. For those that don't know, she is right handed but only has vision in her left eye. This seems to really hinder her shooting abilities, as I'm having her shoot left handed. Any ideas to help her learn to shoot better or do you just think practice is the only way? I her cz has a 2x7 redfield on it, I thought about taking it off and putting a eotech on it. Never heard of anyone hunting with one. Thoughts?

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Practice. Much more practice than you think. Think factor of 10....not kidding

When my right eye vision was blurred I tried to shoot lefty. Even purchased a single shot rifle just for this purpose.

What a joke. Couldn't hit a barn door. Been shooting SOMETHING since age 7 or 8 and this defeated me totally.

Should have started practicing in August when my problem was ID'd instead of waiting until early November.

If yo can cut over from one to the other with little or no trouble then count yourself as hyper-lucky.
 
Have her practice dry firing. That's a great way to build fundamentals and not develop a flinch. One of my friends (also a member here) has his daughter using an AR15 with an Eotech, and she's killed several with it. Is she having trouble with target acquisition or accuracy? The eotech will help with finding deer in the optic but will likely hinder accuracy somewhat.
 
She struggles with getting a good hold on the rifle. I can tell that she hasn't found a comfortable way to hold it.

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cecil30-30":qg2ei4ru said:
She struggles with getting a good hold on the rifle. I can tell that she hasn't found a comfortable way to hold it.

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Repetition will be important.
 
My daughters 5 and 8 have been practicing with the AR and acquiring the target was difficult. Now I have a cheap red dot on there and shoot from a caldwell field pod. It works wonders. I sure there will be a big learning curve for her shooting with her left eye so make all the other variables go away as much as possible. Hope she smokes her one.
 
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We are going to keep practicing. Gonna leave the redfield on her 223 and I have ordered a eotech to put on my AR, the AR fits her better than her youth model carbine since it has a colapseable stock.

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I just bought a Caldwell field pod max for my little girl. So far I think it was a great investment. We actually just got finished "shooting" in the living room. I have an IScope you can borrow if you have a phone that will fit. Until this fall it is what she has used to kill turkeys with a red dot. I checked with the local game warden and as long as she pulls the trigger, it does not matter who holds the gun. With the eye scope, you can help her steady the weapon and both of you can see it on the screen.
 
there is no shame in waiting till next year when she is at the ripe old age of 7 to kill a deer,,I would rather wait a year and have a good experience on her first deer as to rush into it at age 6 and have something go wrong and turn her against hunting all together,,

but if you must it sounds like you need to build a rest where yall will be hunting so she can shoot with a solid rest and minimize the things that can go wrong,,

no offence meant at all,,it just seems some parents like to get their kids started doing things a lot younger than they did when I was a kid,,
 
I completely understand about kids being to young. If I'm not 100% comfortable with her ability to hit a deers vitals then she won't be shooting at one this year.

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My BIL shoots right handed and is blind in his right eye since birth. He uses xtra tall scope rings in order to use his left eye.

I have a friend at work who is left eye dominant and right handed. He does the exact same thing.
 
You have an AR, you can configure it to fit her, high mounts she could shoot right shoulder, left eye or right, time behind trigger builds confidence in I can make this shot or not. AR's are so adjustable ,and heavy .223 will not kick ,but earplugs would help, as you know ,they're loud. Get that girl hunting and having a good time ,the Lord knows she's had enough bad. :pray:
 
Cec I seriously recommend using a good set of headphones instead of just ear plugs, and maybe even both at her young age. Sound is the most detrimental factor in causing a flinch reaction IMO. I've kept my daughter in headphones from the start and she's able to settle in and smoothly squeeze the trigger for good consistency wo jerking the trigger or worrying about recoil. She's shooting a Rem .243 with 100 gr corlokts at present as well, no light recoil loads.
 
We do use headphone style hearing protection. I may take you all advise and double up with the ear plugs also. I we are going to keep shooting left handed since she still has her port installed just under her skin on her right shoulder. Doc recommends that we leave it until at least 6-9 months. That way we are sure the tumor isn't going to try to start growing again.

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My son who is now 10 is right handed and left eye dominant. This was hard when he was 6 and wanting to hunt. I had also heard lots of stories about kids not being able to find a deer in the scope. So, I put a red dot scope and youth stock on my 30-30 along with a recoil pad and managed recoil bullets. He had no problems with target acquisition with the red dot scope and killed 7 deer with that gun. He switched to a regular scoped rifle last year, but the red dot was nice when he was smaller.

Last year, my daughter was 6 and wanted to hunt mid year. I tried the 30-30 and the LOP was too long for her even with the youth stock. So, we practiced with the AR which had a regular scope on it. She had no problem with target acquisition until the moment of truth happened. She like to have never found the deer in the scope during a hunting situation. She finally did and killed it but only because it was feeding in a wide open field. She will be using the red dot on the 30-30 this year.
 

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