Getting your Toddler Started in Bowhunting

It might seem way too early to put a bow in a toddler's hands. I'll never regret getting my kids started by age three, or even before. I cherish the memories of getting outside with my boys, shooting together in the spring and summer weather, and really all through the year.

Why we start them this young

It gives your kids real confidence. It gets them comfortable with something potentially dangerous, but in a supervised, controlled way. It puts them in an uncomfortable spot where they have to practice and actually see themselves improve in real time. It gets them thinking through wildlife scenarios — angles, distance, what an animal is doing. And most of all, it bonds them to you. You're out there shooting together. It's never too early to start.

Get the right gear, not the cheap gear

The most important thing is getting them an appropriate bow — and it doesn't have to cost much. We really like the Bear Archery Spark to start off with. They're ambidextrous, they come with a whisker biscuit rest, and the draw weight is low enough for little arms. The rest and the draw weight are the two things that matter most.

As one of my older boys has grown, we upgraded him to more of a recurve-style rest on the riser, the Bear Archery Apprentice — it challenges him a bit more and gets him closer to the kind of setup he'll actually be shooting as he gets older, whether he sticks with a recurve or moves up to a true compound rest. You can keep upgrading these younger bows step by step as your kid grows into them.

To be clear, we're not sponsored by Bear Archery and don't make a dime off them — we just genuinely like what they build for kids. Expect to spend somewhere around $30-35 on sale, and skip the cheap toy-aisle bows. Get them something real.

Keep sessions short

This is a three-shots-and-done kind of thing. I typically leave it right there — and they almost always end up wanting to do more anyway, which is exactly what you want. End on a good shot, not when they're bored or frustrated.

Make safety a habit, not a lecture

We really stress safety: staying behind the shooter, knowing your target and what's beyond it. Honestly, we're building in some basic firearm safety principles right alongside the archery — it's the same mindset, just starting earlier.

Let them miss

We let them miss, and miss badly sometimes. But we also work with them on focusing toward a quick, clean kill — why we aim for the heart, why shot placement matters. If you've got access to a 3D target, that's a great way to make it real.

This is about more than archery

At the end of the day, you're outside, spending time with your kid, shooting bows together. That kid looks at you like you're a superhero. And they're not just watching you leave on a hunt and come back with meat in the cooler, or empty-handed — they know all the practice that went into it. They're invested. So when you come home from those trips, they're engaged, because they were part of the process the whole way through.

You're setting the tone and the example for them — not just on how to hunt, but on why it matters, and what it can do for a person. That's the whole point behind everything we do at MTN BONDED: Mtn Gear for Mtn Memories. The gear is just the excuse. The time together is the point.