Tips for girlfriends first hunt?

This year my girlfriend tells me she wants a duck and a deer for her wall and it is only acceptable if she shoots it herself. I plan on taking her to the range and get her comfortable with a .22 first, then move up from there. For ducks she will be using an 870 youth 20 gauge. My smallest deer rifle is a 30-30. She is a small girl and I don't want to intimidate her with a rifle that has too much kick for her. What caliber do you guys recommend/have for the women and children?

A 30-30 is ok if it's a marlin. Winchester 94, not so much. Learned this with both my wife and daughter. So much of the recoil depends on the gun, not the caliber.

My wife shoots a little Ruger compact 243. It's lightweight but recoil is very manageable. I wouldn't recommend it for big S. Texas bucks but she has taken several hill country deer and a lot of coyotes.

get her a past pad for shooting practice
with the hard kickers. she won't develop a flinch
and she won't need to use it for hunting.

Code, where are you and where will you be hunting?

A. .243 for the deer rifle.
B. Keep her warm. Not that way, you idiot! Haul a blanket or two.

Make sure she is wearing hearing protection when she is shooting. The noise is what makes most first timers flinch or jerk the trigger after shooting a bit. If the 30-30 has a scope I would go with the Remington Managed Recoil loads. With any new shooter I would go with these at first and they will kill a deer just fine. Bullet placement is key. When it comes time to hunt, you could use the regular loads. She will be so excited they won't know. Good luck.
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/centerfire/managed-recoil/managed-recoil.aspx

If you're trooping through the woods, make sure she's not wearing a coat/pants/jacket that makes a ton of noise.

She can come and watch

Make sure she has fun! Don't scold her if she is making to much noise the most important thing is she has a great time. Also don't take her out the first time when conditions are not favorable.

AR-10. .308 is a great hunting round and very little kick compared to the punch it packs.

I had my daughter (also pretty small girl) shooting a youth 20 ga practicing for her first duck hunt. I also let her shoot my 12ga 870 and she said it kicked less than the 20ga. I tried them both and she was right, those 20 ga's hit hard!

The 30-30 is fine but a gun with a scope would be best. The hardest thing to teach in a short time to newbies is how to use open sights.Aligning the front and back sights can be tough for newbies while a scope is just putting the x on the mark. You can concentrate on teaching her shot placement.

Been there done that. I had my GF shooting .270 Remington BDL off the sand bags at the ranch did well and she was confident. BUT....hunting is not shooting off of sand bags. In the field she could not get comfortable with the same rifle in the tripod or the blind or Safari style in the truck. She has missed 4 animals that were chip shops lost her confidence and the whole thing is probably my fault. Lessons learned: the caliber was not too big but the rifle was. I will put her in a 6mm much smaller gun. After she sights in at the range, we come off the sand bags and practice realistic shooting conditions. Finally she needs to acquire the target and get the shot off much faster. Think there is a reluctance to take the shot for some reason. I asked her if she was troubled by shooting an animal she said not the least. We will work on getting the shot off.

IDK your situation may be different but perhaps you can avoid some rookie mistakes and greatly improve her opportunity for success. BEST OF LUCK.

Those 870 youth models are snappy

If you plan on keeping her around, look into a weatherby Sa-08 semi in the youth model

Id take here when conditions are terrible... mines going with me next week during the holidays in the rain

LOL or BLACK BUCK hunt from a ground blind in late August. Might as well take the short cut and go straight to HELL.

2x on the 30-30 Remington managed recoil loads. My 10 yr old started hunting with them last year and has very little kick.

Smart starting her out with the .22 Fear of recoil will ruin her, so you need to work her up and pay special attention to what she says. I don't care for the 30-30 and would avoid it if possible. The AR platform is very easy to shoot with little recoil. Most important is that the stock is adjustable.

After the .22, I went up to my 22-250 for my wife. She shot her first hog with that at 150 yards. Then I tried to get her to try my 30-06, but it was too heavy for her to hold comfortably, then her 22 year old son ring his eye with my scope shooting it and that scared her from even trying to shoot it. After a lot of looking around, she fell in love with the Remington 700 youth rifle is 7mm-08

I've come home from work and she was out shooting on her own with it. She grabs it before her 380 piston to shoot snakes. It's her go to, most favorite, and most comfortable weapon of choice.

She is 5ft 3in tall and weighs 130 pounds. Finding what fit her, and what she was comfortable with is very important.

With girls I dated before I met my wife, I found that teaching them to shoot with the 22 first, and then without ever shooting my 30-06, have them use it when we saw a hog. The two times I did this, they never felt any recoil, and they both made perfect shots. I think that a big part of it was not having any fear of the rifle. I lied to them about recoil, and it worked.

don't let her cross paths with your wife especially if one or both are armed

LOL!

And them gals can shoot. My wife and both daughters are great shots. What you have will work just fine, no tellin how many deer have been killed with a turdy turdy... And if she enjoys the time in the woods, and becomes more than a GF buy her sompin nice...

Hunting in Paducah out of a raised stand. Have several stands with feeders aprox. 100 yard shots.

Yep, I took a girlfriend of mine hunting about 22 years ago and have a hard time getting to go without her now.

From a woman's perspective...let her figure out what's she's comfortable with. Take her to the range and let her try a variety of shotguns and rifles--she might surprise you and herself.

That being said, I'm short and have a short reach, so for dove hunting I use a youth model 20 gauge.

For deer I use a Savage Lady Hunter in .243. I love my husband's AR in .308, too. Part of that is reach on both. On the Lady Hunter it's designed specifically for a woman's geometry, so it has a higher comb, the reach is a little different, stock length is different, etc. Plus, it's a beautiful gun. :P With the AR, well, those are just fun to shoot. I HATE 30-06 because of the recoil. I can handle my husband's 44 Magnum revolver like a champ and am more accurate shooting .45 ACP than I am 9mm handgun-wise, but for some reason I'm really recoil sensitive when it comes to rifles. So let your girlfriend get behind a few to find out what she's comfortable with at the range, and then make sure she's comfortable in non-range situations like you would find while hunting. And if she wants a pink gun don't laugh at her or make fun of her. Is there a pink camo apocalypse? Absolutely. Does it help get women and girls interested in hunting and shooting? Yup. Just go with it. ;-)

And make sure she is warm. Can't tell you how annoying it is spending 45 minutes in the stand and leaving because they are cold.

My wife shoots a Weatherby 22-250 and is very deadly with it. Last year she took out two bobcats in one afternoon. But, then again, shes been around guns all her life. Shoots sporting clays competitively with a Rem 1100 12ga. In fact, heading to the ranch tomorrow deer hunting.