Sometimes a youngster’s desire to hunt exceeds their capacity to handle a rifle like an adult. Typically the rifle is too heavy for them to steady without a solid rest. Just finding a rest for the forend of the rifle isn’t the full answer to the problem. The child still has to deal with some of the weight of the rifle, which is hard for them to shoulder and hold rock solid. Such was the case when my grand daughter, Ivy Patterson, went on her first deer hunt with me when she was just 9 years old. Because she is a small person, I cut down and reformed the walnut rifle stock to fit her. Then I found a rifle holder designed to attach to treestands. With a little imagination I altered the rifle holder to mount on a tripod. This system held the full weight of the rifle. All Ivy had to do was snuggle in behind it, pull it into her shoulder, get steady and shoot. The vertical and horizontal adjustments on the head of the tripod were just tight enough to enable her to move the rifle under a bit of tension, which kept her steady. It enabled her to shoot like a pro. The tripod gun rest is portable and easily set up in a ground blind or box blind.
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