My 9 yr old daughter (LOVES to hunt) is really showing interest in learning to bow hunt. I keep going back & forth on starting her off with a youth recurve or a youth compound. I keep telling myself recurve and let her practice/learn instinctive shooting....She'll be 10 the end of June, she's short but strong.

What says the THF? Her 3 older siblings never showed any interest in bowhunting except for my crossbow, so looking for some advice.

There is a lot to be said for recurves learning the basics plus instinctive shooting. Shooting fundamentals are pretty easy to teach including safety with trad bows. Short and short arms will limit her draw length quite a bit so she will not be pulling much poundage. Kid that came in wanting a long bow that had been shooting his bow a lot wound up leaving with an adult 50lb bow he had to cant quite a bit but at his draw length was pulling about 30lbs and was grouping very well. His dad said his little 25lb bow saw hours of use about every day and it showed.

Compounds you can set her up with Diamond Infinite edge, Mission Craze or several others. Both those bows can grow right along with a kid with easy adjustments for poundage and draw length. Can be set u with the basic kit they come with for learning and as they advance add things like a drop away rest and better sights and stabilizer...

Some good advice in this link. https://hoyt.com/blog/getting-youth-into-bowhunting with compounds

Thanks for the info Sir! I appreciate it.

At 9-10 years old, I would definitely have them shooting a recurve, in addition to a compound.

IMO a recurve is like shooting a shotgun and a compound is more like a rifle, one is instinctual, and the other is precision.


Do both, as she can be hunting with a compound in a year or so, a recurve probably not due to draw weights and energy differences. Recurves can also be had very cheap

I agree, and I think I'll go this route.