Pennsylvania Game News - December 2019 - 56

sport. At 36½ inches and just under 7
pounds, the Henry Youth .243 is a smoothshooting option that can be used with
standard open sights or outfitted with an
add-on scope and hammer-spur extension
to clear the scope.
I'm so pleased with this Henry rifle
that I plan to introduce my son to it when
he's ready to start hunting in a few years.
There's also a dual-purpose shotgun in
the safe waiting for him to grow into - a
milestone that likely will occur before I
know it.
As previously mentioned, a 20-gauge
is a great introductory shotgun for smallframed shooters, and they can be a real
pleasure to carry in the field. Mossberg
makes an excellent youth Bantam line of
20 gauges with adjustable stock extensions that can grow with their users.
The one I picked up is the 510 mini
"Turkey Thugs" edition in Mossy Oak
camouflage, which will be as effective on
early-season doves as it will be for closerange spring gobblers, with its variety of
supplied choke tubes.
The similar, but slightly larger, Model
500 Super Bantam Youth 20-gauge was
the shotgun one of my middle-school
girls' soccer players used during a mentored youth turkey hunt with her father a
few years ago.
At age 14, the young lady felt very

comfortable hunting with the 20-gauge,
and both her father and I had full confidence it would perform well if a shot
presented itself. There's even an option
to swap out the smooth bore barrel for a
rifled-slug barrel to hunt deer.
One final gun to consider for introducing young hunters to the shooting sports
is the Keystone Sporting Arms' Crickett
.22 long-rifle. Falling in the $150 to $250
price range, depending on synthetic or
wooden stock options, the single-shot
rifle, with its 16.12-inch barrel, is ideally
suited for young hunters to start plinking
cans and graduate to squirrel hunting.
Once outgrown, the Crickett also
would serve as a perfect trapper dispatch
gun.
Thankfully, today's smaller-framed
hunters have more options than decades
ago. Firearms manufacturers fully have
recognized the importance of offering
something other than one-size-fits-all
versions of their popular rifles and shotguns, and instead are producing compact
models for women and youth, as well as
"little dudes" like myself.
Many of these options are affordable
and reliable, giving parents, spouses and
short-statured adults reason to purchase
compact guns that will measure up for
compact hunters.
Though we might not have a height
advantage, we're "small but mighty," just
like the firearms we shoot best.

HARVEST PHOTO CONTEST
Through Dec. 20, the Game Commission is accepting submissions for its annual
Buck Harvest Photo Contest. Submit photos by e-mail to pgc-contest@pa.gov
for your chance to win. Finalists will be selected in each the archery and
firearms categories, with the winners in each category selected by followers of
the Game Commission's Facebook page. Each winner receives a trail camera.

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Pennsylvania Game News - December 2019

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