Teen and Kids’ Crossbow
The crossbow dates back to 6th Century BC China, where it was used to hunt. Today’s crossbows are much more advanced, and there are many options, particularly if you are looking at lightweight start crossbows for teens and older kids. Like with any sport, the younger you start learning to target and fire with a crossbow, the better you will be later in life.
While you may find it easy to hold and trigger your crossbow, your child may not have the tensile strength to load his own crossbow without a cranking device, and you may want to get a lightweight crossbow that will be easier to move and target with.
Many parents have questions about their children learning to use a crossbow. While it can be quite safe to shoot a modern crossbow, selecting a model with additional safety features is highly recommended. Make sure to always follow local laws and regulations regarding crossbow age restrictions. It is also important to assess your child’s maturity level to be sure that you can trust them with a potentially deadly weapon.
Buy with Safety in Mind
New crossbows should have all of the right regulatory and safety compliant attachments, such as an anti-slide feature that prevents the barrel from sliding down too far and an anti-dry trigger safety that won’t allow your crossbow to fire when it’s not loaded, causing harm or damage to the crossbow itself.
Pick a Starter Crossbow
There are prices ranging from $60 for a starter recurve bow to over $2,000 for a military-grade compound crossbow. You don’t want to pick a complicated, high-priced crossbow for your child to start out with. Rather, you should pick a crossbow that doesn’t cost too much, allows your kid to train and target, and is a smaller, lightweight size.
In addition, your kid may decide that crossbows aren’t fun to play with after a couple of weeks, so it’s best to pick one that works for their training but may not cost an arm and a leg.
That said, do not select the cheapest crossbow either. These will likely be difficult to use and lack many of the modern safety features.
Lightweight Bows
Size truly matters with crossbows. However, compact or compound crossbows are often more expensive because of their complicated design. Recurve bows are typically larger, but there are crossbows specifically made to be lightweight for youth archers.
The crossbow’s weight and cocking mechanism should be considered as well. You’ll need a bow with a cocking device, so that your child doesn’t have to manually load arrows and pull down the trigger string, which could lead to injuries if he or she isn’t strong enough.
How old to use a crossbow?
The phrase “start ‘em when they’re young” always gets tossed around when you want your child to pick up a hobby and become exceptionally great at it. However, how old should your child to be to use a crossbow? Many kids start archery when they are less than 10 years old, so it’s safe to assume that if your kid can hold and load a crossbow, that they can probably shoot one as well.
Ultimately, this is determined by your child’s strength, ability, and maturity level. If you don’t think that your child is capable of handling a fast-firing crossbow, then you may want to start them on something more simple and work their way up to a crossbow.
Supervision is also key to keeping your child safe while they shoot a crossbow. Without proper training, even an adult beginner could cause harm. Using a crossbow is a little different than a bow and arrow, so if you can, it’s best to sign your kid up for archery classes where crossbows are an option. You can find classes like this at schools, community centers, hobby shops, and hunting stores.
Join an Archery Program or Club
Many students take up at archery because it’s a sport offered at a community center or hunting shop. There are also youth programs run by USA Archery that are tailored to what your child wants to learn. For example, you can enroll in a class designed for hunting with a crossbow or simply targeting with a crossbow and scope. There are a myriad of options available through USA Archery.
Practice Archery with Your Child
Supervision is a big part of using a crossbow safely. If your child has problems with the cocking mechanism or they aren’t able to load the arrow correctly, you should be there to assist.
It’s also important to take part in your kid’s hobbies and show an interest in what they’re doing. That will motivate them to keep on practicing and learning everything they can about the crossbow.
Check Local Laws
Crossbow laws vary by state. Some areas have strict age requirements on certain types of crossbows, especially if they have lethal force. Some states and Canadian provinces prevent youths under the age of 18 from using a crossbow unless they are supervised by an adult over the age of 21.
Crossbow Age Requirements
Want to teach your kid how to hunt with a crossbow? Maybe it’s an older child or teenager who wants to join your hunting party, and they’re interested in recurve crossbows. While some states have age restrictions for hunting, there isn’t an age limit by law on who can and can’t own a crossbow. That isn’t to say that every child should be able to have their own crossbow.
With supervision and training, it’s possible that children as young as 8 years old can learn to fire a crossbow safely.
Required Age for Hunting by State (For US)
Every state has different hunting laws, including how you can hunt with a crossbow. For example, you may have to pick a different arrows to hunt with in certain states. Other states have a minimum hunting age requirement for purchasing a license, which is typically 16 years old.
While local laws and regulation change frequently and you should always check with local officials to get up to date information, here is a list of age requirements by state:https://gothunts.com/hunting-age-requirements/
Required Age for Hunting by Province (For Canada)
Most hunters need a license in each of the Canadian provinces. The ages vary by each one, but you’ll find that if you are at least 16 years of age, you’ll need a license in these areas. Here are the links to check your eligibility:
- Ontario Hunting Rules
- British Columbia Hunting Rules
- Saskatchewan Hunting Rules
- Alberta Hunting Rules
- Nova Scotia Hunting Rules
- Quebec Hunting Rules
- Manitoba Hunting Rules
- New Brunswick Hunting Laws
- New Foundland and Labrador Hunting Rules
- Prince Edward Island Hunting Rules
What’s the Right Age to Start Archery?
You never know when a child will become interested in learning about archery and bowhunting. Many older children typically want to learn the crossbow due to watching TV shows or seeing ancient recurve crossbows.
The best way to see if your child is ready is to join a local archery club is to speak with local organizers. These clubs allow children to explore archery and learn about the crossbow from experienced archers.
Parents who are archers themselves are able to bond more with their children and get involved with their training.
Lighter Crossbows
If you’re interested in purchasing a crossbow for a child, then you definitely want to go with a lighter weight. Lighter crossbows are best because kids can easily carry, move, and fire. They are designed to be smaller and easier to shoot.
If your child can’t carry or hold the crossbow upright, then they will have a hard time shooting and could potentially harm themselves.
There are a few models that are perfect to get started on due to their lightweight size, ease of use, and safety.
Barnett Sports & Outdoor Jackal Hunting Crossbow
This camouflage, highly-rated lightweight crossbow is made by one of the best bow brands. Barnett has been making high quality bows for some time, and their Jackal crossbow is a lightweight recurve bow that can easily be used by someone between the age of 10 and 18.
It has a 150 lb draw weight, 12” power stroke, and quad limb assembly. It also a grip and safety for comfortable use and firing. With quad limb, your arrows will also fire faster. In addition, this bow can shoot arrows as fast as 315 FPS, which is slightly above average for a recurve bow.
TenPoint Invader G3 Crossbow Package
Most of TenPoint’s crossbows are a bit expensive, but there’s a good reason. They are made to last for a long time, and they typically come with a lot of attachments, including a scope, safety mechanisms, and cocking mechanisms.
The Invader G3 is an older model, lightweight recurve crossbow that is perfect for someone just starting out who wants a high quality bow. In addition, this bow comes with a 3x zoom scope, an ACU-52 cocking mechanism, and camouflage color. In addition, it’s one of the lower cost crossbow packages from this premium crossbow brand.
Ravin Predator Compound Crossbow
This crossbow is not for younger children, but for those in their teens, this could be the perfect compound bow to start on. Weighing in at just 6.9 pounds with a draw weight of 220 lbs, this crossbow is probably the best one for downrange accuracy.
It also comes fully assembled and pre-tuned, and it shoots more like a rifle than a bow and arrow. With HeliCoil technology from premium brand Ravin, you’ll be able to get a perfectly balanced and fast shot each and every time. It also comes with a cocking system for safe firing and de-cocking.
Low draw weight crossbows
For smaller youth or those just getting started holding a bow, you may want to go with a lower draw weight. With higher draw weights, it’s more difficult to load and fire the crossbow, but there are bows with cocking mechanisms to help you load and fire.
These are some of the top models available with low draw weights that are perfect for younger children.
Barnett Youth 30 Compound Crossbow
This bow is easy to load and is perfect for any budget. With a draw weight of just 30 lbs, your child will be able to shoot cse-range targets for practice. This bow is specifically designed for younger archers, so it has a total weight of just 6.2 lbs.
Wicked Ridge by TenPoint
Another bow that is made to be lightweight is the Wicked Ridge recurve bow that comes with a scope and loading mechanism. The draw weight on this bow is just 150 lbs, which is best for older children to teenagers. While it’s not a compact bow, it does have a long distance accuracy and can shoot at a speed of 300 FPS.
CenterPoint Archery TYRO Recurve Crossbow
While this crossbow does have a slightly higher draw weight at 175 lbs, it’s still much more lightweight in size and is made of fiberglass. At just 5 lbs, your young archer should be able to jump into target practice and eventually use this crossbow for small game hunting.
Cheap Crossbows
Kids change their mind from about hobbies quickly, so if you don’t want to spend a lot on a crossbow, it’s understandable. Who knows what your kid will be into next week?
The most important thing is that you pick a crossbow that’s safe and has features that will make it fun to use. Otherwise, you could be picking a crossbow that doesn’t work or won’t withstand the test of time.
Here are a few more budget-friendly and kid-friendly crossbows to choose from:
TenPoint’s Wicked Ridge Invader G3
This is probably the best value by far for any small bow with a 3.5 pound trigger and 165-lb draw weight. At just 6.6 pounds, most older children will be able to handle this recurve bow easily. The cocking system makes it extremely easy to load and shoot after some training.
CenterPoint Sniper 370
The smooth operation, silent triggering, and compact size make this bow an easy choice for those who are just getting into crossbow hunting. You can easily hunt small game with this crossbow or take it to target practice.
Known for great accuracy and speed, CenterPoint’s Sniper 370 is a profession-grade crossbow and does have a slightly higher draw weight of 180 lbs. This could be the perfect weapon if your aim is to go on a hunting trip with a young adult.
Crossbow safety
When picking out a crossbow for a young adult or smaller child, there are some specific safety features to look for including an anti-slide mechanism and an anti-dry fire feature.
Both of these can save you from someone getting hurt or damaging your crossbow.
These are some models with excellent safety features:
Barnett Ghost 375
This is a top choice for a lightweight, safe crossbow. Even with its slightly higher weight of 7.1 pounds, this is still a lightweight, compact crossbow that can be used by someone just starting out.
It has a 165-pound draw weight, but it also comes equipped with safety features and a cocking mechanism. It comes with “Trigger Tech Technology” that has a zero-creep release guarantee, as well as a nock sensor to eliminate any dry fire.
Best Youth Crossbow
Ultimately, you want to pick a crossbow that has a great build, safety features, decent firing action, and lightweight size. It also doesn’t hurt if they are budget-friendly and made well for a long-lasting weapon.
Based on these criteria, we suggest the Barnett Recruit Crossbow Package for your young archer.
Barnett Recruit Crossbow Package
This is probably the top choice for any youth just getting started since the package contains everything you need, including the crossbow, arrows, safety features, scope, and other attachments for a great price.
This bow has an amazing safety mechanism, and it’s easy to fire, and you can change up the draw weights, velocities, and colors before you purchase. The draw weight is only 130 lbs, and the entire crossbow weighs 6.5 lbs. It’s a good choice for any beginner or especially youth.