The Bodda Getta

Your son will not have buy a license, but he will have to take a hunters safety course. He can take it online at the state website mentioned above and all he will have to after passing the test is attend a demonstration session somewhere locally. He will also need his deer tags, but you can print those off of the state website as well. If he's never shot much before, then I'd definitely start with a .22 and then move on to something bigger. For kids his age, I usually sell more .270's or .243's than I do any other caliber. I prefer the .30 caliber family (.308, .30-06, .30-30, and so on), but you can't really go wrong with anything that's been mentioned by other posters so far.

Oh, and to answer a question posed above, anyone born after august 1, 1977 has to take the hunters safety course before they can hunt by themselves.

To get a license to hunt by yourself, you have to take a hunter's education course. It is free and offered by the state at many times throughout the year. Also, your son does not need to get a license until he is sixteen. If he does not want to take the hunters education course, he can just buy a supervisory license. This means he has to be hunting with a licensed hunter with a hunters education course and a regular large game hunting license.

Great advice from everyone. We're going to take the hunter's safety course together and we'll go from there. Thank you.

Call Sure Shot in Alex City and ask to talk to Steve Cotney. Tell him I sent you. Ask him to find you the best .308 or .270 they've got for around $300 new or used. In the meantime go on Ebay and find a New in box Redfield 3x9 scope with RTA (rapid target acquisition) for around $200. You are going to spend $500 to get a good but not way expensive rifle. Redfield is now made by Leupold and the RTA really makes it easy for new hunters to look thru a scope. Get Leupold rings and base to mount the scope.

Sure Shot will bore sight it for you. Here is 1 important step - get them to "float" the barrel for you. That will really impact accuracy. When he's starting to shoot, it's critical that he learn to squeeze the trigger. Get him to shoot the gun without being loaded a few times to get the feel of the trigger and then "trick" him by leaving the gun empty when he attempts his first shot - and watch closely to see that he squeezes the trigger. It's best if they shoot off a sled where recoil is minimized because you want him to learn how to squeeze the trigger - not worry about recoil. The other important step is to use earplugs AND shooting headphones at the same time to eliminate the loud sound. I just taught my 12 year old daughter to shoot this way and she can already shoot competently. The key thing to remember is recoil is not a factor when shooting at a live deer. Squeezing the trigger is CRITICAL. Good luck!

I assume you are talking about deer hunting. Since your son is 15, I would personally go ahead and get him a 270, which he can use for years to come (i.e rest of his life if he takes good care of it). It does kick a little bit more than a 243 or 308, but I highly doubt he will want to shoot a 243 much after the age of 17-18. Your best bet is to try to find one used that is in decent shape. The great thing about a deer rifle is that you only are going to shoot it once per hunt (if you're lucky), outside of the siting the rifle in. As such, recoil isn't as big of a concern as it can be with a shot gun duck/dove hunting. You do have to take a hunter safety course prior to being allowed to purchase a license and therefore legally hunt in Alabama. Best of luck to him.