It happens every year. One warm, sunny day and I think it’s full-blown spring. Time to load up the boat, wife and kids and go crappie fishing. But, as an old boss used to say, one robin doesn’t mean it’s spring.

But the above happens every year, the first warm day of pre-spring (and more so the longer the winter has been) so I guess I will die starting my crappie fishing too early. But you actually do want to start a week or two early. You don’t want to doodle around and miss being on the lake when the spawn actually does start. It is too big of an event to miss.

As I type this article, it is March 21. By the time it prints on April 2, depending on how the weather is between now and then, the spawn should be within a week of starting.

If you are wondering why I am being such a drama queen and panicking about being late to hit the crappie spawn, then that means that you have never eaten a crappie. We are super blessed to live in Idaho. Most people think of crappie as a southern fish, but here in Idaho and Oregon we have better crappie fishing than a lot of the southern states. Maybe not as big but more prolific. For instance, I think the limit in Texas is only 25 per day. Here, we don’t have limits.

But to be wise conservationists I think we ought to throw back the smaller ones for breeding stock. It seems like the supply is limitless, but I’m sure the early settlers thought the same about passenger pigeons and bison.

So you’re successful, here will be the format. The experts tell us that crappie start moving out of their deeper wintering holes when the water hits something like 45 to 50 degrees. Then, when it hits 55, they’ll stage outside of their spawning areas. Then, near 60 degrees, the males will move in and fan out a bed.

Crappie will be on a pre-spawn feeding binge during this time. And then when the water temp gets up to 60 to 65, they move in and start spawning.

When they’re spawning, they’ll be literally 1 to 2 feet from the shore. There are lots of ways to catch them at this time, but here is the method I like. I tie on a small jig head and slip on a tube jig. About 12 to 18 inches above the jig, I put on a pencil bobber. I don’t know why it matters but I catch a lot more fish with a pencil bobber as opposed to the ol’ red/white round bobber. When the bobber stands up, let him pull it under or start running with it and then lift up your rod tip and start reeling.

Don’t jerk the rod tip and set the hook or you’ll rip their lips off. They are called paper mouths for a reason. In fact, any keeper fish, I net. The bigger they are the more likely it is that they will rip off when boating them.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. They aren’t in the spawning mode yet. More than likely right now they are staged out about 20 yards from the bank. I will use the same jig but put a small split shot about four to six inches above the jig so it will sink down. The windier it is the bigger, or more, split shots I use.

To fish the above set-up, I’ll cast out the jig and let it drop down. Then I’ll slowly lift my rod tip and reel in the slack as I’m dropping the tip back down. If the line goes slack when the jig is sinking, a fish has hit it. Again, lift the rod tip and start reeling to set the hook. I’ll get a lot of hits while bouncing along the bottom, especially if perch are present.

I’ll fish the jig like this all the way back up to the boat. I get a lot of hits up higher in the water column.

At first I thought they had followed it up from the bottom but now I say I am catching ones that are suspended up higher.

So the moral to the article is just because crappie haven’t moved in and started spawning yet doesn’t mean that you can’t catch them. Just move out deeper and catch them pre-spawn.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

At the 2020 SHOT Show, Ron Spomer introduced me to Robert Thacker and Jamey Wojtaszek. Robert owns the Pennsylvania Gunsmith School and Jayme works there. PGS is doing fine but they’re concerned about the dropping numbers of students across the country in the majority of the gunsmithing schools.

Due to this concern they’re encouraging young people to choose gunsmithing as a career. I hear similar concerns among the gun experts that the numbers of hunters/shooters are dropping and the current ones are an aging group.

So as not to start off as a Negative Nancy, here’s some encouraging news. I attended a seminar at the SHOT Show put on by Safe Shoot, which is an Israeli company. One of the speakers said that actually, shooting is the No. 2 sport in America, even ahead of golf. That surprised me.

If that is the case, then it’s alarming that the number of kids going to gunsmithing schools is dropping because there will obviously be a need for more, not fewer gunsmiths on the not too distant horizon.

I’m about to say something that up until the last few years I was on the opposite side of the aisle. In the past, I encouraged kids if at all possible to go to college. If they couldn’t afford that then at least work and attend a junior college and get an associate’s degree. I no longer hold that stance. Let me explain.

Higher learning institutions have lost their compass. Their goal is no longer to teach kids to graduate work ready. They now have too many hidden social changing agendas. Kids go off to college conservatives and return as socialists. The colleges spend way too much time teaching/pushing these agendas. Many kids no longer graduate with useful skills.

I used to hire a lot of college kids when I was the director of quality control for Con Agra. I had five large beef plants and a cooked plant under me so I had a large QC staff and hired a lot of college kids. Even back then the colleges thought that they knew more what the kids needed to be taught than the industry did. I only had one professor inquire what skills their graduates were lacking in. Is that not bizarre? Would any business survive if it didn’t do customer service audits? Investigate open markets?

Due to my ignorance, I thought trade schools were for kids like in my high school that would have dropped out but due to shop classes they hung in and graduated (Yes, this was all nearly 50 years ago).

Then 15 years ago I started learning what some of the skilled workers were making. Such as linemen, electricians, dental assistants, etc. It costs an arm and a leg to hire a good maintenance man — if you can even find one. So now, if a kid can’t afford college, I recommend they go to a reputable trade school. They may graduate right off the bat $200,000 ahead of the normal college graduate because of no student loans and have an extra two and a half years of wages already in the bank by the time their college buddies graduate.

So, let’s play this out. They could work for an established gunsmith after school and learn the ropes.

After four or five years they could then open their own shop while their college graduate counterpart is still in some menial job barely getting by with no hope in sight and a huge student loan hanging over their head.

So what I’m saying is, if a kid is a hustler but for whatever the reason doesn’t have the option of going to college, I don’t see him/her as being handicapped. There are a million options. Go to beauty school. Same scenario. Work for someone else, learn the ropes and then in a few years open your own shop. When you have a few employees then you are making money off of them as well as your own labors.

Before you think I’m nuts, think about it for a minute. A high percentage of kids go to a four-year school and graduate with a degree that is not in demand and come out with huge debt. On the other hand, a kid could go to somewhere like the PGS and graduate in 16 months. With a part time job, they may be lucky enough to graduate with no/low debt.

It takes four semesters to graduate. Students of any skill level can expect to complete the program. Every student starts at the same spot and being a course hour program, they typically finish at the same time. They have graduates in all 50 states and 18 countries.

I’ve never been to the school but here’s what I’d loosely suggest if you attend the PGS school or another trade school. Get a part-time job so you’re not racking up loans. After you graduate, get a job with a reputable gunsmith that you can learn from. Work for him a few years and learn the ropes instead of opening your own business right off and making costly mistakes at your expense. Then in a few years when you’re comfortable open your own shop.

I stand to gain nothing if you go to the Pennsylvania Gunsmith School or not. If gunsmithing isn’t for you, find what you like to do and be the best you can at it. The moral to the story is don’t feel like a second-class citizen if you can’t afford or have no desire to go to college. Be a hustler and sharpen your skills and you may actually end up better off.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

In 2005, my wife Katy, who is a school teacher, came home from school one day and told me that there were two kids in her school and their dad had been put in prison. She told me that she’d signed them up for some youth hunting camp named the Scooter’s Youth Hunting Camp, and she wanted me to take them to the camp and then take them both deer hunting.

What? I don’t want to sound self-centered, but the camp is held the first Saturday in May. Spring in Idaho is a flurry of outdoor activities. It’s the ultimate for the outdoorsman. Bear hunting is hot, turkey hunting is on, crappie are going ballistic, whistle pigs are coming out in the droves and the morels are popping up. I about died.

Well, I was stuck. The day came and we headed up to the little mountain town of Emmett, Idaho, where the camp was being held. Whoa, this was going to be a big event. The kids were divided into six groups and rotate to the six different stations. In between stations, seminars are conducted. This camp was awesome. I had to help with this deal.

Fast forward 15 years. The camp has grown and we had to go to an online registration. Last year, it filled up with 260 kids in 47 seconds. In a nutshell, here’s how it runs. The kids show up and even though they’re preregistered, they still sign in. They’re given a bracelet that signifies which one of the six groups that they’re in and given a bag filled with goodies donated by various companies. For instance, Swab-ITS gives them some gun cleaning swabs, MyTopoMaps gives them coupons for maps and Blue Lizard gives them a package of sun screen.

The Pledge of Allegiance is said, many times led by an enlisted serviceman about to head out for duty. A prayer is then given by a local pastor and it’s off to the races. Group one starts at the shotgun station, group two at the .22 range, group three at the blackpowder range, group four at the archery range, group five at the knife-sharpening/gun-cleaning station and group six at the survival station.

After the allotted time for that session is over, they gather in the commons area for a seminar put on by a pro-staff member. The seminars are excellent. There are some top-notch presenters like Rockie Jacobsen the owner of Rocky Mountain Game Calls who puts on the elk & turkeys calling seminars and Fowl Weather Custom Calls puts on a waterfowl calling seminar.

After the seminar they rotate to their next station. At noon, volunteers serve lunch to the kids. Due to local donations and volunteer help the kids eat free and have snacks throughout the day. A local donut shop, HeBrews Coffee sets up a donut trailer. I love their sugar/cinnamon donuts.

There’s a raffle table set up that helps fund the camp. At the end of the day is the kid’s drawing. Every kid wins a prize. And I don’t mean a rinky dink Chinese finger pulling gizmo. Last year there were 25 guns, 10 bows, backpacks, knives, etc., given away.

I hesitate to list the generous sponsors since there is no way that I can include them all. Riton Optics, Knives of Alaska, Smith’s Consumer Products, Spyderco, Otis, Swab-It’s, Birchwood Casey, Adventure Medical Kits, MyTopoMaps, Buck Knives, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Blue Lizard and the list goes on and on.

I know it’s business and companies do it for advertisement, but I’m touched by the generosity of the outdoor world. The kids get to attend this all-day camp for free due to the generosity of all the volunteers and sponsors.

Some of the lucky kids draw a hunt. Volunteers take them elk, deer and duck hunting. Where was SYHC when I was a kid?

I finally figured out why Scott McGann aka Scooter is so passionate and developed this camp. If it hadn’t of been for his grandad, him and his brother probably would have never ended up being the sportsmen that they are today. He originally drew up the camp to help single mom’s but couldn’t very well disallow kids with two parents to attend.

I do 50 to 60 seminars and shows per year from Texas to Vegas on up to Alaska. This is the coolest event I participate in all year.

It might be a five-hour drive but you ought to think about enrolling your kid in the camp. Registration is April 1, and you can register here: scootersyouthhunting.camp. Your kid would love it!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Last week, we did an introductory article on airguns. This week, let’s go a little deeper and assume that you’re interested and want to get into airguns and see what it is all about. If you listen to me, I’ll talk you into buying one of everything! But everyone has some kind of budget that they have to live within so, here’s what I’d recommend to get started.

Buy a decent break barrel to get started. They’re relatively inexpensive, at least as compared to a decent PCP (precharged pneumatic) and way less expensive to operate than a CO2 or a PCP. One word of caution, though: Don’t buy a cheap piece of junk spring-action from China, or you’re just going to get frustrated with its inaccuracy and give up on airguns. I know that about happened to me. You can spend as much as you want, but you should be able to get a decent one for around $225.

Actually, I have two words of caution: Of the airguns that I’ve tested, many of them come with a cheap piece of junk for a scope. I understand their reasoning. Companies are trying to keep the price point down so people buy their airguns, but if it is a super cheap scope on your gun, you’re going to get frustrated and not have fun. It is a dilemma. You don’t want to spend $1,000 on an airgun scope but at least buy a functional one. My Sig Sauer and Crosman/Benjamin have all come with good scopes. If yours doesn’t come with a good one, then check out the Riton Optics Primal X1 3-9×40 or, better yet, their Primal X1 4-16×44. But whatever scope you buy, make sure that it is airgun compatible because a lot of scopes aren’t.

Next topic: Pellets. We all know that it is important to buy not only good ammo but also exact ammo to get good groups and have the ultimate performance out of big game rifles. It is just as important to do the same when selecting pellets.

Some airgun companies are trying to make them cheap pellets so they’re affordable, but many are lightweight and flimsy and impossible to get a good group with. I don’t usually rag on companies because everyone is trying to make a living, but one popular airgun company makes horrible pellets. You might as well throw rocks at your target. The best is made by JSB, but Sig Sauer and Crosman also make good pellets. And then I am about to start testing pellets for two companies out South America: Rifle Ammo and Air Boss. To adequately cover pellets will be a whole article in and of itself, so for now let’s move on.

So what are the opportunities to use airguns? Limitless. I see a lot of options. Let’s list out a few.

Airguns are a great avenue to get your kids into hunting if they’re non-hunters. If they don’t want to hunt, just shoot, then airguns are a great place to start. They’re real guns so kids need to be taught gun safety rules because they can hurt or kill you, but hopefully if they make a mistake it won’t be as dangerous as with a big caliber gun. The good deal about starting out kids on airguns is that they don’t kick and don’t make a loud report. So they’re less intimidating.

You’ll need something to shoot. Sig Sauer makes a lot of cool airgun targets, but if you’re a kid on a paper route budget, don’t forget the all-time favorite: tin cans! Or bottles filled with water.

Hunting options abound. Groundhog hunting is about to hit full speed ahead, and opportunities to shoot pigeons in agricultural settings abound. All farmers and ranchers need them thinned out. They poop in their barns, on their equipment and in their livestock feed bunks and spread diseases.

I saw a video of an airgun guide in Africa and they hunted rats at night while spotlighting. That’d be a blast in a barn, wouldn’t it?

Also, now that a lot of people are buying ranchettes out in the country, there are always varmints to thin out. Starlings, pigeons, rats, etc. It is probably not prudent to blast around your neighbors with your ole 30-06, so why not use an airgun?

Well, once again those pesky editors are limiting my word count so I had better shut down, but you can see why airguns are so popular. Plus, some companies are making some cool ones that your kids would love. Sig Sauer makes some cool modern sporting rifles on the AR platform. Ruger made one that mimics their ever popular 10/22, and Springfield made one that mimics the old .30 M1 Carbine.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Last week, we did an introductory article on airguns. This week, let’s go a little deeper and assume that you’re interested and want to get into airguns and see what it is all about. If you listen to me, I’ll talk you into buying one of everything! But everyone has some kind of budget that they have to live within so, here’s what I’d recommend to get started.

Buy a decent break barrel to get started. They’re relatively inexpensive, at least as compared to a decent PCP (precharged pneumatic) and way less expensive to operate than a CO2 or a PCP. One word of caution, though: Don’t buy a cheap piece of junk spring-action from China, or you’re just going to get frustrated with its inaccuracy and give up on airguns. I know that about happened to me. You can spend as much as you want, but you should be able to get a decent one for around $225.

Actually, I have two words of caution: Of the airguns that I’ve tested, many of them come with a cheap piece of junk for a scope. I understand their reasoning. Companies are trying to keep the price point down so people buy their airguns, but if it is a super cheap scope on your gun, you’re going to get frustrated and not have fun. It is a dilemma. You don’t want to spend $1,000 on an airgun scope but at least buy a functional one. My Sig Sauer and Crosman/Benjamin have all come with good scopes. If yours doesn’t come with a good one, then check out the Riton Optics Primal X1 3-9×40 or, better yet, their Primal X1 4-16×44. But whatever scope you buy, make sure that it is airgun compatible because a lot of scopes aren’t.

Next topic: Pellets. We all know that it is important to buy not only good ammo but also exact ammo to get good groups and have the ultimate performance out of big game rifles. It is just as important to do the same when selecting pellets.

Some airgun companies are trying to make them cheap pellets so they’re affordable, but many are lightweight and flimsy and impossible to get a good group with. I don’t usually rag on companies because everyone is trying to make a living, but one popular airgun company makes horrible pellets. You might as well throw rocks at your target. The best is made by JSB, but Sig Sauer and Crosman also make good pellets. And then I am about to start testing pellets for two companies out South America: Rifle Ammo and Air Boss. To adequately cover pellets will be a whole article in and of itself, so for now let’s move on.

So what are the opportunities to use airguns? Limitless. I see a lot of options. Let’s list out a few.

Airguns are a great avenue to get your kids into hunting if they’re non-hunters. If they don’t want to hunt, just shoot, then airguns are a great place to start. They’re real guns so kids need to be taught gun safety rules because they can hurt or kill you, but hopefully if they make a mistake it won’t be as dangerous as with a big caliber gun. The good deal about starting out kids on airguns is that they don’t kick and don’t make a loud report. So they’re less intimidating.

You’ll need something to shoot. Sig Sauer makes a lot of cool airgun targets, but if you’re a kid on a paper route budget, don’t forget the all-time favorite: tin cans! Or bottles filled with water.

Hunting options abound. Groundhog hunting is about to hit full speed ahead, and opportunities to shoot pigeons in agricultural settings abound. All farmers and ranchers need them thinned out. They poop in their barns, on their equipment and in their livestock feed bunks and spread diseases.

I saw a video of an airgun guide in Africa and they hunted rats at night while spotlighting. That’d be a blast in a barn, wouldn’t it?

Also, now that a lot of people are buying ranchettes out in the country, there are always varmints to thin out. Starlings, pigeons, rats, etc. It is probably not prudent to blast around your neighbors with your ole 30-06, so why not use an airgun?

Well, once again those pesky editors are limiting my word count so I had better shut down, but you can see why airguns are so popular. Plus, some companies are making some cool ones that your kids would love. Sig Sauer makes some cool modern sporting rifles on the AR platform. Ruger made one that mimics their ever popular 10/22, and Springfield made one that mimics the old .30 M1 Carbine.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

You may have noticed a lot of articles written about airguns by grown men recently. And if you’re like me, your first thought was that you had outgrown airguns when you were 9 or 10 years old and had graduated to the real gun club.

That’s the boat that I was in. When my brother-in-law proudly whipped out a break-action pellet gun, I thought that he’d lost it. Why would a grown man digress back to his early grade school days?

Then I got into them. Let me cover that process. I was at a Professional Outdoor Media Association Convention in Columbia, South Carolina, years ago and met Susan, the marketing guru for Winchester airguns. I’d been hearing a lot about airguns and thought that it’d be a good topic to cover. I publish about 325 articles a year, so I’m always scrambling for new topics.

But I had a rocky start with airguns. With my first one, I could only get a 1 ½-inch group at 15 yards. Since we hunt small game with airguns that have a small kill zone, it’s imperative that they be accurate. So it’s a miracle that I even stuck with them. But for some reason I did.

Then in 2014, I got invited to the first GAMO Squirrel Master Classic. I didn’t have much better results there or in their 2015 event. Then I started testing other airguns. Walthers, Ruger, Springfield, Umarex, Benjamin, Crosman and a plethora of other manufacturers.

Because of their inaccuracies I about gave up on airguns numerous times. Then I went on Prostaff with Crosman. I got introduced to some decent break actions and some super accurate PCPs. By now I was all in.

Since then I’ve tested most of the new Sig Sauer airguns. More to come on Sigs later. For this first airgun article I want to cover the basics. So let’s start at the beginning. There are various models available but here are the top three designs.

CO2 AIRGUNS

Sig Sauer makes the coolest CO2 airguns. I think they were smart in that they made airguns that mimic their real guns. They have the same features and are the same weight as their real guns so they’re great training tools. I think this was ingenious.

The Sig airguns are also super cool looking. They have pistols and ARs that your kids would love. I had two “Hunting Small Game with Airguns” seminars in Reno the other day and the young people loved the AR replicas that Sig makes.

If you’re wanting to get your kids into hunting, airguns are a great avenue. I say that they’re great because there is no recoil and they aren’t loud. They are especially great for introducing little girls into hunting. The downside of CO2s is that they aren’t very powerful so they are not really good for hunting small game.

But Sig makes some super cool targets — spinners, box flippers, etc. — which further enhance a kid’s enjoyment in shooting airguns. Or it is fun to shoot the old tried and true tin cans. And CO2s are semi-automatic, so that’s fun. The CO2 pistols are great if you want to run off pest and not kill them.

BREAK ACTIONS

These are the most popular models. Some of the manufacturers boast speeds of up to 1,450 feet per second. Remember, your trusty ole .22 only spits out bullets at 1,250 feet per second, so they’re powerful enough to hunt small game with.

Break actions get their power by compressing a spring or a gas chamber, usually nitrogen. While these may spit out pellets fast, some of the cheaper ones aren’t very accurate. And to me, accuracy trumps all. We’re hunting small game with pellet guns with small kill zones so it is super important to be accurate.

Break actions have a unique recoil system. They kick forward and backwards. Because of their unique recoil, they will destroy a normal rifle scope so you only want to use scopes that are airgun compatible.

Because of their unique recoil, you need to use the artillery hold. Here’s how that works. Hold your right hand tight but with your left hand, cup the forestock loosely and let it slide back/forwards. It’s important to hold the forestock in the exact same spot or it will change the point of impact. Trust me, shoot it in this manner and your groups will tighten.

PRECHARGE PNEUMATICS (PCP)

These are my most favorite because they are the most accurate. These operate by using a charge of air. The rifle will have a tank that will hold 3,000 PSI — that’s right, 3,000 PSI, not 30 PSI like your car tires. The bad deal is, you’ll need an air tank to re-charge your rifle.

So where can you fill your air tanks? You’ll have to go to a skin-diving shop. Or Air Venturi came out with two compressors. One is a plug-in model or recently they came out with a portable model that hooks onto your truck battery so you can fill your tank while out in the field.

Ugh, I can’t believe it but we’re out of room and have hardly gotten started. Standby; there’ll be more upcoming articles on airguns.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

You may have noticed a lot of articles written about airguns by grown men recently. And if you’re like me, your first thought was that you had outgrown airguns when you were 9 or 10 years old and had graduated to the real gun club.

That’s the boat that I was in. When my brother-in-law proudly whipped out a break-action pellet gun, I thought that he’d lost it. Why would a grown man digress back to his early grade school days?

Then I got into them. Let me cover that process. I was at a Professional Outdoor Media Association Convention in Columbia, South Carolina, years ago and met Susan, the marketing guru for Winchester airguns. I’d been hearing a lot about airguns and thought that it’d be a good topic to cover. I publish about 325 articles a year, so I’m always scrambling for new topics.

But I had a rocky start with airguns. With my first one, I could only get a 1 ½-inch group at 15 yards. Since we hunt small game with airguns that have a small kill zone, it’s imperative that they be accurate. So it’s a miracle that I even stuck with them. But for some reason I did.

Then in 2014, I got invited to the first GAMO Squirrel Master Classic. I didn’t have much better results there or in their 2015 event. Then I started testing other airguns. Walthers, Ruger, Springfield, Umarex, Benjamin, Crosman and a plethora of other manufacturers.

Because of their inaccuracies I about gave up on airguns numerous times. Then I went on Prostaff with Crosman. I got introduced to some decent break actions and some super accurate PCPs. By now I was all in.

Since then I’ve tested most of the new Sig Sauer airguns. More to come on Sigs later. For this first airgun article I want to cover the basics. So let’s start at the beginning. There are various models available but here are the top three designs.

CO2 AIRGUNS

Sig Sauer makes the coolest CO2 airguns. I think they were smart in that they made airguns that mimic their real guns. They have the same features and are the same weight as their real guns so they’re great training tools. I think this was ingenious.

The Sig airguns are also super cool looking. They have pistols and ARs that your kids would love. I had two “Hunting Small Game with Airguns” seminars in Reno the other day and the young people loved the AR replicas that Sig makes.

If you’re wanting to get your kids into hunting, airguns are a great avenue. I say that they’re great because there is no recoil and they aren’t loud. They are especially great for introducing little girls into hunting. The downside of CO2s is that they aren’t very powerful so they are not really good for hunting small game.

But Sig makes some super cool targets — spinners, box flippers, etc. — which further enhance a kid’s enjoyment in shooting airguns. Or it is fun to shoot the old tried and true tin cans. And CO2s are semi-automatic, so that’s fun. The CO2 pistols are great if you want to run off pest and not kill them.

BREAK ACTIONS

These are the most popular models. Some of the manufacturers boast speeds of up to 1,450 feet per second. Remember, your trusty ole .22 only spits out bullets at 1,250 feet per second, so they’re powerful enough to hunt small game with.

Break actions get their power by compressing a spring or a gas chamber, usually nitrogen. While these may spit out pellets fast, some of the cheaper ones aren’t very accurate. And to me, accuracy trumps all. We’re hunting small game with pellet guns with small kill zones so it is super important to be accurate.

Break actions have a unique recoil system. They kick forward and backwards. Because of their unique recoil, they will destroy a normal rifle scope so you only want to use scopes that are airgun compatible.

Because of their unique recoil, you need to use the artillery hold. Here’s how that works. Hold your right hand tight but with your left hand, cup the forestock loosely and let it slide back/forwards. It’s important to hold the forestock in the exact same spot or it will change the point of impact. Trust me, shoot it in this manner and your groups will tighten.

PRECHARGE PNEUMATICS (PCP)

These are my most favorite because they are the most accurate. These operate by using a charge of air. The rifle will have a tank that will hold 3,000 PSI — that’s right, 3,000 PSI, not 30 PSI like your car tires. The bad deal is, you’ll need an air tank to re-charge your rifle.

So where can you fill your air tanks? You’ll have to go to a skin-diving shop. Or Air Venturi came out with two compressors. One is a plug-in model or recently they came out with a portable model that hooks onto your truck battery so you can fill your tank while out in the field.

Ugh, I can’t believe it but we’re out of room and have hardly gotten started. Standby; there’ll be more upcoming articles on airguns.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.