At the top of my daughters Christmas list is a bow. She has never shot a bow before so we are starting from scratch. I am no archer myself so I need some help. Do I get her a target bow to start with and then a "real" hunting bow down the road? She is a small 9 year old and I'm not even sure how much weight she can pull back. She definitely won't be bow hunting this year, just learning how to shoot. Also is there anywhere I can go around the Birmingham area to get her some archery lessons.....trust me she doesn't need to learn from me. i am really excited about doing this with her, I just don't know where to start.

My 12 year daughter asked for one last Christmas.didnt know how serious she was so we got a bear from academy it will adjust like 9 inches or so of draw length and go up to 35 lbs of weight with 70% let off.she loved it and can shoot a decent group at 20 yrds.wish I'd spent a little more and got one shed be able to hunt with.but when she's ready to hunt I'll get her another one.

For a kid that young you can't go wrong with a Genesis bow. They have them in all colors. As for lessons, I am not sure. A lot of counties have 4H archery clubs. My son shoots with the group in etowah county. They have kids from never shot a bow up to teenage Robin Hoods. There are about the same number of girls vs boys, so she will not be the only girl out there. We have great coaches and they work with the kids and teach them a lot. There is a state tournament each spring and I'm pretty sure there was a group from Jefferson County there last time. You can call your county 4H office and they can give you the info.

This is exactly what I dealt with last Christmas. Eli ended up with a Hoyt ignite ton of adjustment with that bow. Don't quote me but draw length 15-31" and draw weight of 19-60lbs if my memory is right. I posted on here last year and went to a local bow shop and talked to the owner. I didn't want to buy him a different bow every other year and things like that. The owner was super nice and worked with Eli for at least 30 minutes getting it all set up and the best part is this bow should last him several years. We even made a trip to the bow shop in September just for them to check his draw length and adjust the draw weight and once again they spent about 30 minutes working with him giving him instruction and watching him shoot.

Another good source for these questions is Shaw.

If it's something she will not hunt with, go with a Genesis. If she wants to hunt with it, go with a Mission Craze.

Here's a kids bow currently posted on Archerytalk. Years ago I bought a youth bow for my nephew. it turned out to be junk. Nothing he could hunt with and I spent over $150. this youth bow has a lot of adjustments. Its has sights and arras. $215 TYD

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4344250&highlight=youth+bow+for+sale

That's not a bad deal.