I bought my daughter a New England Arms single shot youth .243. It's light, short, suprisingly accurate, and has a very managable recoil. I bought this particular model based on budget/value, there's tons of good youth guns out there though if cost isn't a big factor.

i killed my first deer when i was 12 and i used a remington .223 they have good distance and don't kick very hard.

If rifles are legal in your area, the .243 would be a good choice. They have a company that has a .243/ 20 Ga. combo that would be good. Other wise I'd go with a 20ga. youth shotgun(mossberg makes a good one), that way you could hunt birds(Quail,Phesent), Deer, and turkeys too.
Good Luck and Good hunting young man, and welcome to "Our Family"(hunters/fishermen)

This is what I did for my 8 year old Grandson Alex two seasons ago. 25-06 Remington 700 in an aftermarket Ramline youth stock and if works fantastic, Alex is very light weight but exceptionally strong for a fly weight. He loves the 25-06 and season before last shot a nice doe and last season at age 9 see my photos of him taken a nice little buck at 250 yards and doe moments later at 150 yards, both with one shot. As the young man gets older, he can switch to the adult stock.

For us extreme shooters pushing the 700 yard mark for Coyotes and deer, the 25-06 is the best cartridge from Varmint hunting to Caribou and is the smallest recommended for Elk so the young man can surly keep hunting.

The 243 which is a necked down 308 Winchester to 243-08 is a very nice cartridge. However it doesn’t have the range, range of bullet weights and wind bucking ability of the 25-06 has.

The 25-06 is a 30-06 necked down to 25 cal and if you reload you can make your cases out of 30-06 Military Match Brass

I would cosider a muzzleloader. In many places their are seperate seasons, can be used during shotgun season. This means they have an extended oppurtuninty to get a deer. It also teaches them them that they must make one shot count, and that you should be patient and wait till it gets within range. They are also nice since you cant hunt deer with rifles in Iowa where i am from.

I would go with Clay's answer. The Remington 700 is a great gun.

Three rifles a good hunter should have, 22-250, 25-06 and pending on your loacation either a 30-06 or a 338 Win Mag!

22 Long Rifle is a given!

Clay is right on and in more ways than one! The 25-06 that he recommends is an excellent round that will last the boy a lifetime. Also the remington 700 is the world wide choice for accurate firearms. If you want to buy the boy a rifle that will last a lifetime, hit everything he shoots at, and will work from the FL everglades to CO mountains then you have hit on the right bullet, right gun. Get him a 100 dollar shorter stock to go with it and he can in then turn pass it (the stock, possibly the gun) to his kids. It's a great gun (I may have said that before)

.243 is a good gun to start em off with.

I like Clay's answer... it is ideal! You can even down load the .25-06 a little the first year or two if you want to but I doubt that will be necessary as the recoil is very light much like the .243 with lots more punch. He will love it the first year because it is a man'g rifle and he will love it more each year after that as he sees it perform in the field. Let him shoot 75 grain or 87 grain bullets for practice with near-zero recoil and use 100 grain bullets for deer. Another life time option is the .223 or 22-250. Plenty for deer now and better every year for targets, plinking, varmints and fun shooting... just not as versatile as the 25-06 for larger game but a TON of fun and he will never part with it either. My 13 year old niece used a .223 for her third deer last year because she felt her .243 had a little too much recoil. The deer didn't notice the difference though and never took a step after impact. The important thing is to get him out there hunting. Good luck!

I don't care for the safty on the 700, what about the Winchester three position safty? This is the boys first rifle.

.375 Winchester, or if you an find a 6mm Remington

.243

When I was 13 my dad let me hunt with his 1894 Marlin chambered in 44 Magnum. He said if I killed a deer with it I could keep it. To make a long story short, the gun is now mine. I got very lucky and a 155 inch 10 pointer stepped out of the woods at about 65 yards. I made a perfect heart shot and kept the gun. Few people know how accurate a 44 mag can be, but I was able to get 3 inch 5-shot groups at 100 yards with it and it has very little recoil. I say this a great deer gun out to 125 yards for any age hunter.

Where I live in Western New York it is shotgun only, which sucks. I started with a Ithica 16 gauge.

A .243 should work pretty well for a youngin. They are perfect for whitetails and small enough for a kid.

If we could use rifles in Ohio I would use a 30-30 or a 30.06