??? of the Day ... Your kids & Hunting

[Founder]

Your kids .... Are they as obsessed with hunting as you are? Are they into hunting as much as you were when you were young? Do you find it easy, or difficult to find fun hunts to take them on? Is there plenty of opportunity?

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
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[DBG3285]

My child is still really young. So as far as opportunities for him I am not yet sure. But I do know he loves to go out with me every chance he can. I take him everywhere and almost every time. Sometimes it makes it difficult for me to hunt effectively but the memories are worth more than any amount of inches could ever amount to.

That's my take on it. I think from my experience with my kid and my nephew that there are plenty of opportunities. Just need to take a second to breathe and take the time to make it a priority, and not take it so seriously. We need to remember the true value and trophies of the hunt is the experience and memories. And I think a lot of us have forgotten that along the way.

 

[Weiserbucks]

My son just turned 12 this month and is obsessed with hunting . Took him on his first deer hunt this last Oct, he harvested a doe and hasn't shut up about it yet ! Our property is loaded with ground squirrels , when hes done with chores and homework hes suited up in head to toe camo for his daily spot and stalk squirrel hunt . All he talks about is the next hunt , whatever it may be . Hes somehow managed to convince himself that he will draw the Henry's and the Strip as soon as he gets his drivers license . I think its great that he concentrates on hunting and schoolwork instead of video games and drugs . Hell , he even found a weekend job because he wants to help pay for his upcoming applications , cant beat that !

 

[nfh]

MY 3 year old pretends to shoot and gut deer. When my wife shot a antelope he watched us dress it out so he thinks everyday I go out and do that. He ask how big of a deer I shot when really im at work. Then at family events he tells everyone I shot a big deer or elk...

The sad thing is when he gets to school he might get kicked out for pretending to shoot deer since our country has gone down the crapper with these liberals

 

[junior]

My boys are in their late teens. They seem to be able to turn the obsession on and off hunting, and cherry pic for sure! Only hunting the early season and rut during archery deer.

One thing I find really funny! Once they started skinning and processing their own game. The harvest success dropped 80%! lol.

They do love to group hunt, no matter the specie. Always more interested when family or a friend is involved. This is when I really see they got the bug!

There is plenty of opportunity for the youth, I think. However, I don't agree with some of the fees my state charges the youth!

 

[dz]

I have 9 children from 32 to 5. The older two boys went through stages of Hunting at 12 to Sports at 14 then girls at 16. They never had the bug that I did, as I hunted everyday of the season when I was 16. But I would have to say that my 24 year old son has harvested more Big game animals at his age then I had. I have tried to pick the hunts very carefully for them as to their ability and age. We have turned into Elk meat hunters and there is lots of youth opportunity for cow hunts. I asked my 16 year old, when we was packing out his elk, if he would keep hunting when he gets older, and he said yes. This year he hunted one day, because of Football and Basketball schedule. Here in Oregon the youth cow season is from August 1st till December 31st. Luckily for us the football coach let the boys have Saturday of Labor day off and a Bull called us in. If you have the funds to travel there can be some really good youth hunts out there. This year I had 4 of my children shoot elk. It doesn't get any better than that, except maybe when they all are hunting and we go 10 for 10 (Mom doesn't hunt).

 

[tailchasers]

Both my sons got brought into hunting before they could walk or talk while neither are as dog crazy as me. My oldest at 23 is more of a quality type hunter where as my other son at 18 just can't get enough and just wants to hunt, he went duck hunting today with 0? temps and 30mph winds. Opportunity has not been easy with all the tag reductions happening in Colorado and Wyoming but we still manage to spend plenty of time in the field. Used to fill the freezer with Wyoming doe antelope hunts which really helped bring my youngest into the shooting sports. With both boys going to be in college next few years their opportunity will diminish as well but we will still scrap out some hunts.

"Courage is being scared to death but
saddling up anyway."

 

[hhunter23]

my two kids were exposed to hunting really young also. being 5 and 2 my 5 year old boy LOVES elk hunting. he loves how big they are and loves to hear them bugle. he runs around the house with a paper towel roll bugling. my little girl still hasnt figured it out yet, but loves to mimic her brother. im taking them more and more. they still struggle making it more than half the day before getting bored. at least the 2 year old does. my boy has been better since i got him a red ryder BB gun. now he shoots everything he can! its fun we will see what happens when he gets older.


"Shoot Straight"

 

[mevertsen]

My stepdaughter is 9. She had never been around hunting until I met them 2 1/2 years ago.

She helped me gut my deer and antelope this year. On her birthday we managed to catch a lion with a friend in the rocks at very close range. After the lion was dead she wanted to drag it back to the truck. She got a a bunch of blood on her hands and asked how to get I off. I told her to wash them off with mud, which she did.

Heading out with the hounds tomorrow morning to chase cats and she is pumped. Got her her own backpack for Christmas.

 

[littlebighorn]

It seems that it's harder to engage kids in anything related to the outdoors because of technology (video games, cell phones, movies on demand, etc.). I think the key is to keep asking.

My son is now 28, and he is my only hunting companion. But it wasn't easy to get him started when none of his friends hunted. I did invite them to come along sometimes and that seemed to help. I stuck with it and put him in for every state I could afford as soon as he was old enough. I started him hunting as soon as I could and he had some early success, which helped. Once he was old enough to hunt I made sure my main goal was to get him an animal first before I got serious about hunting. Now he has several points built up in multiple states so he has some chances at good hunts and he loves hunting as much as I do.

There is nothing better than hunting and connecting with nature when one of your kids are by your side. Every hour is an exciting adventure when we are in the mountains together.

 

[Phantom Hunter]

Although both my kids like to hunt access that is affordable makes hunting a sometimes thing. Living in Texas almost all land is private and requires an expensive lease. Seems like when the kids grew up and the few freebie hunts we had access to from friends and family land became fewer and fewer due to deaths in the family and land changing ownership they had less desire to hunt. Ole Dad can't afford to pay for all of us to hunt so they are on their own. I still get them out on out of state hunts or state land draw hunts once-in-a-while. The future of the kids of those of us on the the lower income scale seems bleaker and bleaker. Those who live in states with lots of public land count your blessings and try to hold on to those privileges.

 

[mulecreek]

I have two sons, 8 and 7. The eight year old seems to want to go more than the 7 year old. THe older boy went was only 3 months old when I took him on his first hunt, javelina on the Arizona/Mexico border. He has since been with me on rabbit, pheasant, chukar, antelope, deer, elk and bear hunts. He likes it but he does poop out soon into the hunt. If conditions are bad and game few he looses interest easily. Ever weekend he wants to go shoot rabbits. Fortunately we live in a fairly remote area and have miles of BLM as our backyard. We can and do shoot rabbits,ground squirrels and prairie dogs from out back porch with an air gun. The younger one likes it but is not as enthusiastic. He came with me on a deer hunt this year and did great but lost interest and asked to go back to camp around noon on the first day as we had not seen any deer up to that point.

I don't have any difficulty finding hunts to take them on. They may not always be 1st class deer and elk hunts but they are also learning that hunting is not always easy. I find it frustrating when I hear others complain about the lack of opportunity for kids. I think they are focusing too much on deer and elk and not enough on the smaller game. I don't know about you but I shoot a lot of rabbits, pheasant, ducks and turkeys before I took my first buck.

 

[elkfromabove]

No! No! Difficult! Yes, if they wanted to go through the expense and hassle, but hunting is no longer an item that is high on their list of priorities. Five of my 6 children (now all married adults) were active hunters at one time, but now 2 of them actually resent me spending time and money hunting, while 2 others are indifferent and 1 daughter still likes to go but can no longer afford to spend the money and hates the hassle of getting the license and permits. And I only have 2 grandsons (sons of the interested daughter, ages 10 and 11) who are interested and, hopefully, they will get through the hunter safety course, which I'll pay for, in the next few weeks. The 11 year old turns 12 in 12 days so he'll be able to hunt deer, but the other one has learning and behavioral disabilities and won't be ready for some time. In other words, I'm pretty much the last of the now 28 member Tracy clan that hunts.

 

[HunterHarry]

Raising my son in the outdoors was the highlight of my life, nothing I've done or will ever do will compare to the moments I spent hunting and fishing with my kid.

The lessons learned were priceless, he learned to be a man, not to whine and complain of hardships, hard work or of miserable conditions.
Sub Zero Cold, hundred degree heat, blistered feet, leaking waders and vertical mountains, big ones that got away and big ones that didn't.

Those days, etched in my brain, are now just a memory.
But they are the memories that will run through my head when I'm on my death bed and I'm such a lucky man to have been able to share this life.
Spend what ever it takes in time and money for those precious times with your children, in the end there is nothing in your life that will ever return such value.

Memories...