For those of you with kids

[starkvegasdawg]

When did you introduce them to hunting? I started taking my little girl last year when she was 7. She's 8 now and I took her with me Saturday and was able to get a doe. I had been worried she might not be able to handle seeing one get shot and then die because she loves animals. To her credit, she did just fine and seemed to have a firm concept of what happened and how it fits the cycle of life. I think it also helps she loves fried deer tenderloin, too. I was just wondering when you were first introduced to hunting and when you introduced your kids to it. I think I was 6 or 7 but I don't remember for certain.

[SpeckleDawg]

I'll be interested in the responses as my son is just turning 2 this month. He is obviously still too young to go on a hunt, but he loves going to the camp and riding around/playing. He's been around dead deer and sure points them out when he sees them hanging on a wall. I'm not sure when we'll start letting him go and sit, but I just want to make sure he has fun doing it. I don't think I started hunting until I was ~10yrs old (single shot .410 for squirrels). My wife and I both love to hunt, so I doubt he'll make it to 10 before joining the fun. I have been almost exclusively bow hunting for the last several years, but I imagine I will have to make a few more gun hunts in the future so we can sit in a box together.

Have you had your daughter out around you shooting before? Has she done any shooting of her own? I'm also curious about where to start with that down the road.

[FISHDAWG]

my son started going with me some when he was 9 - not always because I had to hunt from a ground blind, and the fact that I wouldn't take him EVERY time kinda kindled his interest even more ... I let him use my gun while still sitting beside me when he was 10 ... he missed his first deer standing unsupported from about a 100 yds (got it on video and we still laugh about it) ... that miss wore on him so the next day we went to one of my special stands and he killed his first deer - a 9 point that was truly worthy of mounting (also have this kill on video) .... 3 weeks later I put him in a short ladder stand by himself in a green field where he first missed, I had barely taken the stand myself when he shot ... one shot, I then started thinking he fell or his gun fell and started to panic and it took a little while for me to reach his stand and he wasn't there when I arrived - panic is promoted to stage two - after 3-4 minutes I saw him 200 yards away come back into the field dragging the small doe he missed a few weeks before - he has been my hunting buddy every since

[chainedup_Dawg]

My son started going with me when he was 7, he's 10 now. The first couple of years he was just sitting with me taking pictures and learning. Last year he started carrying his own gun. He hasn't had a deer get within range yet though. Of course, it's hard to kill a deer when you won't go. It's strange, I've had a hard time getting him to go with me. He hates being cold and he loves his sleep!

ETA: i try really hard not to pressure him into going. I will ask him if he wants to go the night before and I'll give him about an hour to think about it. If he says no i just make sure to not act like it's a big deal even though I'm dying for him to love it like i do. I will say this, he begged me to let him skip school for a turkey hunt last year so maybe he's just a turkey hunter!?

[BrunswickDawg]

I think it is good to expose them to it early - say 5-6ish depending on maturity. I've never been a big hunter. I like birds - turkey, dove, quail - but could care less about deer hunting. Always drove my Dad crazy. Like anything, some kids eat it up and some kids don't. I focused more on fishing with my kids because it is usually more rewarding for them from an action standpoint and kept their interest. Also, you go 5 minutes in any direction from my house and you can hit water, so it is a lot less time intensive and you don't feel like it is wasted when they got bored after an hour.

[DownwardDawg]

My son shot his first deer when he was 6. A doe. He started going with me a couple times a year when he was 5 I think. Sitting in a shooting house just before dark.

[rolodawg]

I started going hunting with my dad around 4. Got my first one when I was 6 with the trusty .410. Started sitting in a stand by myself at 8 with a Ruger 44Mag.

I started taking my oldest to the stand when she was 5 (only a few of times of course). We would go in the afternoon and sit in a box stand. She fired and missed last year (she was 8). We practiced a little more over the summer and she has killed 2 does so far this year. My seven year old daughter doesn't have any interest yet, but I feel that will start to change with her older sister being successful.

The good thing about taking your kid, other than relationship building, is you can let them fill the freezer and you can concentrate on a trophy.

[basedog]

Took my daughter when she 4 years old. We sat in a ground box stand at 3:30, at 3:35 3 does stood at the edge of the food plot, she was standing looking out one of the windows, I told her not to move which she didn't. The deer left and she looked at me and said "Dad, they looked like kangaroos", man did I laugh but they do I suppose if you've never seen one live. Another time she must have been about 7 or 8, we got in stand around 3:00, we sat for a while and after about a hour she asked "when are the deer coming out"? I told her around dark time, she replied, "why did we get here so early"? LOL.