Hunting with kids

[tha bugman]

We go to have fun...if that means throwing rocks in the river, calling up a bird, finding a stick that looks like a gun...whatever, as long as we are together I could care less if I kill one or not....done that with both my kids.  My son learned a lot this year and he wanted to go more and more, consequently sister did as well...so now I really got my hands full!  I started them out in a ground blind (dome style) with chairs, we have now progressed to sitting on the ground in a gobbler chair behind a net blind.  I finally moved to using teh chair and covering them with my leafy suit top (this makes running and gunning easier).  Make it fun for them and they will want to come back and bagging a bird will just be a bonus! 

[Sir-diealot]

Kinda depends on your priorities. I treat hunting with kids as old school classes. Killing a bird at all costs is not a lesson I want to teach. I teach: do it the right way and success will come. And have fun doing it!

There is no right or wrong way unless it is illegal.

[howl]

Kinda depends on your priorities. I treat hunting with kids as old school classes. Killing a bird at all costs is not a lesson I want to teach. I teach: do it the right way and success will come. And have fun doing it!

There is no right or wrong way unless it is illegal.

Right and legal are often very different. What is right for you might be different than what is right for me.

[1iagobblergetter]

Kinda depends on your priorities. I treat hunting with kids as old school classes. Killing a bird at all costs is not a lesson I want to teach. I teach: do it the right way and success will come. And have fun doing it!

There is no right or wrong way unless it is illegal.

Right and legal are often very different. What is right for you might be different than what is right for me.

And That's fine.. Hunt how you want to hunt to get the gratification your after and as long as others hunt legally they will hunt how they want to hunt..Its not a no blinds/decoys/tss/ etc. allowed forum...

[BrowningGuy88]

I have taken my little girls hunting, and each girl has been a different experience... 

I would recommend some type of blind, and I have used a leafy ground blind on stakes...  Something that they can see through that keeps them hidden...

This season, I ended up killing a bird with each of my young girls, and we were not in a blind for either bird...  But the bird I killed with my youngest was a miracle (I was literally holding her down with one hand, holding the gun with the other, and calling with the mouth call).

Here is the blind I generally use with the kids:
http://www.hunterspec.com/product/collapsible-super-light-portable-ground-blind

You have to remember that it is a different experience to take a child, and there are (or should be) some different activities and expectations.   Walking with my oldest (at 7 years old), I saw a pine cone on the logging road as something to avoid stepping on, and she saw as something to stop and investigate...

As birds are gobbling and coming in, they might see a frog , hawk, or coyote that interests them far more than the bird you are working...

I make sure they have binoculars that they can use, a box call that they can play, and that they have a "job" to do while turkey hunting.   

I also make sure I have some activities that are fun and rewarding after sitting quietly and still for extended periods of time...  Whether it be sitting on my lap and driving the truck down a dirt road, taking the quad for a ride, looking for or trying to catch frogs, pollywogs, or even bluegill in the pond after hunting, etc...  The drive home always consists of stopping for pancakes...

And, the "not talking" is the most difficult and least fun aspect of turkey hunting for the kids (and most of the adults) I have taken...  I made it more fun by coming up with some goofy hand signals...

I have an almost 3 year old and he's been to the turkey woods with me twice. The first time last season when he wasn't even two yet and I literally had no one to watch him with some activities that were going on that day. I took that as a morning to listen, pull cards, let him play in the dirt, etc... We killed a coyote that morning and I couldn't even believe I saw a bird as much commotion as the little one was making much less a coyote. It was just a right time, right place thing and I had not even hit a call. Since then he wants to "pow sumfin with daddy" - even squirrels - he loves to be there when I shoot.

The second time was the last weekend I had to hunt this season and it was a HARD season in Alabama. I had killed two birds the previous weekend on national forest land and had to leave in the middle of the following week to travel for work. I literally had one day left to hunt and the Friday afternoon I left straight from work and roosted a bird in a prime killing zone and he was one of those that was just gonna die the next morning. A sure thing deal. I literally walk up the steps and my boy runs up and says "Can I go tuckey huntin with you daddy?". It's a weird thing to realize toting a bird over your shoulder is not even close to the most important thing any more. So up I get at 4:30 the next morning, pack the SUV with more junk than I have ever taken hunting and go into to get him out of bed and into his seat. It hit me on the way up the steps that I had put my "field" gun in the car, which is odd for me because I was going to a strut zone in a creek where a long shot should be 35 yards. What I realized is I had put more emphasis on killing that turkey as far away from us I could so he wouldn't get spooked. So, I put my boy in the seat and grabbed that gun and put it back in the house and back out the door with my 870 Youth 20 gauge. Arrive at the farm and get out, get my gear out, and wake the boy up and change him into some "hunting" clothes. I realize I can't tote him, the gun, and the lounger to where I want to go so I leave the lounger in the SUV. Off we go.

Here's where it gets interesting... I have him asleep on my shoulder, gun in my left hand completely unloaded (I usually load at the vehicle), and am easing through the pines into the creek. In the twilight I find the "killing" tree that I have killed so many sitting by and I lean my gun up and drop to a knee. He kinda wakes up as I wallow around to a sitting position where he can still rest his head on my arm. Load the gun and lay it by my right leg. As light starts to rise, a gobble rings out around 100 yards away. The boy wakes up and says in what sounded like a megaphone voice - "What was that!?!" "A gobbler buddy. We got to be really quiet if we want to see him ok?" "Ok Daddy"

I decided to play this one aggressive while I had the boy's attention and cackled on a mouth call and did a fly down with my hat. I slid him to sit between my propped up knees where he should be able to see and got the gun where I might be able to actually get it up to shoot. The gobbler is gobbling like crazy and I yelp and cackle one more time around 15 minutes later. My son is literally pointing every time he gobbles with that little hand shining brightly saying "he's over there!" and "Daddy I can hear him!". This turkey does the unthinkable and flies down in the strut zone where we can see him. Instead of picking up my gun and shooting him at 50 yards, I'm pushing little hands down where Tom can't see them! I'm whispering, "be still son, just be still" but little man is too excited! He throws that little head back against my chest and says "Daddy when you gonna POW him?" The gig is up! Tom is stretching his neck looking for that hen, and I know only two outcomes so I yelp and cluck on my mouth call and hold my left hand down over my little boy's arms while I try to balance my 20 gauge with one hand. The tom is coming. He's 30 and closing, he's 25, he's 22, this gun won't hold steady - dang it! Then it hits me... Fool - you've killed a 110+, but he's never seen one. You've seen hundred's die, and hundreds more do their thing, but he hasn't ever seen one strut. I lowered the gun and slowly point to the tom and showed him his beard and let him watch the tom shine in the morning sun. It's the most humbling hunt I've ever had. I watched that bird 10 minutes at 30 yards and never shot him. He never spooked and my son pointed and whispered and I told him he was strutting and watched his eyes shine. I let that turkey walk even after he turned his fan to me at 35 yards and I could have easily got my gun up, clucked, and hammered him.

That was the best hunt I have ever had. I ate 3 tags this year, but my son got to watch a longbeard show off for 10-12 minutes in 410 lead range.

I'll take him intentionally to kill one when he is 5 or 6 probably, but if he asks to go before then and I don't have a guest coming I will take him. And I will cherish every moment.

[jshark14]

Great story! I like your perspective. Thanks!


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[Sir-diealot]

Kinda depends on your priorities. I treat hunting with kids as old school classes. Killing a bird at all costs is not a lesson I want to teach. I teach: do it the right way and success will come. And have fun doing it!

There is no right or wrong way unless it is illegal.

Right and legal are often very different. What is right for you might be different than what is right for me.

Then don't make a blanket statement suggesting your way is the "right way"

[Marc]

I'll take him intentionally to kill one when he is 5 or 6 probably, but if he asks to go before then and I don't have a guest coming I will take him. And I will cherish every moment.

That is a great way to do it...  I told my kids I will take them when they want to go, and they also understand that there are certain rules "such as being quiet and still upon request," and they also understand that Daddy will likely stay out hunting longer than they want to sometimes...  (When I started taking each child at 3, I took them with the understanding that it would be close to home and a limited time in the field according to their attention span and desire).

I still make attempts to make it fun for them, and generally have some very appealing activity planned for them, but they also have started to understand that life does not revolve around them when they go into the field with me now...  I also attempt to make them feel involved in the experience, and that their presence had some significance to our success (or failure).

One thing I will say about taking a child, is that they remind us why we enjoy it...  My kids notice the colors of the sunrise (that I all too often forget to appreciate or take for granted), and the joy of seeing a hawk or eagle...  They question aspects of nature and science that will likely help them to question and learn about other aspects of life...

Admittedly, I have had to deftly negotiate around the whole "breeding" aspect of turkey hunting when they question me as to why I try to sound like a girl turkey instead of a boy turkey...  (My youngest pointed out that in her class boys like to be around other boys more than girls)....

[AndyH]

I use a blind with my 6 yr old son. He's just to young to sit still for long periods of time. I would also recommend getting yours one of the Caldwell shooting pods. That way he or she doesn't have to hold the gun all the time plus at that age most can't hold the gun on their target for very long.

[silvestris]

Before one takes a kid, one should ask whose ego is really being massaged.  God made squirrels and rabbits for a reason.  Turkey hunting is serious business and a kid probably should not have too much placed on his plate too soon.

[yelpy]

Yes I would most definitely hunt from a blind with a 6 year old. Not only do they hide movement the kids enjoy it more.

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[LRD]

It all depends on the kid. I never did a blind with my son, but he's always did good with movement and sitting still. He killed his first longbeard at 8 and killed 4 this year at 10.