Let us know how it goes. It cool how you are doing this and I would like to know how it goes. Hopefully it will help others introducing others to the sport.
I'm pretty excited about it, I'll take plenty of pictures and put something up about the day. I am also taking a guy out to bow hunt for the first time this weekend as well. He has rifle hunted but never any experience with bow, i told him to prepare himself for a real experience.
I'm debating on taking my son, who will be 6 in March turkey hunting this spring. Well... sitting in the woods really. LOL. No way he'll be able to shut up or stay still long enough to hunt turkeys. Whatever you do, just keep it light hearted and fun. No expectations other than quality time in the woods and teaching. If you see game, great, if not, no biggie. Make it fun and interesting.
I think Turkey hunting might be fun, usually you can get away with sitting shorter, and not as cold. I'm going to teach him to shoot and maybe bag him a turkey this coming April. Good luck, I'm sure it will be a good experience.
This is probably your best bet. Squirrel hunting takes less patience and you don't have to be still and quite as much. Maybe pick up a squirrel call and let him play with it for a bit. I started taking my son with me waterfowl hunting and some squirrel when he was 5 as long as it was not to cold out. Both of these don't require the silence and sitting still unless there are birds in the air. Also you don't have to worry about the scent or your donuts and hot chocolate spooking game. The donuts and hot coco are also something I always do because it makes it more of a treat. I remeber when my dad and uncle took me hunting they always did the same thing. I hope you guys have a good time.
I agree with going for smaller game first. Bird preserves worked great for my son. You know you're going to shoot a lot, you keep moving and they don't have to keep quiet. You can take breaks and let the kid shoot your gun (at a bush or something) when you think they're ready. They will gain respect for the act of killing and they will gain confidence and interest by watching you have success, I think, more than learning the "patience" and "sit perfectly still" aspects of deer hunting right off the bat.
Well, I have quite the story to tell, it was overall a successful day, not much hunting, but experiences and memories were made. Long story. Extra note, I am not the best when it comes to managing children and their emotions. ---This story needs to start at 0500, I get up and go to Koda (Child) and tap him on the leg, he, looks at me and I think we are about to go back to sleep, maybe it’s too early. I go to kitchen and get some water, 14 seconds and an over active child is dressed and ready to go, huge smile, super pumped to go hunt squirrels. I get ready quicker than I was expecting. Off we go. ---0530- Driving down Distillery Rd. when I see a dead deer in road, dang, what a waste. She just moved her head, she is still alive. I stop and explain to Koda why I need to see how bad off she is. He stays in truck where it’s warm. It is a very young doe; I’m thinking this year’s birth. Has a broken back right, bone sticking out, blood shot eyes; she just looks too young to handle the trauma. I called the police and let them know I am going to put this deer down, expecting a cop to show up within a few mins. I take my knife and go over to her, she decides to get up and try and run, does not make it far and lies down. I feel really bad now, so I grab my .380, I am in city limits, as most know, shooting in city limits is frowned upon. Been about 4 min, and no cop, this is a very small town, response times are within 1-2 min, and at 5am, the city is dead quiet (I used to work for this town). I tell Koda I am going to have to shoot her; he seems to be absolutely fine with this. I go and shoot her in the head, in a safe direction just in case. I pick up my brass and go to put pistol back in truck. Koda is crying, I talked to him and he said he just wasn’t ready to see that happen. My bad, I explained why it had to happen and he settled down, but still had some tears. What a great way to start the day. ---0545- Police decide to show up as I’m loading deer into truck, Every blue light he has, he decide needed to be on. In Tennessee it is legal to keep a loaded pistol in your vehicle without a permit, I do not have a permit, (I will not go into why I refuse to pay for that “right” to carry anywhere. 7 years in the Army (Infantry, blah blah blah) 3 years as a police officer, etc, I know how to use a firearm.) This cop looks fresh, has new cop smell to him. He asked how I killed it, I was straight up and told him everything, his response was, “yeah, we have had to put a bunch down lately”. Thanked me for calling it to dispatch, and said see ya. 0615- Arrive at location. Put him in some orange and let him carry the .22, did not load it yet. We get into woods and I’m telling him about how to handle a firearm, he seems somewhat interested, and keeps talking about all the squirrels he is going shoot. I’m worried about what he is saying because it seems he just wants to murder stuff. I keep that in mind, and think he is just young and no one has really taught him that the kill needs to be respected. We get to a good safe area and I load the rifle. This is where he tells me he has never shot a gun, at all, ever. I go over some basic safety stuff, I told him to point towards a tree and shoot; I could tell he wasn’t aiming, just wanted him to get a feel for it. I change tactics to learning to shoot. I told him the squirrels are not city squirrels and will hide because we are being loud. I set up a few targets and let him shoot, I got on to him a few times when he “forgot” some safety, but I didn’t let it get out of hand. Just reminded him why safety is so important. ---We spent about 1 hour shooting, and about 30 minutes walking the woods listening to sounds and animals. He had blast. Next time he comes over we are going to focus strictly on marksmanship. He is not getting taught this stuff at home. It gets pretty frustrating trying to get him to shoot properly instead of just blowing off rounds, both equally fun, but the marksmanship needs to be there. I may buy him a bolt action instead of the semi-auto I let him use this weekend. He was so pumped the whole ride home, all he talked about was shooting. He didn’t hang around when I hung dressed out the deer at the house. It took him a little to come out and see the deer again. He came and asked to see the heart, so I dug it out and showed him. I had to trash some of her, she took a good hit to the butt. ---We had a family party yesterday and when they left, sister-in law called my wife and said Koda cried because he didn’t want to leave. Guess he had a really good time; and I kept my cool dealing with a child, so it worked out good, plus I got some deer meat. I’m not ready to take a child on a deer hunt yet, it takes a lot not to lose focus, I’m used to having my soldiers, you can yell at them and they have to take it. ---Thanks for the tips; I hope to have some other stories to tell. Merry Christmas.
