how to introduce hunting to a young person?

[Squid4]

My oldest daughter will soon be at the age that i want her to at least experience hunting. My question is what is a good way to introduce her into it without it affecting her in a negative way? I think its important for her to see and learn the proper meaning behind taking an animal. I want her to see the process of the hunt, the cleaning and preparing of the game and show her how to use what was taken.

thanks

[Catfish]

Just take her hunting. Squirrel would be the easist to start. My kids didn`t care much for hunting, but my grandkid like it. I took my number 2 granddaughter squirrel hunting and told her to sit down and be quiet. She said she wanted to sit on my lap. I ask how I could shoot with her on my lap. Her reply was she would get off when we saw a squirrel, and she never shut her mouth, but we had fun and she is ready to go again. And definately show them how to clean game. There will be a little head between you and the game that you will have to keep pushing back, and there will be a bunch what is that as they sort through the insides. My oldest granddaughter is 12 and helping me clean fish now. She not real good and very slow, but she is there from start to finish. One other thing, if she get tired and want to go home take her, don`t make it work or booring. If she talks to much let her, it a girl thing.

[fabsroman]

I think the key of it all is to make it fun. My daughter is 3 1/2 years old right now. She found my goose calls and asked what they are for, so I explained it to her, blew them a little, and then she started blowing them. She started on the duck calls too and my 1 1/2 year old son decided to join in too. In October I took our family out to a farm I hunt and we were just playing around. She asked to blow the calls that I had in the truck, so I let her. After blowing on them, she turned to me and asked "Daddy, why aren't the geese coming here yet?" Try explaining that to a kid her age. In November, after we got back from the park, I had her sitting in the back of my truck and there were geese flying around our house everywhere. She asked to blow the call so I let her. What happened next was incredible. A group of 4 flew by not 20 yards from us and she started blowing the call. They all turned their head to look at her as they flew by. She and I were both excited by that. Went pheasant hunting in December and brough one entire male bird home (used male because I think this chatboard would turn the proper name to ****) to show both kids. At first they were a little hesitant, but when I showed them the colors on the bird and how the feathers came off, my daughter started asking for purple, green, and the red ones around the eyes. Obviously, she didn't get any red ones. Both kids had a great time with the tail feathers.

Ultimately, I think it is all about them having fun at first. My plan is to introduce them to the animals separately from the gun and to introduce the gun to them separately from the animals. Then, as things progress I will take them hunting. Probably something like early season goose and dove hunting when things are still warm out there.

I am really interested in what anybody else has to say because I have been dicussing this with a couple friends of mine and how they got their kids started hunting. I have one buddy with 5 kids and all 5 of his kids love to hunt. I hope I am that lucky and that all my kids love to hunt, fish, shoot, and ride bikes, but something tells me that will not be the case.

What ages did everybody get their kid into hunting and/or guns? That is something I would like to know. My daughter wants a pink pellet gun, so I will probably get it for her next Christmas.

[popplecop]

My Dad started taking me squirrel hunting at age 8. He gave me a new Rem. Md. 510 SS .22, he'd carry the gun and let me shoot the squirrels, Wis. have to be 12 to buy a lic. Also started tagging along on bird hunts with him. Guess I was born with the interest to hunt, genes passed on to my son and daughter, and their boys too.

[blksn8k]

Whatever you do, don't let them watch too many TV celebrities shooting "awesome, mac daddy giants". Might tend to create unrealistic expectations, if ya know what I mean...

[Dan Morris]

I simply took my kids on tag along hunts. This combined with range trips had them ready to go by the time they could get youth tags.They had watched dad kill/gut and cut up a number of animals.The meat, they always loved.....just kinda fell into place.Funny, first time daughter had roast beef, she pushed it back across the table..LOL..." doesn't taste right"...
Dan


Oh yeah, tought em to be brass rats at a early age......they went from that to reloading so they knew full drill from top to bottom...including camps. Also, I introduces to shooting with pellet guns in the basement....we had family contests.......on mini targets of game.

[skeet]

Well I was a guide for waterfowlers and deer hunters so my kids got accustomed to the hunting scene early. I was also a skeet shooter who taught that a little also. My daughter turned out to be a good shooter with a shotgun. Kilt her first goose after taking the huinters safety course at the age of 8(aced it too). She still hunts..as do my grandkids. Granddaughter is an excellent bow shooter. Missed one this year because of buck fever. Grandson got a couple. He shot his first goose at the age of 9. Pretty good shotgun pointer also. If you bring 'em up knowing that life isn't like Disney they usually understand the whole hunting experience. Of course it helped that they grew up on a farm with my wife and I. A little anecdote. My daughter went to visit a friend at the age of about 10. The kids mother made 'em toast with Smuckers Strawberry jam. Took a bite..spit it out and said that it was the worst stuff she ever put in her mouth. She was just a kid..who had never had boughten jam..almost always had game to eat cept hogs etc we grew. We grew almost all of our own foods..and things like cookies and cakes..were all homemade...and not from a box. Oh..we gave the kids mother some real homemade strawberry jam..told us she understood after she ate it. LOL Hunting IS a family affair for the most part

[Rapier]

You teach youngsters to shoot early. Shooting reactive targets is very important to the process. Shotgun shells, 22 ammo boxes, etc., make excellent targets for young folks. I started my son off at 5 as I was tought at 5 and had a very long time safety learning process before actually allowed to hunt.

The tag along process is very important as is the effect of the instructor upon the student. You get a monkey see, monkey do situation and must execute the process with utmost care, it must never evolve into a "do as I say, not do as I do," situation. This is a life lesson, not a do something dumb for 15 minutes and they will not remember situation, they will remember.

I took my son with me hunting, not allowing him to hunt, until he got his safety certificate from the state. This created a desire to participate. Our state minimum age for taking the class is 12, but my son was a junior competitive shooter and a state shooting champion by age 9, so I went to, and got an exemption from, the state F&G for him at age 9 and we took the course together.

When he graduated from the safety course we started with squirrels, coons and rabbits. By 12 he was hunting away from me, within my sight, and had taken his first buck with a 444 Marlin.
Ed

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Lots of good info posted here such as the safety thing and early shooting skills. My wife and I always had our daughters in the woods...walking..picking berries and checking everything out along the way..tracks, poo all that..and the early tag alongs are great..just like fishing though, have to have something for them to hunt or loose interest quick...tree rats are great as the whistle pigs or what lives in your area..days sitting in warm sun eating an apple or grapes picked in the wild are still talked about..oh and so are the hunts in later years. My oldest daughter has many deer, turkey etc under her belt but quit due to time...the younger daughter is still my hunting buddy and had deer, turkey in the pot from this year..still interested..oh not to mention the fact she was mad because she had to work the day i took my adventure in and had help gettin out as posted in another 'woods' adventure..we still talk of the day my oldest one watched a tree rat climb down and sit on my hat while eating a nut..was funny..but helped get her hooked on watching nature at its best...things the average city slicker will never see..good thing they weren't with me the day i watched 2 chipmonks crawl up each pantleg..i didn't move but started yelling when i heard one ask the other..are we gonna eat them here or take them with us?..yikes..