My daughter has been backpacking in the mountains for sheep and goat with me since age 7 (packing her to goat cameras since a baby). The first couple trips were quad in with a wall tent and hike a bit, pretty easy stuff. Age 9, she joined me (and grandpa and step mom) on the hardest hike in sheep hunt of my 15+ seasons, she was a champ, literally blew my mind. The confidence that hunt put into that girl still shows to this day.
She took last year off (age 10), but will be flying in with us this year for 12 days of sheep hunting. If she has a handle on her Grendel by then, she'll be the shooter.
It’s not easy, keeping them occupied warm and happy all the time, waiting for them when you’re in a hurry, getting them up before first light, feeding them when it’s time to walk. Lots of things will change from what you’re use to, but that’s all part of training our future hunting partners!!.
If you’re good on the patients (I mean very good), I say take your son, I wouldn’t change my decisions for anything. My girl now 11, has seen more mountain time and critters then lots of grownups, heck, she can tell between billys and nannys better then most people now lol.
Something I found a great help, was our pack dogs. They’re so protective of my kid, they are always playing and cuddling, I think they brought a sense of home for her.
They never realize how much fun they had, until they get back home. If the trip isn’t going well, don’t stress it, those are memories that will stick forever.
My best childhood memory, is at 8 years old, cuddled up beside my dad under a balsam tree, in the rain sleet and snow, late September, on the wrong side of the mountain, cooking my first mountain goat on a stick over a fire. Man it sucked, at the time, but it sure forged me into who I am today though.
The suck never sucks in the end.