What age did you introduce your kids to hunting?

[grfox92]

My son is 6, took him tueky hunting when he was 5. He has come out deer hunting 4 times this year

He like going but he's not ready in terms of patience and being quiet and still for more then a few minutes. He forgets and starts yelling or talking so loud it sounds like yelling.

I'll keep taking him. He seems to get a little better every time we go out. He turned 7 yesterday. I bet by next season he will be much better.

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[KurtR]

My son has been going since he was out of diapers. Sitting in the lay out blind and on a hill watching for deer. He is 16 now and hunting on his own for every thing and loves it.

 

[Jimbob]

It's been an awesome journey. When he was young I had to scale things to fit him, short walks, lots of candy maybe even an iPad in the treestand. As he grew older and stronger the hunts got longer and harder, I always made it a bit of a challenge so it did push him. Now at 14, he is capable of more than most men. He is an outstanding shot but more importantly has nerves of steel. He has set the bar pretty high for his sisters.



I built this stand just to bring my son with me

 

[coiloil37]

With my first boy he started at 2.5 on upland birds. He loved it from the word go. His brother was 1.5 when I started bringing him along on upland and waterfowl. I very rarely hunted after that without the boys in tow. Big game started with spring bear when they were 2 and 4 and continued on that fall with deer, elk and moose. I packed them on my back when they couldn’t walk, changed diapers on the trail and had them shooting off my knee by 3 and 5. They’re 6 and 8 now and we moved overseas so haven’t hunted for two years. I’ll eventually start hunting with them again and they have been asking about it but they fish with me every chance they get. My youngest boy was 5 when he caught his first black marlin and they haven’t stopped since. I can confidently let either of them retrieve a 24kg rod from the rod holder and fight any palegic that may be on the line without assistance.

Start them early.

 

[#Coueshunter]

2 years old carried him atop my shoulders to the mountain top Bundled in warm clothes for the AZ archery hunts. Great Times! Now he’s 10 and just finished his first hunt….

 

[Rich M]

What age did you introduce your kids to hunting?

What species did you pursue?

Most importantly, do they continue to enjoy hunting and will they likely continue hunting as adults?

I’ve got an almost two year old… Curious when/how is the right way to get him hooked.

Now

does he have a deer pillow? Camo duds?

i was hunting w dad at 5, on my own at 8.

same for fishing. They have pictures of me soaked head to toe in diapers holding fish for photos.

 

[lif]

Started taking my son for truck rides in the woods at 2 years old. I’d get him a donut and a toy and usually spend about 2 hours a trip. About 4 or 5 trips into it he started wanting to get out of the truck and walk around. It progressed from there. He was on his first buck hunt on foot at 5 years old and saw me get a buck. He carried his cricket on that hunt. Helped me skin the buck a little. Shot his first rabbit the same year. He killed his first buck at ten. He just turned 15, he’s killed 6 bucks, and can out glass and out hike me now. He had 100lbs on his back on my elk hunt last year at 14 years old. Almost like I damn near have a guided hunt when I go with him now. Great times.

 

[Stumpy208]

I took my 7 year old son (actually stepson but his sperm donor is a POS and a bum) out for his first time for rifle deer opener this year and he had a blast. Once he turns 8 I'm gonna get him a Hunting Passport and take him out upland hunting and do that until he's 10. He can't get his hunting license until he's 10 in Idaho. I'm hoping he stays interested in hunting long term, but if he doesn't I'm not gonna force him to. I'm pretty sure he's gonna stay interested in hunting though with how much he talks about it and how stoked he gets when I buy him anything hunting or fishing related.

 

[scout17]

Some really great stuff here, thanks for asking this. I just started hunting myself, and while I have no idea what I'm doing myself, my oldest is 6 and expresses interest.

I think where I was getting hung up is how involved should they be. After reading through these posts, I'm going to let my kids decide how involved they want to be. I think I'll start with some early access scouting, mostly driving around stuff but still getting off every once in a while for some walking. Hopefully the trips/hikes get longer too!

 

[GunsAreFun]

I’m going to take my three year old “hunting” after rifle season ends on Wednesday. Really, we are just going to sit a field edge in a makeshift blind with my binos on a tripod because she loves those. I doubt it last 15 minutes but baby steps.

My biggest concern is how she’d react to a dead animal, but she has seen pretty graphic pictures of deer this year being quartered and hasn’t phased her. She was so excited when I told her I got a deer.

 

[KH_bowfly]

We decided to buy a travel trailer last year with Covid and local campgrounds being closed to tents. My son was 2 and my wife was pregnant, so we definitely got outdoors more than we otherwise would have.

This year my son (now 3) really got into fishing and “providing food” for the family. Panfish never tasted so good. We also did some fishing/hiking trips and tent camping too. He’s super into fishing and camping. He also really likes to “hunt” for a bear or deer while we hike. He has his own binos and stops and searches along the way. We found some deer prints and droppings and he was super pumped to try to track the deer.

I’m thinking he may be ready for a hunting trip in the spring when he’s almost 4 to go look for turkeys. He loves doing turkey and elk calls.

Good thread - I’m enjoying reading everyone’s experiences.


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[Gseith]

I started taking mine when he was 5. Short trips and I was done when he was done. Last year when he was 8 I started to let him do the hunting. But he couldn’t sit long enough or stay still and we left when he was done.
This year he’s 9, and it was completely different. He could sit longer and stay quiet.This morning he harvested his first deer. Proud dad moment and it was awesome for both of us.
As mentioned above, make it fun and about them.

 

[Absoluterock]

Is there suppose to be any age a kid should be introduced to hunting? i am a father that really don't like to impose anything on my children. I teach my kids hunting anytime they are ready or when they find interest in it by themselves.

This makes sense to me. I’m hoping to introduce my oldest to shooting soon (5 yr old). We are currently practicing with a stick for safety lessons (ie don’t point it at anyone ever).

 

[Absoluterock]

I started taking mine when he was 5. Short trips and I was done when he was done. Last year when he was 8 I started to let him do the hunting. But he couldn’t sit long enough or stay still and we left when he was done.
This year he’s 9, and it was completely different. He could sit longer and stay quiet.This morning he harvested his first deer. Proud dad moment and it was awesome for both of us.
As mentioned above, make it fun and about them.

Thanks for this. It’s a good reminder for some of us (Aka me) that we’ll need to go slow and that ‘success’ isn’t measured by a harvest…especially at first.

I’m so excited to get these little monkeys out there…just want to make sure they have a good experience.

 

[Ringtail]

I’m so glad this thread was started. I have a 1.5 year old and I’ve been dwelling on this topic. This has been a wealth of knowledge.

 

[schmalzy]

I started bringing my middle boy at 3. Just sitting in the stand, walking forest roads, etc. With some snacks and a kindle I can get about 1 hour out of him.

He loves camping and just being outside so I try to take advantage of it every chance we can make it work. As others have recommended, we keep it light hearted. When he is done or too fidgety we call it a day and go goof off in camp or something else.

His sister is still a little uneasy and likes staying home with mom and their baby brother. Hoping I can get them to give it a try with me soon.

When everything else is going haywire, it’s pretty awesome that every time I ask, my boy will drop whatever he is doing to go camp and hunt with Dad.


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[Newtosavage]

A lot of times, I see really young kids going hunting with their parents because it's what the parent wants. They want to be seen that way, and generally make sure everyone knows they took their 3, 4 or 5 year old hunting.

There are kids that young who want to go, don't get me wrong. But that is pretty rare.

My kids were all about 8 or 9 when they started going with me. By then they were old enough to understand what we were doing, how to be quiet and still, etc. My son would sleep on the ground in my pop-up blind quite a bit when he was 8-9 and he enjoyed those naps. He eventually went on to start bowhunting from a tree stand at 11 and he took his first deer, by himself, at the age of 12 with a 40# Browning Micro Midas bow.

I was 9 when I went on my first bowhunt. State law was 40# then and I could just barely brake over the wheels on my little compound. Got a shot at a doe that year and shot right over her, but I remember that shot like it was yesterday.

Main thing is to encourage the kids but let them make the decisions, even if that means leaving a spot at prime time because they want to go home. Otherwise you're just dragging them along and they will resent you for it.

 

[OneGunTex]

And I thought hunting whitetail on the hill behind the house was a big deal when I was kid.

Ha, ha, yeah me too. I hunted all the time as a kid, but didn’t kill my first “big game animal” (spike black tail), until I was 17. Nobody took me hunting as a kid, and I decided at an early age that I would never raise my kids like I was raised.

Right?! They only know what they're shown.

In my case, I was sitting for whitetail with my dad on the family ranch for as long as I can remember - maybe 5 or 6? But that's all the hunting he did, one weekend a year out one of our permanent blinds. I had cousins & uncles who hunted turkeys out there, but my dad had no interest in anything with feathers or really any small game.

So I learned to target shoot with a 22 around 9 or 10, shot the deer rifle by 11 or 12, but didn't actually go deer hunting myself til I was 15. And I became a 1 whitetail 1 weekend a year guy like my dad until sometime in college when I discovered spring turkey & ducks & even small game just to get me out on the woods. And the rest is history and I'm going on my first Western hunt this coming spring.

Start em young. You got a boy who can't sit still and wants to romp around outside? Take him on a hunt channel those energies before he becomes another wuss glued to an iPhone. They only know what they're shown.

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[Marbles]

At whatever age you feel comfortable having them in the woods. I was speaking with a gentleman from one of the villages and he took his kids out as infants to run trap lines in -60. Of course that was out of necessity, but we certainly limit ourselves on what we think is possible.

For me, I have hiked with my kids from infancy. However, I have not taken them hunting yet as life has kept me busy and I hardly have been able to get out myself.

 

[JLMUELZ]

I was able to take my 11 year old on his first hunts this year. The kid harvested five deer this year three Axis on Lanai and two Whitetails in Missouri. The most impressive thing about him is how calm and collected he is before, during, and after the shot. I'm pretty sure he keeps it together better than I do. Cant wait for all the future hunts we have planned.