Greetings and blessings forum help!

As with EndersDrift, I am new to hunting. I am the first in my family to pursue the sport and I have two boys and a daughter that I am bringing along. My situation is a little different. I am an avid outdoorsman, as is my family. We shoot regularly and have a decent assortment of firearms and bows.

Each of us, including my daughter, has taken the hunters safety course and are comfortable in the outdoors and with firearms and archery. I understand the comments made about learning the ropes so to speak and that it takes time. A lot of time, but this is really mainly about just being outdoors with my kids.

Since we currently do not have access to any private land, we will be hunting a WMA. There are three or four to choose from here in the Gainesville Florida area. I do have one that I think we would frequent most often due to the fact we also fish there a lot. Here is my concern, driving to the WMA during hunting season, parking the truck, loading up and actually stepping into the WMA to hunt. At that point I am taking the most valuable things in my life and entering a situation where I have little experience. I am not talking about the skills and techniques; I am referring to the human element.

I am very traditional and highly respect the social/humanistic “rules” so to speak. Has anyone had a bad experience in the woods during hunting season with other hunters? How could that have been avoided? What do you need to do to avoid potentially “aggressive” behavior? The bottom line is outside of the obvious safety concerns we all learned from the hunter’s safety course, what can I expect and what do I need to make sure I avoid embarking into a WMA? I have heard of many really bad situations in WMAs. Am I overly concerned, or are there some things I should know?

We will most likely start with small game season and “work our way up”. Before I do though, I have to get it in my mind, (and their mother’s) that we will be safe and have a great time. If we don’t get our kids involved we are going to lose this beautiful sport.

Thank you everyone!