Didn't read everything, but I'd always recommend to keep it as fun as possible for youngsters.

Personally, my son would rather hunt chip monks then turkeys (he became legal this year to hunt turkey). So guess what we hunt. Its just fun watching him have fun. Sitting still just isn't for him right now and maybe never will be. But that's OK, we can work around that. It's keeping the bow in his hand that's important right now.

Another suggestion for practice is this. Keep a schedule. We keep a certain night open every week to shoot, he doesn't make plans with any friends unless they also want to shoot. If he wants to rove, we'll do that, or if he wants to go to the club and shoot 3-d or arials, etc. We work in other nights when we are free and keep that open. One thing that gets discouraging is just shooting at the same target day in and day out.

My dad started taking me hunting with him when I was 5. I started hunting with a crossbow when I was 6. From then until I was out of high school my dad would wake up to go huntingandknock on my door to wake me up. Sometimes I would get up, sometimes I would sleep in. As I went through adolescence my priorities changed more often than my underwear. We would always have a couple of weekend trips a year where we would spend 3-4 days in southern Ohio. I may not have been all geeked out about hunting then, but my dad never pushed. If I wanted to go, great, if not, fine with him. Eventually, I came to love hunting, and I think a big part of the reason is he let me discover it on my own terms.

Now I have a son and while he is only a year and a half old, I am anxious for the same weekend trips with my son as I had with my dad. With luck, it can be a 3 generations event. I hope that he can one day learn to love hunting as much as his grandfather and I do, but if not, at least he will have all the memories of the time with us. In the end, that is what I am most concerned about.

Man there's a lot of good advice on this thread. My sonhas done pretty well so far with squirrel hunting and I bought him a 410 shotgun for Christmas and he's pumped about getting to shoot something with it. My worry is how he'll handle the boredom that we all go through when nothing is moving as he gets older.

No one in my immediate family hunts but me however my uncle is a huge hunter (he is who brough me into such a great sport) and his 10 year old son is afraid to shoot even a .22 (afraid of the kick). My uncle is having a rough time coping with it right now but I have been working with my cousin on growing a pair... that and my uncle bought him a bow and he is getting into that as well.

Boredom is not always good. Really not good to force young ones to sit still while bored (not just hunting). If I need my son to sit still with me for a period of time, I'll bring his gameboy and let him play for a few minutes at a time.

The way I look at that is that ifsomeone gets so bored still hunting when nothing is moving that they start to loose interest, there is always a choice that can be made to try and go find something, even if it is not the same game animal.

Personally, I was never able to sit for long periods of time when I was young. Now I can do about 4 hours max. I have done the all day thing in the past, but it's just not fun to me.

I come from a long line of hunters. There aren’t many (male) members of my family that do not hunt. It is just in our blood. My son seems to be following in the same blood line traditions and wants to hunt (although he is more focused on fishing right now).

All my family had different ways to teach their kids “how to hunt”. Some would just let the child learn the hard way; others would try to force “habits” on their kids. My father was the type he’d rather show us how to do everything than let us learn for ourselves. He also had a way of turning every little adventure into a lecture to my brother and me. We loved going hunting with Dad, but we preferred that Dad hunt over there and we hunt over here. The reason being is that my bro and I were hands on learners, and we couldn’t learn anything when Dad did it all for us. For instance, he had to show me how to gut my first deer, rather than just letting me do it and offer advice. He was always more focused on us doing it “wrong”, so it was easier for him to just do it. Sometimes I think he got so worked up and worried that his boys weren’t “doing it right” that it would ruin his own experience on the hunt. Don’t get me wrong, I did learn a lot from my father, but it didn’t sink in until I could recreate it myself. I also seemed to learn more by watching him without him knowing than letting him “show me the ropes”.

I’m trying to take a different approach with my son. Just let him figure it out on his own and try to only give advice or demonstrate something when asked. I also try to just lead by example. Kids seem to pick up habits so easily just by observing their parents (good and bad), so if you just do your thing without it turning into a lecture, I feel a child is more prone to pick it up.

…just my two cents worth….

I'm hoping that my son or any future children that I have will follow in my footsteps in the hunting world. I think my nephew is too much like his mom (bunny hugger) but who knows, maybe he'll want to get into hunting as well.

trouthunter.....we do these things because we love you. We try to teach you how to gut a deer....because we don't want to see you frustrated. We try to make things easier on you.....than they were for us. We try to give you ALL the tools you need to make yourself successful. We want you to succeed. We NEED for you to be happy.

This is otherwise known as LOVE.

I've told my son numerous times that I've been 12....13....14...15 yrs old. He's never been 42. Part of helping him succeed.....is not setting him up for failure.

Don't hold that against us dads.

Sounds like your dad had/has his heart in the right place. Good for you.

Jeff-

I think you are WAY missing my point. I haven't been 42 yet, but I've been 36. Us Dad's do want our children to succeed in the worst way. I never doubted my own fathers love. My point was that as loving fathers we can sometimes (or most of the time in some cases) over do it.We think we're showing them how to do something right by doing it for them, but inour hastwe haven't taught them a thing.

I'm with GMMAT on this one; at least you have a dad that tried to show you what to do. Pluse you remember things from your childhood a little scued and so does your father. The truth is somewhere in the middle. I have four children and I know I'll have to take the show you first approach. All of my children are very different in their actions as well as how they learn. Some will sit and wait to be shown what to do, and there is nothing wrong with that, they don't want to screw up and upset dad or look foolish. Others can't get away fast enough to listen to the word "bye" and a father can't let them go in like that; there has to be some sort of order. Your dad may have been making the best of two boys with different personalities, so you saw his teachings as substandard, when really they may have been perfect.
Good luck,
KP