adams

Congratulations! Good timing as well. Both of my boys were born durring the season and this made hunting hard. When there little they require a lot more "hands on" and trust me your wife likely won't want to do it alone. By the time the season rolls around the baby will be 3-4 months old and should be able to find plenty of time to hunt (wife permitting)

I can't wait until my little guys are old enough to hunt. My two year old loves to watch hunting and look at deer in my mags. I take him out scouting and show him deer and he tweeks out. There's little chance I'll be able to hunt with him for some time because (as anyone with a two year old knows) he can't keep quiet. He sees a deer and he yells "deer!" It's cute though.

Catch up on sleep now if you can. My youngest is a month old and I'd die for a full nights sleep about now.

Bob H in NH

Having kids is AWESOME, they start out FUN and it gets better from there. they will challenge you at every turn, you will see them doing things you did and hear yourself saying things your father said

Best advice I can give is to take all the psychological stuff you hear from teh experts and throw it in the trash. Your kids are your kids, you accept a HUGE responsibility when you have them. That is to raise them to be good people. Its that simple. You have a short time to get the concepts of right and wrong, fairness and responsibility for their actions into them.

The most important thing I see in kids who are "good" during my 8 years of coaching kids sports is that it comes down to two things that the "good" kids all have in common:

- parent is there. Sounds simple, but the parent is there at practice, gets involved, supports during ALL games etc. Kids activities are NOT free babysitting, get involved, learn about them, encourage them.

- You are not on this planet to be your kids friend. Plain and simple as that. You need to do what is right, punish when they do wrong, encourage when they do right and support at ALL times. It drives me nuts when parents won't discipline a kid cause the kid might get mad. SO WHAT! You are the parent, they are the kid, friends with them is secondary. If you be a good parent, you WILL be a good friend as well, but parent comes first.

Here's what they turn into:

My 12 year old:



And here's my 14 year old:
(next post, can only do one per post.)

Bob H in NH

You will get to hunt, but it will probably take a hit timewise for several years. Mine did, drastically, but now the boys both want to hunt, so my hunting time is what I can do around soccer and other kid activites, thing is that I spend more time getting them chances than myself, and I like it even more!

--Bob

hunter25

Congrats...my first born was in July as well.

As far as finding time to scout, practice, prepare, hunt, etc...you'll find time for what's important. A new baby is a lot of work...my wife and I still wonder what the heck we did before our daughter came into our lives. We obviously wasted a lot of time doing nothing.

In my opinion, after you take care of everything at home, you'll cherish your time in the woods that much more. Everything will work out just fine.

dkeener

Take him/her out as soon as he/she can walk. Wish I was a hunter when my kids were born (all girls) because they sure don't care for the idea now. Teach 'em young!

Double Creek

Congrats, that first year you probably won't get much hunting time in, a baby is a lot of work and the wife will need help. Things do get easier though, I've got one pushing 3.

Flipout

Congratulations...your world is about to become so much brighter. You will never look at things the same again. I have a 4 year old son and a 2 1/2 year old daughter. It is definitely tough in the beginning but it gets easier. I wouldnt trade being a father for anything in the world.

Just love em and help them to learn along the way. Be there as much as possible and make sure to help your wife as much as you can. (believe me they have the hardest job in the world)

Have fun, love 'em and be there for them! Simple recipe for success which I am now reminded of as I write this.

As the season comes along I like many of you become obsessed. I should probably heed more of my own advice and stay home more.

Thanks for sharing and good luck to you and your wife.

Carpmaster

One thing I have done since day one with my daughter is to include her in as much as posssible, take her scouting, take her and wife in the summer to hang stands, just spend as much time as possible with them when you arent hunting and it will be easier when you do go away to go hunting. When you geet a deer, get them in the photos, show them and let them touch the deer, my girl is 2 and she loves it when daddy brings game home to show her, also i always give her a feather from my waterfowl and upland birds, talk about cheap gift but she thinks it is cool and already tells me how much she wants toi hunt with daddy!!! Good luck!!

Gryan

Congratualtions on the good news. Having kids is one of the greatest things in life and never let one minute escape you. My kids are 11 and 8 and my 11 year old hunts with me a lot. My time in the woods has actually increased since he began hunting. I really feel guilty about my daughter though. We do other things together but my son gets the lions share during the hunting season. She will start to get ready to take her hunting test this spring and that might change things.

Advice: All I would say is you will know when you are taking advantage and when you are not. We all need time to ourselves and for me that was always time hunting. I balanced with my wife the time afield. (she might not say that) Sometimes I took advantage, most of the time I didn't. I coach the kids, hang out with the kids, take them to the woods for hikes, tons and tons of activities. Sometimes I even went to Chucky Cheese's on a Saturday in November. Pay attention to every minute and every nuance.

What I've learned is this...there will always be a peak of the rut, there will only be one preschool Thanksgiving Pageant for your child. My boss doesn't understand when I say no to an evening meeting but there will always be evening meetings, there won't always be a basketball game for my eight year old.

I apply this rule to everything.

Greg

Flintflinger

Ash,
Kids are the most wonderful thing and at times the most aggrevating. I have 3 kids, Lexie 6, Andrew 4, and Abby 4 mos. My kids and my wife go with me on all of my hunting trips. I wouldnt have it any other way. When my wife hunted, we would take turns. I would go out in the morning, and she would stay with the kids. She would go out for the evening hunt and I would stay with the kids. Then we switch for the next day.

Raising kids can be very rewarding and very frustrating at the same time. There isnt a better feeling in the world as teaching them how to do something and watching them do it, like riding a bike for the first time. Butthen there are the times that you have to tell them over and over and over on the simplest things, like flushing the toilet.

I absolutly love my kids to the end of the earth and I dare anyone to step between me and kids. They will wish they were never born.

You will find that its not that difficult to give up a day or two when you have little ones. Just wait til they are starting to walk and you come home from work and they say "DADDY" and teater to you and hug your leg. Nothing like that feeling.

Anyway, It looks like you have enough advice here, but everyone is different. Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy.