kidoggy

that's the thing with kids today, they most always are!

when I was about 4, my dad took me fishing. he showed me how to put the worm on my hook.when I lost that worm, I held up pole for him to do it again and he said ,you know how,get to it.
so I did.

couple years later ,he brought me rabbit hunting. I got one he got several.I SAT AND WATCHED HIM CLEAN THEM , when he got to the last one , he said ,you shot it ,you clean it. then he gathered his up and brought them inside and left me to it.

so I did .

this was pretty much my dads way of teaching. he showed you how and expected it to be done.
and because it was expected, I was taught at a young age , to do for myself and not expect others to do for me.


kudos to you for setting this gathering up. I do not in any way ,mean to take away from that. I hope you understand that.

my only point to all this rambling is, we expect way to little from children these days and spend way to much time doing for them what they should be taught to do for themselves. I guess I inherited my fathers teaching habits.it is just not in me to allow someone old enough to kill to get away with not taking care of what they killed.

Oldtimr

Doggy, I have no idea if the parents shot those kids how to clean the birds or cleaned them for the kids after they went home. At my house, if you hunted you helped to clean the game, many sets of hands made the job faster and it was on the job training.

kidoggy

fair nuff.

woodenb14

I'm a committee member of our local pheasants forever chapter and we are doing our first youth hunt at the end of February. Looking for some input. We are planning on having 2 or 3 youth per field with one dog. One adult per youth and one "dog handler." Is that close to what you guys do? Any recommendations?

Oldtimr

We usually have 2 or 3 dog handlers per group, groups can be 5 or 6 kids. We then with the kids input pick the primary shooter and the back up shooter for each cast. If the primary misses the back up shoots, if the primary kills the bird the primary and secondary shooters switch places for the next cast. We try to make sure the kids have the best chance to kill a bird so we do not plant all the groups birds at one time, we plant before each cast. This is also for safety because the dog handlers are right there to address gun handling issues or to call out "don't shoot" if the dogs or a person is in the line of fire. We use all pointing breeds, pointers, setters, Brittanys and German shorthairs and we have one Vizula all club members dogs. When the dogs are released and go on point the two pre-selected kids and the dog handlers move in on the point and flush the bird and shoot. We do this until every kid has had the opportunity to shoot two birds. We buy extra pheasants so we can take out the kids who did not get a bird for another try. The gallery can be a problem for safety issues so I recommend you set down some rules before you hold your hunt and make them clear before you take to the field, to the parents or guardians who bring the kids. This year for the first time we limited the number of people who could accompany the child and one of those two must be a parent or guardian. The gallery must stand clear while the hunting is going on. You will have problems with parents trying to jockey into position to take photos and you must not allow that to happen for safety reasons. You also need to address unsafe gun handling immediately, you have a lot of responsibility to keep everyone safe. I should tell you we usually have 20 kids, most are kids who have gotten 100% on their hunter ed test, a few come from other sources. We split the group into am and pm groups. Prior to going into the field both groups will get to shoot clay birds so the dog handlers can judge their shooting ability, or lack there of. Safety and hunting rules are explained to parents and the kids so there is no question about what is expected once we hit the field. When the morning group is done the pm group will arrive and they both eat together then we start over with the pm group. I have no idea if you are going to get as elaborate with the meal as we do but you will need enough help to make things run smoothly. I wish you lots of luck, this is one of our best pubic service activities and we have been doing it for many years. It is a great experience for the kids who most of have never seen a dog on point let alone 2 or 3 pointing and backing let alone shoot their first pheasant over the dogs. If you have any specific questions pm me.

Topgun 3006

Sounds like you guys really have that hunt down to every I dotted and T crossed Oldtimr! Maybe based on that bird cleaning question a few minutes could be used to show how one is cleaned/prepared properly so when they get home with their birds they can get some practice on that too. Just a thought so they know the shooting is fun and leads up to a good meal if they know how to take care of their birds.

Oldtimr

Might not be a bad idea Top. I will mention that to group.

mackesr

That sure does look like a lot of fun the way your club sets up the hunt and the food involved as well. That deer looked pretty darn delicious! I have been involved with a couple of youth bird hunts with my GSHP and I like the way your club sets the hunt up. Sounds very safe and enjoyable, which of course is what its all about. Great to see the kids getting into it. Something they will never forget!