npaden

I think you are going to have to define what you feel is hunting to get a good result on your poll.

I plan on taking my son out with me on dove hunts and things like that next year when he will be 3. By the time he is 5 or 6 I imagine he will get to go with me when I go hunting turkey, deer and pigs to some extent.

It will be up to his individual maturity level when he gets to graduate from his Red Rider BB gun to a little rimfire rifle or a .410 shotgun and then I would think he would be shooting a centerfire rifle a few years after that.Depending on how into it he is, I can see 5 or 6 for his first rimfire and 8 or 9 for a centerfire, but that is a long way off.

As far as the poll, I voted under 5 because that's when he will start hunting with me. If the question was when should he harvest his first big game animal, I would have answered 8 or 9. If the question was small game (upland birds, rabbits, etc.) then the answer would have been 5 or 6.

Oh well. That's my 2 cents.

TeamBBD

Started my boy out when he was 4. Short hunts to a tree (hung low) stand and we would just watch deer and turks. I would stand on the platform in front of/beside him and he was so little he would just sit on the butt pad. He is 8 now and I'll get him out a few times for deer (he doesn't hunt) and I will take him Turk hunting in the spring. In Oklahoma you have to pass HUnter Safety before you can youth gun hunt. I think he needs another year both taking the class. There is some memorization that might be a little much for him. CAn't wait for him to harvest his first deer.

GrayDawg

I'm the father of 2 boys- 6 & 10. I've introduced both my boys to the sport of hunting and tried to instill my love of the outdoors in them. They each have their own bow & we shoot in the backyard on occasion in the summer after dinner & on the weekends.

I've tried very hard to make them aware of hunting and what it offers me as a person & why I enjoy it. However, I will not force them to go hunting with me. They have to want to go- they have to have a desire to participate in the activity. Just like I wouldn't force either of my boys to play hockey or football- I won't force them to hunt either.

I will make it very easy for them to hunt if they choose to engage in hunting as a sport. This can be done via short sits in a blind during late afternoons for starters. as this doesn't require them to wake up too early or get out there in the dark when it's cold. I will make sure my boys are able to draw the poundage required & are accurate with that draw weight
prior to taking them huntingonce they are expecting to bring their own bow.

But even getting them out there for the first time shouldn't be a push- at least in my opinion........ as it could have long term negative affects.

Rob

The Deer Destroyer

I would say 7 or 8. I think that is a good age to start a kid. My dad started me when I was 13, but he says he wishes he would have started me when I was like 8.

WIbuckchaser

My daughter was (5) when I first took her on a hunt. I was bowhunting out of a blind. I told her she needed to be quiet because it was getting close to the time when the deer come out, it wasn't five minutes later and one came out giving me a good shot. She was very excited. At (5) they have a hard time sitting still.
She is now (8) and last week she went with me all day on a herd control hunt. At around 2:30 she asked me to call her mom so she could come and get her. At the end of the night she was glad we didn't get ahold of mom because I shot two does and she was the first to see them come in. She was on watch while I took a little nap. I think she might just stick with it. We'll see.

crenshaw

It all depends on the level of maturity of your children. My dad started me in shooting sports when i was 4. When I was about 5 to 6 he took me squirrel hunting. By 7 I was Deer hunting with him and going pheasant hunting with him. By 9 I was hunting out of my own tree stand,(dad was still close by to keep an eye on me) By 13 i was on my own.

Its a gradual process but it all depends on your kids and how mature they are. I had friends that were the exact oppisite of me though, there parents couldnt trust them with the responsiabilty of a weapon.