Effects of Hunting Shows on Kids?
 

I work in the hunting department of a big sporting goods store and the other day we were playing a hunting DVD on the two televisions in the department. We like to have something to watch while we work. If I can't be out hunting because I am working I might as well be watching someone else hunt.

After helping a man and a woman at the gun counter with some knives I was straightening the knives in the case when I noticed that the man and woman were watching the hunting DVD. They were watching as the gun went off and a the buck went running out of sight. The woman looks at me and my coworker and asked in a very shocked voice, "Is this alright to show." To which my coworker flatly said "Yes". She then said, "What if children would be walking though and saw this." To which my coworker even more flatly responded, "I have been hunting since I was three." She then walked off in a huff. We both couldn't believe how stupid some people could be.

Since I don't have kids, I just wondered what some of your kids thought about hunting shows? I know when I was a kid I had no problem watching hunting in person and then eventually killing deer when I was old enough. What are your thoughts about this interaction with a non-hunter.

I think you missed my point iSnipe. We were not calling her stupid for the content of her question. We considered it stupid for someone standing in a hunting section of a sporting goods store to ask something like this. She was surrounded by tree stands, ground blinds, bows, arrows, guns, bullets and everything else people buy for deer hunting and she wants to question our rationale for showing a hunting DVD. Yeah I am sure going to a PETA board would be much more interesting. LOL No one got hostile durring this interaction it was just interesting that someone would say this while they are surrounded by hunting equipment.

my 3 year old sits in my Realtree Camo Recliner and watches hunting shows with me all the time. he has a bow with suction cup arrows and told me he was taking it to Georgia to hunt with me this year.

My Daughter told her teacher that I hunt and the teacher told her, "that I was mean to kill those animals." So, my daughter said her " I like eating those animals, how do you think you get your hamburger?" I laughted. I thought it was funny!

The woman looks at me and my coworker and asked in a very shocked voice, "Is this alright to show." To which my coworker flatly said "Yes". She then said, "What if children would be walking though and saw this." To which my coworker even more flatly responded, "I have been hunting since I was three." She then walked off in a huff.

I bet she voted for Obama too!!

Given the environment you're working in, I would not hesitate to play the hunting shows. Sears or Best Buy is another matter. I love to hunt and one of the favorite parts of getting my buck last year was my four year old son sitting on his back and lifting up his head by the horns for a picture.

That said, I haven't let my son watch hunting shows yet. I also haven't let him accompany me hunting. He's five now and thinks its great when I bring home deer, but he's shown no interest in going yet and I think I'll know when the time is right to bring him. Basically, I'm not sure he's ready to witness an animal die. And because I exclusively bowhunt, I don't want to take the chance I wound one or spine one in front of him. Before someone jumps all over me, I'm trying to do him a favor and make sure I think he's ready for the seriousness of the end result of hunting so he enjoys hunting and wants to keep going.

I think we sometimes as hunters, if we've done it long enough, forget that those who don't hunt haven't experienced the ups and downs that go along with taking an animal's life while deer hunting. There are a lot of positives to hunting that they wouldn't understand. The only see that bambi is dead and wonder why do we need to kill deer? We know but they don't and so while I don't apologize to anyone for hunting, I will also consider and take into account others' perspectives - as long as they don't interefere with mine or stop me from hunting.

And no, I didn't vote for Obama.

That's a good one,
I have 5 daughters whom all have been around with me hunting since they were old enough to watch deer(around 4 or so) and we go out in the fields and watch the new fawns play as well as the others.
We watch hunting shows the times we aren't hunting, and each one of them are a excellent shot and ethical hunter,the youngest being 12yrs old.

I explain to them that it is our way(we are Native American Indian) to respect and to control the populations of the deer that our Creator has given us for food,they understand that and except it. At 3 and 4 years old they have watched me skin and butcher deer in our barn.I don't believe that this "de-sensitizes" them as much as it helps them understand we only kill them for food when the seasons permit.

Otherwise, we love to grab a couple of peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and go to the fields and watch them play,until a big one comes out and they tell me "That's the one we need for the freezer!!"

I have a 10yo daughter who has been with me a few times, and a 14 yo who has no interest in it at all. They have both watched hunting shows with me. I am a bit concerned about the first time the younger one actually sees a kill, but she does know that's what happens. I was in Bass Pro Shop a few weeks ago and they had hunting shows going as well. I think it's fine, but some people will never be ok with it.

my 11 year old has been hunting with me since she was 7, and when she told her teacher i take her hunting, the teacher said it was strange. i dont think so. my 6 yeal old cant wait to go, because her sissy gets to go, hopefully she too will eat chips and dip while we gut hogs, and hopefully she too will BEG to reach in and pull the guts out.
i think it depends on how you are raised. havin parents who never hunted, much less own a gun, i am makin it a priority to learn what i missed, so that i can pass hunting down through the family fer generations to come.

My 4 year old son loves watching hunting videos. He even talks very quietly when a deer comes out on TV. He even does the sound most of the hunters do on TV to get a deer to stop for the shot. He doesn't still hunt with me but he begins his dog hunting adventures this year w/me. He also loves helping me clean and eating it.

I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. The 4 year old has watched us proccess a many a deer already and it doesn't seem to phase him a bit. He even asks me when he will be big enough to help. So far this year, they have seen us field dress and proccess 1 deer. The 4 year old has been asking me every since he was old enough to talk if he can go hunting with me. I built a blind this year and have taken him out in it once so far. He seems to really be interested in it. And I always have hunting videos on and most of them show the kill. So, I guess we are raising our kids around it from the beginning so I don't think it will bother them as they get older.

If you consider the things a child can see on tv, on video games, live on the streets and in the movies, hunting shows are pretty tame by comparison.

Alot of sportsmen have raised a bunch of sissies! Start em young. When we were kids our parents killed the hogs and steers in front of us. Why protect the kids? Thats what we eat. I can hear the vegetables cry out when we pick and cut them up too. Beef and pork don't come from the store!!!! Some people don't get what life is all about.

True Story! I work for a mobile MRI service and I just took a patient back from getting there test. I saw what was on the tv and it was the VS channel with deer hunting on it. So, I guess it depends on the part of the country your from as to whether it bother's you or not. Because the waiting room was almost full and I didn't see anyone complaining about the program.

DO NOT show hunting shows to kids, it will ruin them for life.
They'll spend countless days away from home, wives and family in pursuit of deer. They will be driving down country roads looking into pastures for a hint of a deer. They will spend so much money on hunting equipment and guns. They will believe in God and give grace to the food they eat.
Dont do it you will mess them up

This sort of reminds me of something from my childhood. We had a little farm with a few cows, pigs, etc. None of that was a problem for us as we knew from the begining they were going to end up on our dinner plate. What was interesting, though, was that at one point we had a bunch of rabbits--which me and my siblings were forever playing with as pets. Dad was a little concerned about what the reaction was going to be as we approached butchering day. Turned out he was unknowingly raising a bunch of bloodthirsty cutthroats as we were continually pestering him that day to go out and get started so we could all help.

kids watching hunting shows
 

i think a bigger issue for them watching something being killed is fledgeling hunters watching the shows and thinking a "10 point" is taken on every outing. the shows depict sucess nearly every time, and as we all know this does not happen. they should be more accurate and demonstrate the hours and days that may be required for a shot. in other words, dont give them false hope, especially on thier first outings......

That's the parent's job.

iSnipe

Very well said.

Even though kids are brought up in a house with hunters, some may be too young to handle watching a deer, or any animal, die. It's up to the parents to determine when they feel the child is old enough to accept it.

It’s sad to her comments like that but and it only shows how little she knows about hunting and it’s ethics, I have a 10 year old boy and he have been hunting with me since he was 3 three and he is aiming to shoot his first buck this year,

I have 3 daughters (7, 3, and 1.5) and the two older ones sit and watch the hunting with me for a bit.. Sometimes they get up and go play then come back and so on. The oldest has been asking me for the last couple years to let her shoot a deer. So finally this year i went and bought a H&R .223 compact. We are going to give it a shot. It all depends on the kids and how they are raised...And I agree that when it is shown in sporting good stores there should really be no hustle and bustle about it...

i think the only negative effect hunting shows have on kids is when they see big bucks get killed and expect to go and kill one just as big which could happen but very unlikely

Here is the problem.... you said it. Need to keep personal opinions out of the school system. That teacher should have just said "that's nice". Our school system is the root of a lot of our problems. i am a forester, if this helps define why I am not a big fan of teachers teaching their opinions!!! Save the trees, Save the animals!

Everyone has their own way of bringing their kids into hunting and they do it at different ages. In Missouri the youngest legal hunters are 6. Of coarse not all 6 year olds are ready. But watching hunting shows is one way to prepare them. I made my first kill at 4 years old. It was a sparrow in a grapevine that I was shooting at with a bb gun. It was more of a lucky shot than skill, but I loved the fact that I had hit that bird. I gave my daughter her first bbgun at 4 and taught her to use it. As far as I know she has never tried to kill anything with it, but has used it to sting varmints in the yard to run em off. But when she was 10 she wanted to deer hunt. She shot my AR-10, 308 very well, and killed her first buck at first light on her first day. She had her pick of two bucks that came at each other and locked antlers about 50 yds away. In the past 8 years she has hunted some years and passed on others, but wants to hunt with me this year. She wanted to go practice with that same 308, and we did so last week. She is 18 and still shoots well, and I am very proud of her when I see her teaching the neighbor boys ages 6 and 8 to shoot her first bb gun. Their mother was a little scared at first but said it was ok. With their father passed on from a heart attack at age 33 they need someone to teach them. And those boys love hunting shows!

The younger the better. Take a kid hunting and you'll never have to hunt for your kid.

i agree 100%,kids are going to think they can only kill huge bucks if they grow up watching most hunting shows. teach them to hunt and that its up to them on the size of buck they kill. once they learn the basic hunting skills ,they can decide if they want to trophy hunt or meat hunt.

as for the lady in the hunting department,you may have just helped her turn into a active PETA member. we must be very careful with this these days.. its like we all used to do after killing a big buck,throw it on the tailgate of the truck and ride down main street to show it off. we must stop doing things like that because it turns people against our sport.

when your kids watch tv shows be sure to tell them that its entertainment and advertisment and thats why they only kill big bucks,just to make you buy there products.

if it wasn't for hunting shows alot of kids would never get interested in hunting at all,so i think they are helpful in getting them started.

My son has watched shows with me since he could watch tv. I have used shows to teach him about gun/hunting saftey. Now don't get me wrong there are a couple of shows i don't allow him to watch however, it all comes down to teaching childern the right way to hunt and how to be safe. Yes some people don't like seeing the game as it expires and as hunters we need to watch how much ammo we give peta to use. Good hunting.

When I watch hunting shows my 3 yr old daughter will go get her pink toy gun and pretend to shoot the deer on TV. I use it as time to explain to her that all of her family are hunters and that God provides us these animals for our nourishment. She hasn't grasped the concept yet though, she's still a little too young. I've been taking her with me running deer dogs since she was born though and if she's anything like myself and my wife, I will have her killing bucks when she is old enough.