Taking a kid hunting (2nd try)

[Marc]

Took my daughter this year for her first bird...  She is very good at following directions, and holding relatively still.  But even so, I learned some things.

*Kids get a lot colder than we do.  Gloves and warm boots are a must.  It is not too cold where we hunt, but I still found that snow boots were a great idea!  Waterproof, warm, and easy to walk in...  And, not too expensive.

*Snacks and water...  Bring it.  Kids will get anxious and antsy if they are even the slightest bit hungry.

*Binoculars...  There is a lot to look at when birds are not coming in.  Talk to them about all the nature and critters making sounds, and showing themselves.

*Electronic Hearing protection/headphones are great.  They can still hear everything, and their hearing is protected.

*Make sure they are comfortable!  Give them a cushion to sit on, and put them in a spot where they can get comfortable if a bird is coming in.  They will have a tremendously more difficult time holding still if they are not comfortable.

*Natural obstructions can make it easier to hide...  Fallen logs or rocks to hide behind and lean the gun on (as opposed to resting it on their knee).

*Include them in the hunt...  My daughter could use a box call...  Sometimes I would do the light calling, and point to her to do some yelps, or even cutting (as she is capable).

*Hunts will often be shorter than you like...  Boredom, getting wet, hungry etc...  Go home when they are not having fun, and maybe stop for breakfast or something.

*Make sure they can shoot and handle the gun.  Shoot at some paper targets turkey heads...  USE THE LIGHTEST RECOILING SHELLS YOU CAN FIND for practice, as they will feel the recoil while practicing, but it will not be noticeable when you put in heavier loads for hunting.  Make sure you discuss the hold point on the bird, and REMIND THEM WHEN THEY ARE ABOUT TO SHOOT.

*Watch Youtube or listen to sound files of turkey sounds...  My daughter first thought that turkeys drumming were frogs...  She did not associate clucking or putting with turkeys either.

*Keep the shots to 30 yards or under...  Under if at all possible.  (We passed on a couple marginal shots).


My oldest is very easy to teach, and is fairly adept at shooting.  It was still immensely more difficult to be successful hunting with her...  Moving at the wrong time cause I though she knew the birds were coming in was a common issue.  Not seeing or hearing them happened as well.  And, I tended to push hard on birds that I should have eased off on  cause I wanted her to get one...

When it finally came time to shoot, we were in the middle of total chaos...  Two birds went around us, and were drumming (behind an obstruction) about 15 yards behind us...  Another bird gobbling hard to our left, and three birds coming right up the pipe...  (This is after several trips of hearing or seeing two or three toms all morning).

The birds coming down the pipe suddenly changed their mind, as the birds behind us showed themselves, and offered a good shot at 25 yards...  I told her to shoot and she said "now?"  Then "which one?"  And they made us, and gained quite a bit of ground by the time she fired (the closest bird was about 35 yards when she finally shot)...  She admitted later that she was scared to miss, and that she was twisted up and her butt had come off her seat and was not comfortable...

And...  In the excitement, even though previously we had talked and talked about the hold point, she held on the chest, and hit the bird low.  couple pellets still hit the head/neck and the bird was dead...  But she said that she just got too excited and held too low because it was such a tempting target.  (I could tell by the way the bird was hit that it was not the typical head shot made on a turkey).

A blind was not an option, and we had made a move from our original spot, so I had not cut brush, or move a log in front of her (which would have been nice).

Hope some of my vicarious experiences help someone else, and would love to hear other tips that have helped to let kids have fun!

[Wigsplitter]

Great tips there!!

[High plains drifter]

I got my son a bird when he was 15, by scouting  for several days.

[lacire]

All good tips. When we take the grandkids out, for the most part we do set up a blind, just makes it so much more enjoyable for them and easier on us. They look at it like it's tent camping or setting up a fort and we also get to look for birds. I couldn't be there but one of my nine year olds just got her first bird yesterday, missed one out of the blind the day before and got this one on a stalk with her dad.

https://imgur.com/a/03qezuH

[twyatt]

My 8yr old killed her first bird this year on her 5th sit with me.  We were in a blind, but here are some things I learned along the way, most are exactly what you listed.

Kids get colder than we do - I gave my daughter my handwarmer muff with hothands heat packs in there, as well as put my Arctic Shield boot covers over her boots with hothands packs thrown in each one. That kept her hands and feet warm on each trip.   Even with snow boots, on day 1 she said her feet got cold.  After the muff for her hands and boot covers on her feet once we were in the blind, she never got cold again.

Snacks and water - a definite must.  Most of the time my daughter snacked on the hour long drive each morning, but water and snacks were definitely important.

Electronic hearing protection.  She can easily hear me whispering to her, but they cancelled out the gun shot.

Comfort! - this was initially our biggest problem.  I had a camp chair for her, with a pad on top, and she still fidgeted like crazy and said she wasn't comfortable.  Finally we went to a local sporting goods store and I let her sit in all of the available chairs and pick one.  Of course she pics the $130 dollar Double Bull Blind chair, but after getting that, she never complained again, and often would doze off to sleep in it.

One hunt was definitely shorter than I liked, but I told her from the start that she was in charge. If she wanted to go we would go.  I didn't want to force anything on her, she made the rules as to when we left each trip, although on day 2, she learned a very valuable lesson.  She was bored and wanted to leave at 9am.  I tried to very nicely talk her out of it, but she was ready to leave, so we did.  At 10am I get a cell cam picture of a gobbler standing in front of our blind.  I showed it to her, and she was devastated, and never asked to leave early again.

100% agree with getting comfortable with the gun, and using light loads at the range.  I let her shoot 2.5" game loads from a Caldwell Field Pod at the range, and watched her very closely.  I could tell I needed to make some adjustments.  I cut about 1" off of the stock of the Stevens 410, then put a limbsaver gel pad on the back.  After that she was all smiles.

Keep the shots close - we were in a blind, so this was the easy part - don't shoot until I tell you, and until he's in the decoys.  I set the decoys at 23-24 yards.  Far enough that he's not going to be right on top of us, and from close observation at the range - the perfect distance to give some wiggle room with the way the gun patterned. 

We also set up the blind, chairs, field pod, and decoys in the yard several times to make sure that everything was organized, comfortable, placed correctly, etc.  The field pod had to be set at the right height to get the gun out of the window, her chair had to be placed perfectly for her to shoulder the gun sitting down, and my chair had to be in a position to reach the safety, adjust the red dot brightness if needed, etc., and most importantly, I would move the decoys in the yard to make perfectly sure that where I put them was in the best line for her to shoot.  So I knew when we showed up in the dark, I took 24 steps straight out, and 4-5 to the right, then placed the decoys.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else except I let her download a few games on my phone.  Every trip when she would start getting bored, she'd ask to play my phone.  That would keep her busy for an hour or so.

We were in a blind, so not much of this applies if you're not in a blind.  Next year I'm going to try to get her out running with me, so that will present a whole new set of challenges, but hopefully some of the above helps some people.  Posts like Marc's are what helped me tremendously when trying to navigate some of the complications of taking children.