mauser06

i had my feet wet at a very young age into the outdoors...no joke i was fishing while in diapers!!!! thats how i was raised..i still think i was born with a fishing rod and a gun with a camo diaper on! thats how my dad raised me...very outdoor oriented life style..started off fishing, which turned into walks in the woods when i was a bit older and could walk. dad kept walks short and sweet. always pointing out game sign and quizing me along the way. then our walks turned into squirrel hunting at age 6...i couldnt hunt till 12 but could go and watch. dad always let me point out the squirrels before he would shoot. id tease him when he missed and hes praise me on spotting the squirrel because he couldnt see it etc..just to make me feel good(but we DID find out he needed glasses a year or 2 later) 7 i was in the woods AT NIGHT running coon dogs with him. 12 i finally was legal to hunt. 11 i passed the hunter saftey course and been hunting since i was 12. started shooting a BB gun at the age of 4 or 5. dad would toss a tin can out in the yard, load me up with 50 BBs and count how many i hit. 5 or 6 i was shooting a 22 and i remember shooting a pistol. think it was a 38 revolver. scared the poop outa me! 5 or so i was also shooting a little kid bow with him in the backyard. 8 or so i was shooting shotguns and bigger guns. i was shooting machine guns by age 12 no joke. thats just how I was raised. always around guns, hunting, fishing, the outdoors period. knew saftey because thats how i was taught. i think i turned out pretty danged good. 16 i was legal to hunt alone and been killing game on my own and catching fish and shooting on my own too..i cant tell you how to raise YOUR son...but thats how i was raised and how my kids will be raised. thats me...thats who i am. im now 19 and eat drink and breath the outdoors. heck..my college major and soon career will hopefully be a Park Ranger. i know i wont ever make what a DR or engineer make...but ill be where i wanna be..doing what makes me happy.

things to keep in mind.......maturity..some kids simpy aint ready to be handed a gun of ANY type till they are older. exspecially todays day in age they see it im games and TV etc they dont know what a gun will REALLY do. dad put buckshot in a 12 ga and blew a gallon of water up in our faces and asked me if i thought guns were dangerous.

dont push it on your son....theres kids that have no desire to be cold, wet, dirty, taking lives of animals, etc etc....introduce him slowly and see how he reacts..

keep him comfortable when your out there!! dont plan on getting major hunting done with a 5yr old in tote..that shouldnt be the point. keep him feed, drinks, bathroom breaks, comfy seat, warm and dry etc etc..but also keep him entertained..if that means blowing the stand setup and taking a walk so be it..im 19 and i still gota force myself to sit there. keep it fun and entertaining for him. point out the squirrels, chipmunks, birds etc..

be prepared...for your son to one day leave you....as soon as hes pretty well trained(16 or so...) he will also probably get a driving licsense...job..friends..girlfriends etc. your schedules will begin to not meet up much....it breaks my heart to say i havent hunted or fished with my dad since i turned 16 i think. if i did it was once or twice. he also taught me to work hard and buy the things i want with my own money. i wanted a car..i had one. wanted a new gun..i bought it. wanted a bow..got it. i worked 2 jobs for about a year..pretty close to full time at each. i was putting in 60-70hrs a week plus my sr year of highschool at the same time. now i work and goto college full time..dad works 2 jobs as well....our schedules just dont meet much..just wanted you to be prepared for that day...dont think he hates you or anything...i miss hunting with dad...hope we get to do it maybe this rifle season. he still got lots of tricks up his sleeve to teach me and we always had a good time.

sorry for the veryyy long post. i just wanted to pass all that on to you..though im not a father i feel my father raised me very well. im proud of how i turned out and always will be. when i look back at my childhood i got many priceless memorys....the fat little doughboy sittin at home with mommy playin video games wont have those..the fat little dough boy dont have antlers and turkey beards on the wall to remind him every day....not everyones a hunter...but some people were never given a chance..nothing against non-hunters...but i love the outdoors and firmly believe everyone needs atleast introduced to the lifestyle so they can make their own decisions....

good luck!!

Dubbya

Welcome! Definitely get him involved as early as possible. Make sure that it is fun for him, teach him about the animals, the outdoors and that hunting is about being in the outdoors and not just successful hunts. When you do kill something, share with him the anatomy of the animals and that kind of stuff. I'll never forget the early years with my dad in the field and neither will he.

GMMAT

I agree with txjourneyman...... For a man of 23 years....you express what it takes to be a REAL man well beyond your years. I'd like to take this opportunity as a father myself to tell you how much I respect what you're doing.

You nudge him.....and then wait for him to tug. By the sound of things....you won't have to worry about him tugging.

Good luck...and thanks for helping make us all look good.

Jeff

Arthur P

I couldn't agree more! Small game hunting is moving around and seeing lots of stuff. Something is always happening way before his attention span gets worn out. It's fun. Not at all like the abject boredom of sitting on a stand and hoping something will pass by in the next couple of hours. Make a hunter out of him first, THEN graduate him on to sitting on stand.

And when it comes to setting him up with his own bow, don't try to make him into a "mini-me" andburden the little tyke with a compound loaded up with fancy gadgets - stuff he doesn't understand, that demands a level of coordination that he doesn't yet have and that he doesn't have the attention span to learn. Instead, give the kid a simple stick and string,showhim the basicsand let him PLAY. All you do is supervise,help out WHEN HE ASKS FOR HELPand make sure he stays safe. You won't get much shooting done yourself, but you're out there to get HIM started, not to do your own thing.

There's no time like the present to get the kid started. Just take it slow and easyand let him progress at his own pace.

gutshot

I have a 7 year old and he started showing a interest in the outdoors at a early age. I took him on his firt squirrel hunt when he was 2 1/2. The thing that I do is let him determine how long that we hunt. If you have a place close that you can just sneek out for a little while and come back when he gets bored that will make it a lot better experience for him. In my opinion you can't start them to young. Good Luck.

Copper31

I just started taking my 6 year old out. It is great. I would say you are ready. I posted a story and pics under "Awsome hunt last night w/pics" Do a search if you want to find it. Better then getting a deer in my opinion.

RDHunter

I think it's a great idea to share your hunting with your son but I would start him off with showing him videos or DVD's on hunting and let him read books and magazins about it.
When the time comes that he ask you to go with you then thats when you should take him.

burniegoeasily

My kids are 8 and 9. Both girls with little interest in hunting themselves, but like to help me with the animals when I get home. I have let them help with buthcering deer since they were 5 (not much help, but they like to hang out and watch). Im going to get them a bow this Christmas and start teaching them to shoot. We started shooting 22s about two years ago. They also like to watch hunting show with me, so to answer your question, i guess it all depends on the child. I have a friend whos little boy shot his first deer at 7. shot it with a 243.