Let’s hear hunting stories with the kids

[Chris76]

I have a lot of these stories so I will start it. When my son was 9 years old I took him with me for the mentor hunt. This was the last year on the lease land I was in. The woman that owned the land passed away and her son sold it right away but back to the story. It was about a hour before dark and it was like somebody open a gate and said move deer. A spike walked up and he couldn’t find it in the scope so it got away. Ten minutes later a 6 point was coming up the ridge to our left and he was already shaking then he whispered dad a deer to the right is coming it was a bigger 6 point so it was on his side of the stand so he wanted to go for it. I was watching the buck to the left to make sure he didn’t spot us. Then my son says big buck. I said I know buddy just get ready. He is like no dad look behind that 6 point and oh my gosh guys it was a huge 10 point. I told my son try to stop shaking and told him where to aim. It’s about 40 yards away now and my boy was shaking so bad and I whispered you know where to aim so take the shot. He never look at me or said a word to me. Well it keeps walking and I was behind my son so I looked through his scope and he had the buck in his sights but no shooting. Finally the deer was out of sight and my boy turns to me and says dad he was huge. I said why didn’t you shoot buddy. He said I couldn’t. Said I was froze I couldn’t move. Although I would have loved for him to shoot that buck I just smiled and said that’s called buck eggy buddy. Guys always say why wouldn’t you just shoot the buck. It would have been the biggest buck I ever got but I would have done it the same way again bc it is a story my son tells all the time. He is 12 now and is a great little hunter. I have more I will post after I read some of your stories. If you have one take a minute and let us read it.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Chris76 I guess it didn' work out so well on this forum.
Welcome from Az. Seemed to work our on the other though.

 

[257Roberts]

Chris76 I guess it didn' work out so well on this forum.
Welcome from Az. Seemed to work our on the other though.

I planned on replying today just been busy. I have lots of stories hunting with mine and others kids. The one that stands out right now is when my son was about 15. We were hunting the youth deer season . He already had a couple of deer under his belt from previous seasons.
It was after work on a Friday i was tired and really wanted to wait til Sat. morning. But he was fired up and we had a spot not too far away. we got set up with about an hour of daylight left . It was cloudy -chilly and spitting rain. we hadnt been there long when deer started moving into a Soybean field. The way we had set up i could see an area he couldnt and vice versa. I was looking at a small 8 point buck and he was whispering in my ear want a huge buck ! I chocked it up to excitement. I told him to go ahead and take the shot if he wanted. I was on the binos when the 243 cracked. but the deer i was looking at didnt move. Another deer lunged into view and fell DRT. That deer startled me it was so big! It measured 162!
M son is 23 now and has not pulled a trigger on another buck! Says he wants a bigger one!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Pulled a stunt like that on my Dad,I was12yrs old first Javelina hunt.
Dad had me practicing kneeling aligning,dryfire exersizes for weeks before
the season.BORING! Opening day finally came and It was freezing cold.
We were sitting on a hilltop glassing,well dad was glassing I was eating M&M's.
Dad whispers Pigs! M&m's all over the hillside.He made me pick them up and
put them back in the bag.I had Buck Fever so bad I couldn,t stop shaking to
get ahold of those little suckers.We finally stalked close to the Pigs and I
was hyperventalating so he made me sit down and catch my breath.Finally
under control we slipped over the top of the rise.two pigs standing broadside 50yds
away on the opposite hillside.Dad says which one you want?So I did as I was taught.
I knelt down switched off the safety and in one fluid motion said The One On The Right!
And ripped off a split second shot that blew the front left leg off the Pig and the leg
went flying up the hill.Dad is still standing there looking at the pigs.He yells Son Of A Buck!
I jack in another shell and blow guts all over the place.He finally starts shooting.
He too scores a messy gut shot on a now running Pig.I end up emtying my gun,mosly
into the hillside.And his Pig.When all said and done we had a big mess.Then my Pig stands back up
and starts walking down the hill! I go to get more bullets out of my pack and spill them
all over the hillside.He makes me pick them all up and then...finish off the Pig.
Then Dad says you shot em' you clean em'.At the end of the day I had Pig blood all
over me from the neck down.Never again will I rush a shot!...

 

[Timr245]

Not a hunting story.....yet. My daughter is 7 this year and in PA she can use one of my antlerless tags and harvest a doe with my supervision. She says she really wants to go and is a crack shot with her 22 cricket from my lead sled so today I set her up like this and she was drilling silver dollar sized spinners at 25 yards. Still have a month to practice and she’s doing great so far. I’ve found 6.5 creedmoor reduced loads producing less recoil than .243 so that will be what I will be getting her. Start low and have the capability of taking elk & more later in life, can’t wait til the youth season!!!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Good Stuff,keep at it.Looks like she,s off to a good start.

 

[go_deep]

Nearly 15 years ago when I lived back in Wisconsin I did a youth mentor Turkey hunt. It was a boy who's mom passed away, dad was busy working 2 jobs, the kids was truly a really nice kid and I wanted to do everything I could to get him on a bird. I took him to the range about 2 weeks before season started, I was scouting like crazy, 2 days before season we go out and setup the blind where a big old gobbler had been living. I talked to him about times to hunt and told him it was okay to not hunt right at first light, but he was dead set on being in the blind before sun up. I roosted the gobbler the night before opener like I had a couple other nights, in we go the next morning at 5, sun comes up, tommy goes crazy, and then flies the other way. After 2 hours of listening to him get farther and farther away I put out a Jake decoy over a hen and gobble like crazy off and on for a few minutes. About 5 minutes goes by and no more than a step to the left of the blind where I don't have a window open, GOOBLE!!! We both about went over backwards, LOL.
This lone Tom walks out to about 5 yards facing straight away from us, and just stares at the decoys. I thought screw it, I tell him to put the bead right in the middle of his back, BOOM!
That was the biggest trophy I have ever been apart of!

 

[Rich M]

About 40 years ago we were driving across a cut corn field and out runs a really nice buck. Dad has his gun in hand and is heading out the door and stops, tells me to shoot it. I missed 3 times at about 60 yards, broadside, 180-190# weight class buck. Antler-wise, he was wider than his ears and heavy. After it was all over I asked dad why he didn't just shoot it (i could have cared less who shot it, just that it should have been dead and headed to the freezer). He said he would have felt bad shooting that deer out from under me.

I started deer hunting at 8. Hunted 7 years archery & rifle before I got my first deer another 5 years for my first buck. Part of it was starting in the 1970s and low deer numbers, the other part was that we went our own ways out the camp door. No mentoring, training, just walk around til you see a legal deer and shoot it. Legal deer was the catch. Would see a doe or doe group once every 9-day season and watch their back trail for a buck but typically it was nothing but tracks in the snow.

I do get a laugh out of fathers bringing their kids out, having em shoot 3 rounds with a 243 and then expecting them to be ready to tackle big game hunting. One especially funny story involves some outdoor "star" who's kid embarrassed him when the kid wouldn't shoot a deer daddy put him on with the 243 cause he was afraid of the gun. So the guy punishes the kid. Dumbass dad is what I'd call him but daddy was too busy chasing his own dreams and hunting across the country to raise his kid right and involve the child at an early age so he would learn to love the outdoors and not just get thrust into it at 13 for the youth hunt.

IMO - the youth hunts do a disservice by segregating the time that kids hunt - they should be hunting form opening day to the last day, not some arbitrary special day with special regulations and such. Just bring your kids hunting all the time.

 

[Timr245]

IMO - the youth hunts do a disservice by segregating the time that kids hunt - they should be hunting form opening day to the last day, not some arbitrary special day with special regulations and such. Just bring your kids hunting all the time.
[/QUOTE]

I fully intend to, this is her first year expressing interest in actually hunting rather than just shooting, which she has done since 5 with my 22. The allure of the youth season during the end of October in particular is that its not 15 degrees with a foot of snow that a youngster can’t even traverse. Makes it awful tough to get them interested in those conditions. I don’t mind a bit to introduce them into a more friendly environment.

 

[Timr245]

Nearly 15 years ago when I lived back in Wisconsin I did a youth mentor Turkey hunt. It was a boy who's mom passed away, dad was busy working 2 jobs, the kids was truly a really nice kid and I wanted to do everything I could to get him on a bird. I took him to the range about 2 weeks before season started, I was scouting like crazy, 2 days before season we go out and setup the blind where a big old gobbler had been living. I talked to him about times to hunt and told him it was okay to not hunt right at first light, but he was dead set on being in the blind before sun up. I roosted the gobbler the night before opener like I had a couple other nights, in we go the next morning at 5, sun comes up, tommy goes crazy, and then flies the other way. After 2 hours of listening to him get farther and farther away I put out a Jake decoy over a hen and gobble like crazy off and on for a few minutes. About 5 minutes goes by and no more than a step to the left of the blind where I don't have a window open, GOOBLE!!! We both about went over backwards, LOL.
This lone Tom walks out to about 5 yards facing straight away from us, and just stares at the decoys. I thought screw it, I tell him to put the bead right in the middle of his back, BOOM!
That was the biggest trophy I have ever been apart of!

Good man! Thanks for taking your valuable time to introduce a youngster to our sport.

 

[dan maule]

Last weekend during Michigan's youth hunt my daughter was able to take this buck. We had a full moon and as we were walking out to the blind we chased out a big buck so I thought we going to have a slow day. 30 minutes or so later I see this guy coming from about 250 yards. I pointed it out to my daughter and had her get ready. As it got closer she started looking at the horns through the scope and i could see her starting to shake. There were two small bucks working towards us from the opposite direction and I knew it wouldn't be long before they caught our wind and ruined everything so I asked her if she thought she could make the shot which was now about 130 yards she nodded confidently and proceeded to shoot it right through the front shoulder exiting behind the opposite shoulder. It ran about 25 yards and dropped. I told her we needed to wait 20 minutes or so to stop shaking before we climbed down from the blind. As you can see by the smile on her face she was absolutely elated! A great memory that I will not ever forget.

 

[go_deep]

I'd like to see the youth hunt expanded to include an over 18 mentor hunt where someone who has never owned a tag over 18 years old can hunt one time to experience it. To say the youth season is a waste, is comical. A lot of people won't take time away from their tag, so this is a great way to let them hunt, and get kids out.
I've done a bunch of mentor hunts over the years and love it!
I say anyway we can get kids out, do it!!!

 

[Chris76]

A lot of great stories. I have another one. It was the last day of the deee season where my son got his buck eggy. Got to the stand before day break and was seeing son does and I had my son practice getting them in the scope and trying to stay calm. He did a good job at that. Then around 10am I turned around and seen a deer coming from behind us and whispered to my son a deer is coming. Now keep in mind he found all the does in the scope no problem. We finally got a look and it was a nice 4 point. Well I could feel the stand start shaking from him. I said just take a couple deep breathes and relax. He said dad I want to get this one. I made a little joke to calm him down about letting the monster buck walk. He giggled...now this 4 point is 10 yards away and he couldn’t find it in the scope. I grunted softly and he stop wide open timber broad side. Well still couldn’t find him. Here we go I thought. Lol.. it got clean at the bottom of the ridge and I said buddy you have to find him bc 5 more yards he is out of sight. I grunted real loud. The buck stopped and I heard. I found him dad I got him in the scope. I whispered are you on the kill zone. He said yeah. I said pull the trigger buddy. He took a deep breathe like we practice and then I heard boom. He dropped the 4 point where it stood. We where pumped. He was so happy he had tears in his eyes and well if I am going to be 100% honest Dad’s eyes might have been a little teared up also. After high 5’s for a minute we went down and I showed him how to approach a animal to make sure they are dead. It was about a 90 yard shoot for his first buck. Great job the reality set in and I looked up the ridge and said oh no. He said what. I said we have to drag him up that ridge now. 3 hours later we made it to the top. Thanks for reading and looking forward to reading more of your stories

 

[taskswap]

A friend of the family and I are taking our daughters (same age: 12) grouse hunting this fall. I took mine deer hunting last fall and even though we came up dry it was because we stalked up on 3 doe but had a buck tag (leftover draw). She was ecstatic and super excited to go again!

So this year she and her friend will be coming out on a joint father/daughter hunt. We're going out in 2 weeks. Wish us luck and we'll post pics when we get back!

 

[go_deep]

A friend of the family and I are taking our daughters (same age: 12) grouse hunting this fall. I took mine deer hunting last fall and even though we came up dry it was because we stalked up on 3 doe but had a buck tag (leftover draw). She was ecstatic and super excited to go again!

So this year she and her friend will be coming out on a joint father/daughter hunt. We're going out in 2 weeks. Wish us luck and we'll post pics when we get back!

Good luck! Hope your covered up in deer!

 

[Rich M]

To say the youth season is a waste, is comical.

A lot of people won't take time away from their tag, so this is a great way to let them hunt, and get kids out.

I say anyway we can get kids out, do it!!!

Tim has a great point about the weather.

What is comical is the parents who selfishly steal time from their kids cause their own "hunt" is more important.
So, the state has to make it happen for the kids - most folks are pathetic.

The way to get the kids out is to wake em up when you get up and tell em to get ready, we're going hunting/fishing/whatever.

My idea of special seasons are for the elderly, the handicapped, folks with mobility issues.


On a brighter note - some nice looking deer there, taken by the future of our country. Congratulations and Well Done!

 

[go_deep]

Tim has a great point about the weather.

What is comical is the parents who selfishly steal time from their kids cause their own "hunt" is more important.
So, the state has to make it happen for the kids - most folks are pathetic.

The way to get the kids out is to wake em up when you get up and tell em to get ready, we're going hunting/fishing/whatever.

My idea of special seasons are for the elderly, the handicapped, folks with mobility issues.


On a brighter note - some nice looking deer there, taken by the future of our country. Congratulations and Well Done!

Your right parents that hunt, but don't make time for their kids really are missing the point. My kids hunt with me only during season. I use the youth hunt to take kids out that wouldn't normally have the chance to hunt otherwise. Without the youth seasons because I dedicate the week to my kids other kids wouldn't have the opportunity. Most of those kids don't have parents that hunt.

 

[taskswap]

Success! Only took one bird but that was enough to call it a "job done" with my daugthter! She's hooked now and looking forward to next year. Doesn't need to be a big trophy. Sometimes you just gotta get out with them...

 

[Timr245]

Sometimes you just gotta get out with them...

Exactly! Looks like you’s had a great day!

 

[mallardsx2]

Not a big story to go with this picture but a hog did loose his life to a load of 00 buckshot on Sunday to my father-i-law and my daughter got to be a part of it. It was his first hog in Georgia. I suspect there will be a lot more dying since our new lease is overrun with these things...

I am trying to get her into shooting but she is just at that awkward 8 year old stage where she cant be 100% safe with a gun yet. I have small guns that should fit her but she just isn't grasping the concept of things quite yet. This was her first trip to hunting camp with us. It was a hang out weekend for her.

Good times for sure and I hope to be able to share more pictures of her over the upcoming years with game she has taken.