How to Take an 11 year old

[killingtime 41]

Just wanting some of y'all's input. I know it shouldn't be rocket science. I've taken my boy that's 11 Dove hunting since he was 4.bought him his own shotgun at 8. And that's how I started out the hunting world myself. So I figured t do the same for him. But back in the late 80's and early 90's when started hunting deer with my uncle.it was a muzzleloader. I asked lots of questions he showed me how to measure the powder at the right grains. And load the bullet. And put the # 11 percussion cap on. And said you go one way and I'll go the other. I was about my boys age now. It would worry me to death to go about it like that with my son. Back in the day the old dudes didn't seem to worry about half as much with the kids as we do now. But yet not seeing deer didn't frustrate me. Cause there wasn't many to see. I learned along the way and killed my first buck 4 years later. Meanwhile it was all public land we hunted then. Now all I have for the most part is public land to take my son to now. And over here in East TN you go more days of not seeing anything than you do seeing deer. And I don't want him to hate it. And be bored and not want to hunt at all. Cause as we know the first year will either have him hooked or not. I struggle with trying to find the best spot so he will at least enjoy the experience. And so far that has cost me to not take him at all. Even though he hasn't really pressed the issue either. Sorry for the long read. But little advice would be appreciated.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I cannot really help with tips for public. For my daughters it was utilizing food plots and taking them during ideal weather even if that wasn't during the juvenile hunts. One thing to make sure you do is take snacks your kid likes. Let him use a grunt call or a can call while in the stand.

My son is also 11, and I have yet to actually take him to sit a stand. He is autistic though and that adds some challenges. I fully intended to take him the week of Thanksgiving, but our family came down with the flu.

 

[Ski]

I don't have any advice, just a little experience. My dad had three boys and two of us love hunting, fishing, foraging, anything to be in the woods. The third doesn't care less about it and never had any interest.Same parents. Same upbringing. Same exposure. Just different personality. My own son is like him. As much as I hunt, he doesn't have any interest. He loves eating game, and enjoys dove hunting, but nothing else. He tagged a 3pt buck his first and only deer hunt. He was excited, had the shakes afterward, really enjoyed himself. But once he'd done it he was done, no more interest in doing it again. It's just not something he wants to do for fun.

So in my humble opinion, you can't screw it up. Either he's going to like it or he isn't. I don't think the first hunt is going to make much difference. I went many times before I ever got a deer, yet I loved just being in the woods. Even as a very young boy I knew the forest was my happy place. My son isn't like that, nor is one of my brothers. It's a personality thing I think.

 

[Jcalder]

Just go. Have fun. My 5 year old wasn't too interested in going with me at all but I got her some hunting clothes she can grow in to. Once she got to try them on, she was all about going. Not to shoot, but go. So we did. And like you, I didn't expect to see deer. But we did. Don't take them all the time unless they're just ate up with it. Plan shorter trips. Saturdays I'll likely hunt all day. Sundays I go after church. So I planned a little later hunt and we went.

 

[UCStandSitter]

I don't have any advice, just a little experience. My dad had three boys and two of us love hunting, fishing, foraging, anything to be in the woods. The third doesn't care less about it and never had any interest.Same parents. Same upbringing. Same exposure. Just different personality. My own son is like him. As much as I hunt, he doesn't have any interest. He loves eating game, and enjoys dove hunting, but nothing else. He tagged a 3pt buck his first and only deer hunt. He was excited, had the shakes afterward, really enjoyed himself. But once he'd done it he was done, no more interest in doing it again. It's just not something he wants to do for fun.

So in my humble opinion, you can't screw it up. Either he's going to like it or he isn't. I don't think the first hunt is going to make much difference. I went many times before I ever got a deer, yet I loved just being in the woods. Even as a very young boy I knew the forest was my happy place. My son isn't like that, nor is one of my brothers. It's a personality thing I think.

Agree with this. Everybody different. Outside of making it an outright miserable experience, not much you do will take away from someone who is truly gonna love it. Then again, some folks could be in a heated blind with a 6 course meal and still not wanna be there (my wife). Different strokes…

 

[deerhunter10]

Just go.. you can't get the time back and most of the time seeing deer with kids is just icing on the cake. Make it enjoyable bring snacks don't over hunt don't make him sit for 3 or 4 hours.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Agree with the above. Some people love it, some dont

My daughter is 10 and this is the third year of her with the gun in her hands. Initially it was blinds with her iPad and coloring books in hand. She pretty quickly figured out that blinds are less effective and that "toys" become a detriment pretty quick. Now she is fully prepared to sit 5 hours and not see a thing, knowing full well the odds of seeing a buck were greater than sitting on the front porch watching the yard does. She's the most hard core kid I've ever seen, and she isn't intimidated by any hill or thorns or weather. My suggestion for starting out would be to make it fun. Once the belt is notched you'll get a better idea of how to proceed

 

[Lost Lake]

Just take him. I'd recommend only staying as long as he's willing. If that's only an hour or two, so be it.

Maybe take a pop up blind so if he's fidgety, deer won't pick up on it as easily. Let him bring reasonable entertainment, and binoculars. They are good for an extra half hour or so. Grunt calls, rattle bags, and such are a big help.

Good luck to y'all.

 

[ttf909]

Use some kind of blind that allows for movement . Let them bring books or video games . Just keep it fun . Try to not be serious unless the kid is taking it serious. Remember most are afraid of the dark and the big bad coyote. So dont stay till dark . Snacks lots of snacks . Took this one kid that did the chicken bobble head dance the entire time . Like he had an entire mariachi band sounding off only he could hear. Let him rock it out. Man it was tough though.

 

[tellico4x4]

I had 3 daughters and tried to make hunters out of all of them. Only one still shows a bit of occasional interest. Then I had 3 grandsons and took a different approach, I made it fun for them. Plenty of snacks, no extreme weather, no fussing at them cause they moved too much & quit when they are ready to quit. If it means we were back at camp by 8:00 am, then I fixed them a big breakfast. My 11 year old grandson has killed two gobblers, two does & three bucks the past 3 years and the above is exactly how he was introduced. Now, he can't wait to get to camp and hunt. Remember that it's not about you, but all about the kid.
If the deer hunting is lousy, put a stalk on a squirrel. Walk a creek, look for arrowheads, check cameras, anything to make it interesting for him.

 

[TNlandowner]

Concur with the advice to make the hunt fun.... don't push kids hard. When hunting in a blind, my 11 year old takes snacks, a drink, a book, his Nintendo Switch, etc. Usually when the food runs out, he is ready to come home... ;o) We have hunted in Buddy stands, but kept the hunts fairly short.

As for public land hunting, think safety, safety, safety around other hunters. Try hunting during the week when pressure may be less. If possible, get him into a low pressure area.

In the end, you'll both have great memories of time spent together chasing the elusive whitetails.

Good luck!

 

[rhinoblakes]

Great thoughts and advice from all the folks that have responded. I do exactly what TNLand does. I take a backpack full of stuff that has nothing to do with hunting.

This has been my logic with my 3 kids. When I was a kid I remember getting hurt, injured, falling down, seeing no game, stuff that could have deterred me from hunting. But it didn't. However, I have no illusions that my kids will be the same way. I let it be their choice to go and how long to stay. I just simply present the opportunity and if accepted I make it easy for them. I heard Dr Kevin Elko say years ago (I will try not to butcher his wisdom), if we want our kids to do something, just simply show them. Show them and be a blessing to them.

 

[RUGER]

Just some humble advice, or moreso sharing of what I did.

I had two rules when taking my son hunting or fishing.
1. I never held him off the trigger unless the property dictated it. He wanted to kill it, kill it.
2. When he said he was ready to go, we left. Yes, that happened the first 30 minutes of daylight on more than one occasion. Oddly enough, those days were some of my favorites. Breakfast at McDonalds together then riding around in the warm truck looking at deer in the fields.


I started taking him when he was 4. I never asked him if he wanted to go but one day he said he wanted to.
Packed him in on my back and we just kinda "hunted" by sitting in the woods just experiencing everything.
Killed his first deer at 6. He killed 9 the next year.

Just be with them, that's the most important thing.

 

[mike243]

All great advice, take him every chance you can but don't get mad if he wants to go home in a hour or 2, kids his age have a lot of stuff to side track them. same way with fishing , small game hunting can be action packed and that's where I started at a young age. I was shooting guns at a very early age and got my first bb gun at 4 years old and first 410/22 at 6. I was shooting a sweet 16 by 7 or 8 years old.

 

[rtaylor]

When hunting public with my daughters we always sat in a ground blind during prime time and if we didn't see any deer we would switch gears to squirrel. Running and gunning squirrels is just as much fun for kids as deer hunting is.

 

[DC219]

You've gotten lots of good advice. This seemed to work for well for my kids:

Keep them warm( lots of hand warmers)
Keep them fed
Have some distractions to buy time
Let them use Binoculars
Leave when they're ready
Intermingle deer hunting with squirrel hunting. My son learned a lot from hunting squirrels with a .22. It helped immensely when shooting at deer.

 

[RockMcL]

When hunting public with my daughters we always sat in a ground blind during prime time and if we didn't see any deer we would switch gears to squirrel. Running and gunning squirrels is just as much fun for kids as deer hunting is.

Squirrels are a great start. A kid can learn a lot on squirrels and gets to move in the woods. I didn't teach my sons how to still hunt, squirrels did.

Success & failure on squirrel is emotionally smaller for kids. Builds them up to bigger more momentus events

 

[ttf909]

Another thing if possible start them out shooting a suppressed rifle. Takes nearly all the recoil and much of the sound away.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Just take him and spend time with him. If he's ready to go, go, and still hunt back to the truck to do something different. Keep him warm and dry, and make it about the time you're together, watching whatever wildlife is around, and if a deer shows, even better. Talk quietly, but remember complete silence isn't necessary. take binoculars, a range finder, or a monocular and pick apart different spots with them. "See that squirrel over by the hickory tree", "Hey, there's a bunny", "Ole possum is waddling across the field over there", "Look on that tree over to the left, there's a pilated wood pecker". It's more about the time you spend with him than about killing/seeing a deer. And if a deer does show up, shoot it if you want to, let it walk and wait on another if it's early.

I had my youngest daughter with me one day(her mom and I are divorced, so my weekend and she wanted to go hunt) when she was around 17. We had shot a doe that morning, and went back for the evening hunt that afternoon. Around 4 a young 4 point came into the field, and she wanted me to shoot it, but it was early and I let it walk after we watched it for a while. A little before dark, a bigger deer came out, and I shot it. Was a big bodied small antlered 9, but it tickled her because we had taken 2 in the same day, and her boyfriend had missed the deer he shot at back in the area they lived. So she got to rub it in that she and dear old dad got it done twice the same day. Some of my fondest memories of her at that age, we may not have seen much, but we had a good time just being together. I'm looking forward to being able to take her children when they get a little older and making more memories with them.

 

[tasaman]

Lots of great advice in here. I would look at it two ways. If the boy is already into it, give him some freedom. Give him the choice. Don't make it a 6 hour hunt. Just a 2 hour sit and then move or go to get some breakfast and talk about it.
Second option is take him somewhere out of town that has a lot of deer. Plenty of areas are over run with does.