Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Preparing for Son's First Hunt

I was born with hunting in my soul. My dad is a non-hunter. He never took me hunting and hates it. I knew nothing about how to hunt, but when my son was born four years ago, I decided to learn. I started going to WMAs and have gotten absolutely addicted to hunting over the last 3 years. This year I leased a tract to try to cultivate a good spot to take my kids some day. It has turned out to not have many deer, but I am hoping to grow it with good management and trigger restraint. I have told my little boy who is now 4 that I will take him when he is ready. All season he has not seemed excited about going. But, now he is itching to go. He asked me to go this weekend. I told him that it was too cold. He immediately told me that deer move more in the cold. He has been listening. I can't believe he has waited until the rut to decide to go. I am sure that he will make enough noise to run off every deer in the county. The only shooting house that I have that has windows is on a field that has almost no deer activity. But, we are going to sit in it on Saturday evening with a Mr. Buddy heater. Even though prospects are low, I am super pumped for this hunt. In the unlikely event that we see a deer, I can't decide if I should abandon my management strategy and shoot a non shooter. What do y'all think?

first off don't go in negative. second unless he is shooting which i doubt he will be good with seeing a deer i might lower my standard a little to make it exciting. once he becomes the shooter things change When my baby was 4 i saw a deer once with all 4 of my boys on the stand lol 4,6,8,11 so miracles can happen.

It being his first hunt, seeing deer will be enough since he is not shooting. But when he is pulling the trigger let him shoot any deer he wants.

By shooting house with windows, I assume you mean windows that close and open (fancy windows). Those definitely hold in heat better, but with a buddy heater I would not think it is a must. Any shooting house will work well. I only have one shooting house with actual windows and countless others without windows.

Hot Chocolate in the thermal and if he wants to leave cause he is cold.....leave. Make it fun. We have a corner store near where we hunt. Anytime we go (hunt, maintenance, trap, etc) we buy slushies. It has become our "tradition".

Let him bring along "his" gun.A toy gun will mean just the same to him and he's gonna wanna act like he's shooting something anyway.

He asked to bring his toy gun and I told him that he could. We see deer in our subdivision yard, so I am not sure how excited he will be to see one. What pushed him over the top to want to go is eating some venison tenderloin that I grilled over the weekend. He took a few bites and said that we better go kill some more so that we can have more to eat. LOL. My wife texted me today and said that he told the lady that helped him out of the car at school that he is going to go hunting and kill a deer with his daddy. I tried to tell him that most of the time that I go hunting, I don't see anything. He said, "Let's just walk around until we find one.". He has an answer for everything. Haha

Mine is 3 and I took him the other day after putting him off all year. What I learned is park close to the stand and don't go to early. My 3yo is good for about 15 minutes but he is pretty hyper. Next time we are probably just gonna go in about 4:30

Make it fun and take pictures. You only get one first hunt with your son

I took both of mine last weekend (3 & 7 years old). The 3 year old was great (it was his 1st hunt) but the 7 year old was bouncing all over the shooting house for 2 hours). Suggestion: go in as late as possible for the evening hunt and don't get your hopes up on seeing a deer. Enjoy the time with your son. I let my 7 year old drive the cart from the camp to the shooting house and back and he thinks he can drive a car now. He was on top of the world. The 3 year old never complained and I think he will be my hunting buddy. The 7 year old will come around but I think it will take him until 11-12 before he enjoys it. As for the shoot or not, I would let him take whatever deer he wants if he wants to.

Take something for him to do like coloring books or tablet he will loose interest in looking for deer pretty quick and hope a big one comes out like it did one day when I took mine.

If he said lets go walk around and find one thats what I would do. Let him pick the field. Take a ground blind they hold lots of heat with a buddy heater if there is no box on ths field. Coloring books and markers. Toy cars, puzzles, we even draw all over the inside of the shooting houses from time time. He eill likely have an hour or hour and a half of stillness in him so go in at 330-4 before that walk him tired. No matter how he does tell him he is a great Hunter and he did awesome.

Took mine at that age. Don't get upset if they can't sit still. I brought books to read to him and we had "nap time". He would wake up about 430 and not move around a lot because he was still groggy from the nap. He and my daughter were good luck pieces. We made it fun and if we saw deer it was just that much better. Took both mine several times and their heads would bob up down and all around looking at the "man turkeys". The turkeys never spooked. Don't know why to this day. Great memories.

From here on out patience is your friend. Take it from a guy who dont have any. Be patient my friend.