Youth Hunting - Public Land

[Singing Bridge]

A real challenge for us- introducing youth hunters to public land. Whether its high pressure public land, remote wilderness areas or somewhere in between, introducing inexperienced youth hunters to this environment takes preplanning and forethought. What to do in order to give them a great chance of being successful, how do we keep them from getting lost, keep them SAFE, etc.? Whats the best plan of action?

[PredatorTC]

In my opinion, I think what youth hunters may need to see is that there are actual good bucks out there. So i think we should help to set them up in places where they will actually see action buck or doe. Then after setting them up a few times, let them pick a few spots out. If they see success, they will be proud of there work and love hunting. If they don't, i believe they may want to try harder because of there first experiences. I think they need to see that it is possible to kill a trophy.

I hope i understood the question. This is how i got into hunting though. My dad picked out the first few spots and told me where to sit. I saw good action. Then i shot my first small buck in a tree i picked out. It could not have been more rewarding.

[Black Squirrel]

I take my son scouting with me as much as I can. He loves being out there, he's a couple years from actually being able to bow hunt, and we don't gun hunt any public land. He's starting to gain confidence, and will even take the lead once and awhile. As for actuall hunting, I just hope to get him on some deer early, before getting him into the nasty stuff. He has already showed mild symptoms of the disease, that all of us on this site, suffer from.

[Singing Bridge]

PTC, I like your thought process on this- show the youth a few different good spots and try to get some encounters going, followed by the process evolving into the young hunter picking out a spot. A great buy-in and learning process.

Black squirrel's "getting them in there to scout" is great- get them in there well before they are old enough to hunt to start learning the ropes.

[CatfishJack]

Like Black Squirrel, my son also is getting very interested. He doesn't have a problem wanting to get out in the woods, but doesn't want to practice with his bow that much. I will be hunting close to him for his confidence when he can bowhunt legally. That will be not this year but the next. He can't wait. He has been bowhunting with me for a number of years now and the important thing for him to realize with public land is to not get dejected when he sees someone else, as it can't be controlled like private land. My daughter doesn't mind hunting public, but likes to stay relatively close to our cottage. Our cottage is adjacent to public and she actually had good action there. Get them seeing deer first, and that will hook them!

[Singing Bridge]

Good point, CJ- being able to hunt the public close to the cottage has got to be a confidence booster. Sounds like a good area for seeing deer, and as you said that'll get 'em hooked. I used to love hunting public land by my family's cabin, with room to roam I had quite a time.

One of my favorite experiences as a young hunter- my brother parked his car down a ways from our cabin, and we agreed to come back and honk the horn if one of us got one. I ran to my stand, a crotch in a tree about six feet off the ground right on top of a runway where three different deer trails crossed each other before branching out again. A doe family stepped out of the swamp and walked right under my stand, with the oldest doe eating leaves while burning a hole through me with her eyes. She put her head down and I put an arrow in her, actual distance between my bow and her back was no more than three feet. She ran 30 yards and dropped. I ran back to the car and started honking , total elapsed time was less than ten minutes. My brother came back madder than heck, figuring that I was messing with him.

[publiclandhunter]

Youth hunting on public-land can be a great learning experience or a "quick-kill" for enthusiasm. I believe they need to "see" game to keep their interests - seeing big-bucks shouldn't be the key. Kids need activity and entertainment and killing a big-buck should be a huge "bonus" if it happens. Prepare them correctly by leading them through an apprenticeship. Kill any deer, then kill a few more, then try for a legal buck, then kill a few more, then look for a two-year old. Get fairly good at scouting and deciphering mature buck sign then waylay a few two year olds before deciding on trophy bucks. Heck, on public-land a two-year old may be considered a trophy in some areas.

I believe that taking a kid out and doing the scouting for them and then letting them pull the trigger on a trophy buck ruins the experience for them. - Consider mountain climbing for instance. Mt. Everest is the Holy-grail for climbers and is a storied accomplishment. The journey either makes or breaks the soul of the adventurer - and possibly kills them in the process, so they can't "half-heartedly" try. It is a determination that it will be accomplished with no room for failure. It takes time and effort to get to the top, with the view from the top being the sweetest of the elixirs. Now, imagine if they were placed on a helicopter and quickly whisked to the summit and dropped off. The view may be impressive, but nothing was ventured to get there - no personal effort was put forth, thus the experience will not be cherished or earned. Chances are they may never thirst to climb again.

let them bumble around some and minimally help them to come to conclusions on their adventures. Seeing is believeing and harvesting cements the beliefs. One step at a time.

Keep it real and keep it fun.

PLH

[Singing Bridge]

It sure helps if youth hunters see game initially, to keep them interested. Going with an experienced hunter before they are able to hunt on their own sure can get that fire lit too. Even when very young, kids can get fired up with adults at deer sightings just by driving around public land at first and last light.

[GyrPer1]

I think PLH is right on the money. I've been struggling with this myself. With the population being what it is (right now), do you take a kid out into the woods for a long hunt, only for him / her to see nothing, and maybe repeatedly see nothing? If it's not fun for the kid right off the bat, the potential, IMO, is high for the kid to get bored and lose interest. Don't want to go there, but don't want to "not go there" if that makes any sense. In the end, I suppose it depends on the individual circumstance.

[publiclandhunter]

Not to "muddy up the puddle", but the gist of what I am getting at here is to assist them, but don't completely do it for them. No one learns by having someone else do it all. I agree with Bridge in that they need to see game to stay interested. Let them see game, even if it is 200-yards away across a field. Once they see the game encourage them to scout over there to get closer to success and figure out the deer. It creates excitement and fires the passion. Don't take them to a high-fence and let them snuff-out a half tame deer.........not what will create a fire - just confusion.

PLH

[Hodag Hunter]

Hunting and fishing need to be introduced at a very young age....it is not a hobby it is a way of life. Make sense? Don't let some society rules say when a child is of age to hunt.

Our son has been in a ground blind with me at 3 years old, at 4 he witnessed his first deer kill with the bow; took off running after it like squirrel hunting. I took extra pride scouting locations for where he and I will hunt, we need to have activity, or interest will be lost very quickly. All kids are different but I can't see a kid going in the woods after the 5th trip with out seeing a deer. I don't care if it's public or private you should get some close encounters with deer at an early age......they know deer run from danger while driving in a car. It just simply amazed my son that we could sit on the ground, in camo, be quite and deer will feed with 15 yards of us. My daughter will be three this Oct. and I feel lucky that we will experiance the "firsts" all over again this fall.

Kids need to be involved in all things you do as a family, including the walks in the woods, cleaning fish and deer (give them a very easy chore) the actual kill, scouting, shooting BB guns, saving chippy tails, cleaning the boat, etc. It is just a way of life and what we do, the kids will catch on and it will just become a part of their lives. Now kids will be kids and a few video games, puzzles, 4-wheelers, watching cartoons and playing with school mates will be thrown in the mix also. Please don't expect them to be as gung ho as you are....it will grow inside everybody at a different rate. My daughter seems to be lagging slightly behind our son. Could be because the wife is really doing the girly things with her....I need to pick up the pace.

When our boy was three my wife found play-do wrapped in paper sitting in the fridge, she's like what the heck is this and asks our boy what it is. His response, it's my deer meat. How do you teach that? Just part of what he was watching, experiancing and helping with since he was born.

[publiclandhunter]

Hodag - I will agree with all said! It is a mindset and ownership situation, not just a simple task of walking them into the woods. You get out what you put into it - especially time with kids teaching them.

PLH