Youth Hunters

Here's me taking my two into the Yolla Bolla wilderness to pre-season scout and fish. They hiked over 7 miles in some pretty tough country with no complaints.----shooter

Thats great man I bet you had a blast with the little ones I haven't taken my boys packing yet but we are planning on it this year, I cant wait. :thumb

Here's a backpack trip me and my boy went on in the uintas.
The gut on that tall one looks like he could use some more hiking.

I've posted this before but it fits in this thread too.
So here's a question.

With the age retrictions lifted for youth upland game hunters, how young is too young to register your kid for hunters safety. Technically if they can read they can take the class. I realize that it will be diferent for each kid based on their maturity level but what age would you all feel is the minimun age for it?

I hope thins question doesn't hijack your post Primal.

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There is nothing better then a day in the hills with your kids. 10sign:

My little brothers 2008 and 2009 spike bulls

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Jesse's 08 spike bull

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Jesse's 09 spike bull

So here's a question.

With the age retrictions lifted for youth upland game hunters, how young is too young to register your kid for hunters safety. Technically if they can read they can take the class. I realize that it will be diferent for each kid based on their maturity level but what age would you all feel is the minimun age for it?

I hope thins question doesn't hijack your post Primal.[/quote]

I heard as long as he can talk and pass the hunter safety test he is legible. I know this one kid and he got it when he was 10 years old?

I personally am making mine wait until they are 12. Not saying that should apply to everyone, but it seems like the right age for my kids.----shooter

My oldest is turning 8 in a Febuary so we are looking into that ourselves, and I think we are going to try it out. If he passes then we will stick to easy hunts like pen raised pheasants for a year or two then we will go after the wild ones, so I guess I better start saving for a youth shotgun. I think its best to teach them as young as you can but you must make sure to keep it as fun, safe, and ethical (I say ethical becuase in another post I said i didnt like elk farm hunts but this is different because there are no fences and these fly to freedom half the time with youth behind the gun) as you can thats why we going after the pen raised birds.

"primal215" wrote:My oldest is turning 8 in a Febuary so we are looking into that ourselves, and I think we are going to try it out. If he passes then we will stick to easy hunts like pen raised pheasants for a year or two then we will go after the wild ones, so I guess I better start saving for a youth shotgun. I think its best to teach them as young as you can but you must make sure to keep it as fun, safe, and ethical (I say ethical becuase in another post I said i didnt like elk farm hunts but this is different because there are no fences and these fly to freedom half the time with youth behind the gun) as you can thats why we going after the pen raised birds.

I see tons of pine hens during the muzzle loader deer hunt. I've always thought it would be a great way to take my eight year old along. A small .410 and we could back to camp with a limit. He's pretty responsible, but I worry that eigh is to young.

Do you guys have any recommendations for a good youth shotgun

"primal215" wrote:Do you guys have any recommendations for a good youth shotgun

I started out with a single shot 16 gauge when I was 12 but a lot of my friends started with 20's.

I teach hunter safety here in utah, and my personal opinion is that if the kid can ready pretty well on his/her own, and can understand what is being read then they can pass the class. The youngest student we have had so far is 9 years old but they had a pretty advanced reading level and did just fine. Now hunting that young is another subject. Most 9 and 10 year olds are not big enough to hold a normal sized 22 properly let along a youth shotgun.

Her first upland game hunt. :thumb
My son with his first mulie. :not-worthy

Great comments and great pics guy's, Thanks. That pic of ridgetop's with the girl standing in between the elk horns is really cool, my little guy wants me to bag a bull know so he can do that. :thumb

This is a great thread. In my opinion, you take the younger generation out of hunting, you miss the BEST part. If I was told that I couldn't take the kids with me I might just find something else to do. I've been in on alot of first bucks and I can remember them all. My favorite was with a friend of mine's daughter. She went on a hard wilderness hunt with us and killed a HUGE blacktail that scored 141 B&C. I had more fun helping her than pulling the trigger myself. Ohh, and by the way, I still have never killed a blacktail that big. :thumb.-----shooter

That is a toad of a blacktail buck, Where did you bag that beast

Little wilderness just west of Red Bluff, CA in the B zone. There are a lot of huge bucks up there, we see them every year, we've only killed a few. ------shooter

i've missed this thread ](*,)

KILLERBEE"S 2 CENTS:

i personally passed hunter saftey in oregon when i was 8 yrs old, 3rd highest score in the class.[ mostly 11 yr old kids] in oregon you could hunt upland game when you were 9 [ now with the youth mentor program you can hunt big game on another persons / mentors tag]

i always grew up going hunting with my dad. i can remember when i was 5 yrs old, my dad took me on an archery elk hunt. he said "i'll take you if you can wake yourself up by 5:00 a.m." i was up and ready by 4! i can still remember going out and walking to a ridge and my dad doing a "voice" bugle. and sure as %$@#@! he got an answer! that was the first bugle i can remember, and one i'll never forget. that bull never came in and at the end of the day my dad put me in the lead and told me to find are way out. after what seemed like 10 miles we came around the corner and there was his old chevy love pickup.

now days i go and hunt that same spot. truth be told the ridge was only about 700 - 1000 yrds away, and i was probably "tricked" into finding it . but i never new that back then. to this day every time i get there i sit down and remeber those times.

back to hunting. after i passed hunter safety, my dad took me quail hunting. he bought me an old Harrington and Richards 4-10 single shot. i remeber us hiking threw the junipers and all of the sudden there was about 15 quail sitting all bunched together. i pulled up and shot and killed about 10 of them. after finishing a couple off and retrieving all of them, me being proud as can be, showed him all my quail. he gave me a big hug and told me great job! but then we sat down on an old log and he explained to me how shooting them on the ground was not the most sporting way to shoot birds. by no means was i in trouble , just learning.

i can remember when i was 6 i got to go on my first rifle deer hunt. opening morning i spotted a spike deer. i was so excited and was telling where it was at. sure enough he rested on a log and shot him at 220 yrds, {in steps} with his 30-30 with a strait 4 X scope. the buck dropped! i got to be in the lead to find him. i can remember looking all over for that buck and finally i was higher on the hill and walked up on him. i was jumping up and down screaming "you got him, you got him"
now i know that he didn't want to shoot a spike back then, and i'm pretty sure he stayed low on that hill side so i could find him. but i never knew.

needless to say i could never thank my dad enough for the start he gave me in hunting and in life. AND I WILL , WITH ALL MY MIGHT, BRING MY KIDS UP THE SAME WAY!

so to answer the question on how young is to young?? IT DEPENDS ON US DADS! if we do are part with are kids they will be ready long before they are legal to be!

just typing this post sure brought back alot of memories of when i was a kids , hunting with DAD! this year he drew a good bull tag, i took the whole hunt off of work to try and get him a bull. we had shots at bulls everyday but could never get one on the ground. but that dont matter at all, we spent another hunt together as father and son, and thats what matters!
i cant wait to have those same memories with my kids!

Hey Killerbee, thanks for the great story it sounds like you and I were brought up much the same. I hope to bring my boys up the same way and I hope they are able to do the same with there kids passing on our love for the outdoors at a young age is so important to the future of the sport as well as the fact that the younger you learn something the better and more natural you are at it.

Do you guys know of any states that offer nonresidents good odds at a Jr. deer tag

Hey primal 215 missouri has a youth tag and even a special season for the youth. They are over the counter tags and fairly reasonable on price. I'm pretty sure they allow nonresident youths to participate. You would be hunting whitetails of course. Missouri has alot of conservation areas open to public hunting and the mark twain national forest in the southern part of the state is a huge tract of land. FYI the larger bucks taken in the state is usually north of the MO river.

montana has easy doe tags to get, also check into wyoming antelope. i believe they could kill 3 does AND a buck.

"primal215" wrote:Do you guys have any recommendations for a good youth shotgun

I started out with my Dad's old Remington Bolt action 20ga. when I was 10 y/o. He cut down the stock to fit me. After lots of lawn mowing I saved up enough for a Mossberg 20ga youth pump when I was 12y/o. Those 2 took quite a few grouse and quail, even a few rabbits.

well here is my brothers and I with his first ever big game animal on his first ever big game hunt. Calf Moose
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Here is my mule deer on my first big game hunt.
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my dauther with her first ever big game in 2008.
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"Springville Shooter" wrote:Here's me taking my two into the Yolla Bolla wilderness to pre-season scout and fish. They hiked over 7 miles in some pretty tough country with no complaints.----shooter

I think you really have fun, I think it's a good idea going to a youth hunter with my kids and with their youth gun. maybe this summer.

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Very cool thread. :thumb
My oldest is 4 and I'm seriously considering bringing him along for the deer hunt this year. I know it would drastically change how I would be able to hunt... but I think it would be worth it. I've taken my son (4) and daughter (2) fishing and both had a good time... albeit for about 15 minutes at a time. But again, it was well worth it. Here are some pictures that made the snapshot of the week segment back in October 2010 on Roughin' it Outdoors:

Passing it on!!

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Thanks for sharing everyone!!