Hunting with kids

A topic that's probably been done to death, but here are a few observations that I've made that might be useful to people who are considering taking their kids out for a shot.

#1 I've learnt that its not always that easy for kids to pick up animals in the binoculars. Remember, you've covered a lot of this type of terrain before and they haven't. Landmark terminology isn't always that obvious to them, eg. "come down the ridge until you get to that tussock knob, then 9 o'clock until you get to that outcrop in the shadow, just downslope from that is a deer" will receive confused looks! So, give them time and experience in non-pressure situations to come to grips with locating things. Not "quick! Quick! Look there! No, there....THERE!" They won't want to come back.

#2 If you can, simple target practice with an air rifle first is very useful. Set up some targets and - under close supervision - let them get used to the concept of finding their target in the scope. This builds their confidence and you can go through the basic rules of firearm safety as you go. You can cover posture, breathing, trigger control etc. all in a relaxed non-hunting environment. Set up some fun challenges with sweet edible rewards! They will be buzzing about how much fun that was.

#3 The hunting trip's got to be fun, right? Frame it as enjoying some time spent outdoors, that is our goal. Be careful with loading up expectations that we need to WIN by getting an animal. I always stress how lucky we are to live in a beautiful country where we can do this, and we are not huddled in a bomb shelter like some other poor buggers around the world. Start some traditions, eg. a pie on the way home. This ends the trip on a good note, regardless of seeing animals or not.

#4 Discuss the different type of animals we would target, and at different times of the year. And where do you aim? Why do you aim there? This sort of casual chat can help lay the groundwork for later on.

A quick bit of back story here is that Mr Nine (year old) had been coming with me a few times and was comfortable with the whole hunting concept. He's really enthusiastic. The time was right for him to get behind the rifle, if possible. Earlier this year we almost pulled it off. He was ten by now. After a fruitless look at our honey hole the night before I got up for first light and peeked across the river flats. Several deer were grazing about 200m away. I sneaked back and set up the rifle...and woke up Mr Ten. He jumped up and I pointed them out in the binos, encouraging him to get on his belly and crawl up to the rifle, all set up. Unfortunately he was still in his undies, and he didn't want to shoot a deer in his undies! Fair enough...haha...after this chat the deer started getting wise to two nearby humans discussing undergarments about 200m away...so I made the executive decision to drop a yearling myself and not make a big deal of it. He was very happy with that. Fast forward six months and Mr Eleven was keen to head out again, and this time we were hunting a new spot not too far from home. It was a glorious evening, a very gentle breeze. As we started walking Mr Eleven, unprompted, started talking about wind direction...great! Then he started pointing out deer tracks in the mud...excellent! We crept along, full stealth, and about 15 minutes from the truck we saw a spiker emerging from the bush about 80 yards away. We froze and sat down silently. We stared at each other for a minute and I set up the bipod legs on the 25-06 veeeeery slowly in front of Mr Eleven. He slooooowly got onto his belly and I chambered a round as quietly as I could. By now the spiker had moved a metre or so and was standing flush behind a manuka bush....dammit! I whispered some patient words to Mr Eleven, and told him to wait. The spiker, slowly moved a metre or so to the left and was visible again - and Mr Eleven plugged him in the crease without too much fanfare. The spiker took a few steps then collapsed. Mission accomplished. Mr Eleven was absolutely delighted. As was I - there are a lot of moving parts when hunting with kids so I was very pleased that he could achieve his goal. Its been a journey full for learnings for both of us.

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