Thread: Hunting with kids under 10 - must haves

warm clothes, plenty of snacks and dont make her walk too far. Maybe take a cooker and cook up some noodles at lunch.
have fun.

if you going to take a cooker......hide a bag of marshmellows in bottom of your pack,,,stop alongthe way and pick/cut a couple or four toasting stakes and give them to little miss for safe keeping without telling her what they are for...then after your noodles n hot milo...toasted marshmellows!!!!! you will be superDad for months.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

if you going to take a cooker......hide a bag of marshmellows in bottom of your pack,,,stop alongthe way and pick/cut a couple or four toasting stakes and give them to little miss for safe keeping without telling her what they are for...then after your noodles n hot milo...toasted marshmellows!!!!! you will be superDad for months.

Yep i did this with my kids when i first took them up the hills. We were walking along in the middle of the bush and i said to my daughter (about 5 then) how would you like a hot choc/fluffy, she looked at me oddly, then said yeah sure dad i'd love one, but how?

So we stopped, I pulled my gas stove from my bag, and proceeded to boil up some water and make her a hot choc, even had choc sprinkles and mashmallows. She was blown away, and absolutely loved it.

I also take a piece of closed cell foam mat cut to fit down inside the back of my pack, i use it for sitting on when sitting glassing etc, so i gave her that to sit down on. Sometimes it's just the little things that make it all that much more enjoyable for them and make them feel special.

Attention spam is pretty short at that age, so need lots of other things to break it up and distract them from the boredom ;-). Lots of stops for snacks and water and take the time to stop and look at things along the way that normally we would simply walk past as we have seen them a million times, but its all new to them.

Ie funny fungus growing on trees, any odd weird little thing that catches their interest, take the time to stop and talk about it (if they want to)

We had some funny experiences with my kids, and i managed to get plenty of pics and some video footage of some of it, and its so precious looking back at it now.

Enjoy.

Originally Posted by GWH

Yep i did this with my kids when i first took them up the hills. We were walking along in the middle of the bush and i said to my daughter (about 5 then) how would you like a hot choc/fluffy, she looked at me oddly, then said yeah sure dad i'd love one, but how?

So we stopped, I pulled my gas stove from my bag, and proceeded to boil up some water and make her a hot choc, even had choc sprinkles and mashmallows. She was blown away, and absolutely loved it.

I also take a piece of closed cell foam mat cut to fit down inside the back of my pack, i use it for sitting on when sitting glassing etc, so i gave her that to sit down on. Sometimes it's just the little things that make it all that much more enjoyable for them and make them feel special.

Attention spam is pretty short at that age, so need lots of other things to break it up and distract them from the boredom ;-). Lots of stops for snacks and water and take the time to stop and look at things along the way that normally we would simply walk past as we have seen them a million times, but its all new to them.

Ie funny fungus growing on trees, any odd weird little thing that catches their interest, take the time to stop and talk about it (if they want to)

We had some funny experiences with my kids, and i managed to get plenty of pics and some video footage of some of it, and its so precious looking back at it now.

Enjoy.

Yeah its lots of fun regardless. Izzy spent a fair bit of time considering the saplings for suitability come Christmas time

All good replies. I'd wager, your girl will be way ahead of boys of the same age.

I would suggest a spot with a bit of variety. obviously the excitement of seeing an animal is going to be a big driver of her coming again but if the trees look the same i doubt it will be stimulating

All above, plus Glassing mat, spare gloves, bag of cranberry & nut mix plus a bag of 'special' lollies like mini chocolate nut bars that daughter never normally gets- special 'hunting lollies'. Dog - if you have a dog, take dog. Rifle bolt ammo and knife.

Bolt, shit, nearly forgot

And we want to see the pic's and report soon after you get home. Its great to see parenting done right.

How did you get on? What went well and not so well?

Originally Posted by Grantn

How did you get on? What went well and not so well?

The hunt with my 6yo was more like a mobile snack fest. The attention span just isnt there yet. So I just let her call the shots with a little bit of advise like ‘ shall we have a look over that ridge’. We did a couple of hours before she decided she wanted to go.

Went for a walk with my 9 yo a couple of weeks back in the same place and she was unreal. She is dead set its her turn on the trigger next time.

Originally Posted by Gibo

The hunt with my 6yo was more like a mobile snack fest. The attention span just isnt there yet. So I just let her call the shots with a little bit of advise like ‘ shall we have a look over that ridge’. We did a couple of hours before she decided she wanted to go.

Went for a walk with my 9 yo a couple of weeks back in the same place and she was unreal. She is dead set its her turn on the trigger next time.
Attachment 204903

Good work. 6 year olds and 9 year olds can be worlds apart.

Looks semi civilised walking country, ideal.
Took me a few secs to spot the bambi down.