Kids hunt

With a free weekend and a good weather forecast I was able to arrange an overnight hunt for Myself and 4 yr son Beau along with a good mate Chris and his 6 year old son Findlay.
I am very privileged to have access to a private block pretty close to home, I don’t hunt it very much at all as I enjoy the public land hunting and it’s a bit of an easy hunt for a few older guys that hunt there some 80+.
So come Saturday avo we loaded the kids and gear up and off to the hut, they loved the ride up chatting away excitedly.
Arriving at the hut we mucked around a bit and had an early dinner.
The aim of the trip was to get both boys out for their first real hunting trip and maybe get a deer of 2 if the stars aligned, we also wanted to get the boys involved in all aspects.
Dinner finished we went off for a walk spotting a deer on the way but looked to be a hind which would have had a fawn so showed the boys and carried on.
Ended up being quite a walk for the kids but minimal complaining and with the incentive of plenty of snacks we got to the end and plodded back seeing 3 deer on the track, but I held off shooting as the kids couldn’t see.
Nearly back at the hut at about 7.45 we spotted a spiker down a little side track about 120m away, got the boys eyes on it and a good view and then shot it clean, fair to say they were stoked! So back to the hut got the side by side and drove down to it for the photos and gutting session.
Heaps of questions and poking and prodding followed. Got the deer back and just sat on a nice wee lookout nearby until about half 8 glassing seeing plenty more animals then back to the hut for snacks then bed, once kids were down Chris and I sat outside and enjoyed a few beers before retiring at about 11.
No alarms set for the morning so just got up when the kids woke, they were jumping around making plenty of noise in the hut when Chris said well F**k me, from in his sleeping bac on the top bunk he could see 4 deer out the hut window.
We got the kids clothed and while Beau and I sat and watched Chris and Findlay snuck down and shot another spiker at about 30m. more photos and deer back to the hut breakfast then pack up and home time.
What an epic weekend with 2 very excited but tired boys with a whole lot of stories to tell!Attachment 264757Attachment 264758Attachment 264759Attachment 264760Attachment 264761Attachment 264762Attachment 264763

Absolute awesomeness on all levels.make sure the wee tykes get lashings of butter on thick white bread with salt on some fresh steak straight from the pan( best eaten outside) they will be hooked for life and you will have someone to carry out your deer when you getting long in the tooth. Good on you Dad's.

That's pretty cool - I bet I know what the boys are talking about at school.

And at home.

And everywhere.

Now that is what hunting is all about! And awesome parenting. Well done guys.

Nothing better than hunting with the youngsters! Good on you guys for getting them out!

They will remember that for the rest of their lives !

Awesome :)

Super cool. Kids thriving.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Absolute awesomeness on all levels.make sure the wee tykes get lashings of butter on thick white bread with salt on some fresh steak straight from the pan( best eaten outside) they will be hooked for life and you will have someone to carry out your deer when you getting long in the tooth. Good on you Dad's.

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No time when we got back to the hut for that quick sammies then bed for the boys they were Fried, both love their venison tho.
Definitely different than my normal hunting missions, it was all about the kids and deer were a bonus, was really refreshing to see how excited they were about the smallest things!
Heaps of time for them to poke and prod and learn about the organs post gutting, Beau even wanted to see "the food in its stomach" so opened that up they also got first hand experience of the gut bag smell!!!
Loved every minute of it

Awesome story, and well executed!

My boy is 4 1/2 (don't you dare leave off the 1/2!) and keeps asking to come hunting for deer. I've been thinking that paying for some farm access is probably the way to go to get him exposure over the next few years. Encouraging to see you pull it off so smoothly.

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Originally Posted by Average-Lad

Awesome story, and well executed!

My boy is 4 1/2 (don't you dare leave off the 1/2!) and keeps asking to come hunting for deer. I've been thinking that paying for some farm access is probably the way to go to get him exposure over the next few years. Encouraging to see you pull it off so smoothly.

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I think the key is just to make the whole thing fun for them and plenty of snacks!
Beau walked maybe 3.5km for the evening with a few stops and a bit of encouragement. Both boys smashed it really.
Break up the "hunting" with sit downs, chats, looking at sign and giving them a bit of autonomy. I was prepared at the first sign of him not enjoying it to do something else but that never eventuated.
Any yep a private block of some sort would be the ideal place to start, even shooting rabbits etc.
I found it very rewarding and also an exercise in patience. As stated above make it about the kid and go in with no expectations other than to enjoy yourselves and you'll have a blast! theres nothing better!

That’s what it’s all about, out there with your family enjoying the outdoors, cool story and trip to remember.