Kids and turkey hunting

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Final steps TC

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Let me just start this thread by saying I really believe in getting youth involved in HUNTING !! Now that that's said the next few things may piss some people off but it's just my opinion and how I see things !! I have been watching a lot of youth hunts this week with all the big celebrities and It really frustrates the heck out of me!!

I have a four year old that when I see fit probably not until he is 8 or 9 years old will get to go turkey hunting !! We won't be sitting in a ground blind and he will know what he has to do in order to harvest a turkey !! Be that because when he wants to go he will just get to go watch the first year and see what dad does!! I don't want to teach my son that if you want to shoot a turkey all you have to do is go sit in a blind and wait for one to walk up!! He helped me this summer put in my deer food plots !! He saw what kind of work it took !! I really want my son to understand the meaning of hunting and what you have to do and go through on year to year and day to day basis.. Kids need to learn how to use a call and walk through the hunt themselves !! Dad/ mom can't do everything for them or it's really not hunting it's simply killing... If you really sit down and think about it what are we teaching them! That's not how I turkey hunt and why I love the sport so much !! I don't wake up at the 3 am every morning knowing I have a blind waiting on me to go sit in!!i look forward to trying to maneuver on the bird and out smart him! Yes I understand kids are fidgety and have very little patience (as do I) but that works itself out with age and yes they may blow a set up or two along the way but so do we!! You don't get mad and they won't either it's a mistake and something they will learn from!! You are essentially teaching them how to become a woodsman !! And that is 70% of the battle turkey hunting !! I know I maybe ranting but if we really want to show kids the true meaning of hunting then we cant just throw them in a blind and wait for a turkey to come up to dad's call and blast it! You gotta let them run some calls get the birds to talk back to them !! Teach them to interact wither birds on there own!! I know a lot of you on here do teach your kids the right ways it just blows my mind that these "celebrities" take these kids hunting and you never see them explaining anything to the kids other than he is gonna walk right up to that decoy and you shoot him out that window but wait for him to clear the decoy !! Sorry to rant but this is just crazy IMO !!
 
This post is not meant to piss off anyone and please don't take it the wrong way!! It's just hunting shows and how it shows them "taking a kid under there wing" really chaps my a&@!!
 
My son went on his first turkey hunt when he was 2. I was bow hunting on our farm for a certain bird and wanted him to be a part of it. I set up a pop up and carried all kinds of food and coloring books to keep him happy. That lasted till about 7:30 & he was ready to go. He did get to hear his first gobble before daylight and to watch his eyes light up at the gobbling made my morning and lite his fire. He was 6 when he killed his first turkey. He is 15 now and he has 16 birds under his belt. My son knows what hard work turkey hunting is. He has hunted and killed turkeys in another state on public ground. Non his birds have been killed from a blind but I don't think it would bother me if he did. I think it all comes down to how you raise them.
 
callemquacktn said:
My son went on his first turkey hunt when he was 2. I was bow hunting on our farm for a certain bird and wanted him to be a part of it. I set up a pop up and carried all kinds of food and coloring books to keep him happy. That lasted till about 7:30 & he was ready to go. He did get to hear his first gobble before daylight and to watch his eyes light up at the gobbling made my morning and lite his fire. He was 6 when he killed his first turkey. He is 15 now and he has 16 birds under his belt. My son knows what hard work turkey hunting is. He has hunted and killed turkeys in another state on public ground. Non his birds have been killed from a blind but I don't think it would bother me if he did. I think it all comes down to how you raise them.
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100% true it's all how you raise em
 
Easy now :) Be careful what you say you won't do ;)

If I've learned one thing from taking my kids it's that you have to make it fun for them. Having to sit still and not talk is not fun for any beginner kid. When they get bitten by the turkey hunting bug then, do whatever needs to be done.

I have one girl that is willing to sit through any cold rain just to kill a turkey but I didn't start her out that hardcore. I think she's actually got it worse than I do.

I am only reflecting on my experience with my 3 kids and by that I recommend a blind. However, you are free to do whatever you want.
 
Uncle Jesse said:
Easy now :) Be careful what you say you won't do ;)

If I've learned one thing from taking my kids it's that you have to make it fun for them. Having to sit still and not talk is not fun for any beginner kid. When they get bitten by the turkey hunting bug then, do whatever needs to be done.

I have one girl that is willing to sit through any cold rain just to kill a turkey but I didn't start her out that hardcore. I think she's actually got it worse than I do.

I am only reflecting on my experience with my 3 kids and by that I recommend a blind. However, you are free to do whatever you want.
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Agreed !
We are starting in a blind. Last year was our first and we are using it again this year but we have no intentions of staying in it. Nothing against people who use blinds all the time. We just want to find a larger hunting tract and get out of the blind later down the road. For right now I can tell you our son has the turkey bug bad. Time will tell. I say take the time to get them started anyway you can. Anything is better than not going at all.
 
Final steps TC said:
I know a lot of you on here do teach your kids the right ways
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I wondered who got to define what the "right way" is/was.

I guess now we know ;) :D !


Uncle Jesse said:
Easy now :) Be careful what you say you won't do ;)
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:D Spot on! I foresee a very bored young man and a frustrated dad in 5 years.
 
Mine doesn't do the blind thing. I could have started him earlier by using it, but didn't want him to think that was the way to go. Just had him wait a little longer till I took him. He started going with me when he was almost 8.
 
PalsPal said:
Final steps TC said:
I know a lot of you on here do teach your kids the right ways
Click to expand...

I wondered who got to define what the "right way" is/was.

I guess now we know ;) :D !


Uncle Jesse said:
Easy now :) Be careful what you say you won't do ;)
Click to expand...

:D Spot on! I foresee a very bored young man and a frustrated dad in 5 years.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I hesitated posting this in here.. I was clearly talking about teaching the kids exactly what we are doing while we are out there ...I have hunted with kids in blinds and at various ages from what I see at 7 and 8 they can handle a gun and shoot a turkey just fine around 9 they like to start learning to do it on there own .. I really want my son to learn how to do this stuff on his own.. This is how I was brought up and my dad let me go at it in my own when I was 11 years old. We started turkey hunting when I was 10. The first time I ever went turkey hunting I was 8 years old with one of my dad's friends and I got my butt hiked all around mountains yes I am sure I complained but, I skimpily enjoyed being outside ... I know all parents have different approaches and that's fine .. I just wish that the dang tv guys would actually do a show where they show the kids why they chose this area and why they make a certain call when they do .. I don't care how you take your kids as long as your getting them out there ...lord knows its a much better activity then sitting behind a video game ...I
 
I wasn't going to leave my son at home and miss out on quality time with him while he was younger to satisfy some deep rooted hatred of blinds. Your kids are only young for a while. Just like I didn't leave my son at home except on juvenile hunts because he cramped my run and gun style. He was/is always with me when he's not in school. We have made some memories in blinds he will cherish long after I'm dead and gone. But, if your hatred of blinds and dedication to being a purist is so strong that you are willing to forego quality time with your kids, have at it. I suspect you will regret it someday.
 
Final steps TC said:
This is exactly why I hesitated posting this in here.. I was clearly talking about teaching the kids exactly what we are doing while we are out there ...I have hunted with kids in blinds and at various ages from what I see at 7 and 8 they can handle a gun and shoot a turkey just fine around 9 they like to start learning to do it on there own .. I really want my son to learn how to do this stuff on his own.. This is how I was brought up and my dad let me go at it in my own when I was 11 years old. We started turkey hunting when I was 10. The first time I ever went turkey hunting I was 8 years old with one of my dad's friends and I got my butt hiked all around mountains yes I am sure I complained but, I skimpily enjoyed being outside ... I know all parents have different approaches and that's fine .. I just wish that the dang tv guys would actually do a show where they show the kids why they chose this area and why they make a certain call when they do .. I don't care how you take your kids as long as your getting them out there ...lord knows its a much better activity then sitting behind a video game ...I
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I know what you meant, it was just the wording was a little strong for my taste. And, I agree as far as the hunting shows. I don't watch them anymore. I also agree that it seems we try to make things too easy for our kids to succeed these days, and not just in hunting. But, I think a little success is necessary to foster the desire to get better.

I also used to be anti-blind as well, until I got one and used it on a couple of doubles with my dad, and then with my two daughters.

I just look at the blind as a good first introduction. They can get by with some movement, etc., but yet they can still run a call as well.

I took my youngest daughter (10) last year on her first hunt, and we ended up ditching the blind to check a back field. We struck one, and had a great 30 minute battle, that ended with a missed shot. She is still tore up about it, and gets mad when I mention it :cool: :) !
 
Funny this thread has come up..... Last year I wanted to get a youth in the field on the youth hunt.... not only to get out a week earlier but to hopefully make a difference in a youths usual weekend. Things didn't work out with travel/weather/birds so I just sat at home....

My 8yo niece has expressed some desire to hunt... and a turkey is on her list.... along with a deer and squirrel.

So I have been keeping tabs on a flock where I have hunted in the past... marking every day when they were there and if it was morning or afternoon.... Hopefully they will be in the field feeding as usual when season gets here.

My plan is to take her, set up a pop-up, a couple of decoys, and see what happens.... I can't expect her to keep up with my usual tactics since there can be alot of ground to cover to find a willing bird.... She is spirited and restless at times.... so I am not expecting a statue while trying to fool a turkey.... but the blind should help with that....

Two things will happen.... 1) We will go and she kills her first turkey and we will have a memory to share for our lifetimes... 2) she will see that just because you prepare to hunt, go hunt, see/don't see something.... you may not always bring something dead home from a hunt... but you can enjoy being outdoors either way.
 
I really do not know where I stand on this topic, I am kind of a hypocrit it seems. I wasn't fed with a silver spoon turkey hunting. Where and when I grew up in AL turkey hunting they were first starting a turkey season. They had been re-introduced into the area about ten years earlier, and then they opened up like a 3 or 5 day season. So yes, birds where hard to come by because there wasn't many, but the ones that where there were dumb as rocks. They have never been called to before, and if you heard some gobbling I promise you 4 or 5 yelps he would come running.

Decoys were against the law, but we never really envied the states that allow them. We knew that the name of the game was to set up on a gobbler and get a position on him where he had to come look for you and be in gun range the first time you saw him. There may have been blinds back then, but they were unheard of except for maybe duck hunting.

I remember I would have to beg my dad to take me turkey hunting. What ever he did with me worked and I am now hooked for life. I have never once sit in a blind to turkey hunt. Now it is my favorite animal to hunt, and I would rather kill a gobbling two year old that I called up that a 220" buck with a bow. I am not sure if I am going to start my daughter off in a blind or what.

I always say "If I want to take her hunting and sit in a blind then we will go get in the shooting house during deer season."
 
Some of you sound like if you put a kid in a blind they will be chained to one on every hunt the rest of their lives. It's a tool. Use it when needed. As they get older you will spend less and less time in one.
 
Same thing I was thinking. When my kids are hunting with me they are always put first. They always get first shot. I can do my run and gunning on days when they are in school.
 
All kids are different. I started my boy out hunting squirrels at age 6. Moved to deer at 7, and will be turkey hunting this spring. He takes sitting still as a challenge. Heck, I have some friends that need their smartphone while hunting to pass the time. Trying to raise my boys a little differently.
 
I understand what you are saying and agree with most of it.

The solution is simple when you answer this questions;

Do you want to take them hunting or do you want them to kill a bird?

I would rather take them hunting then build from there.
 

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