Burlington Rooster Roundup

J

JHoch00

Member
Decided to finally give this a shot this year. My son is 8 and will be hunting pheasant with me for the first time this year. He does well, but miles and miles of walking like I usually do can be tougher on him, so hoped we could team up with a big group the and block. See if it works out.

Anyone else here taking part this year? Or have in the past? I usually just go find isolated places or even avoid opening day, so I'm kind of intimidated by it honestly. Just looking for an idea of what to expect.

Thanks and good luck this year!
 
JHoch00 said:
Decided to finally give this a shot this year. My son is 8 and will be hunting pheasant with me for the first time this year. He does well, but miles and miles of walking like I usually do can be tougher on him, so hoped we could team up with a big group the and block. See if it works out.

Anyone else here taking part this year? Or have in the past? I usually just go find isolated places or even avoid opening day, so I'm kind of intimidated by it honestly. Just looking for an idea of what to expect.

Thanks and good luck this year!
Click to expand...

maybe you are planning not to give him a gun? but an 8 year old with a loaded shotgun seems a little dangerous to me, especially in a group. does he have or is he old enough to get a hunter safety certificate/training? i would suggest you keep it to hunting with him only, as just two guys. you may even want to not carry a gun so you can focus and coach him without distractions? or, if it were me, i would have him walk without a gun and get him to observe safety issues first? just my random thoughts.......
 
He does have hunter safety card and has been hunting with me his while life... carrying a bb gun at first for practice and then mostly duck and dove hunting last year.

I agree though with what you said and am careful with him, thus hoping to try to find a group where we can block rather than walk. It would be a lot like duck hunting which we do a lot, where I usually just pay attention to him and don't usually shoot myself. Kind of like training a new retriever :)

He shot his first wood duck last weekend in the youth opener. 1 duck in ten shots... but I enjoy that more than any limit I have gotten.
 
hunter94 said:
maybe you are planning not to give him a gun? but an 8 year old with a loaded shotgun seems a little dangerous to me, especially in a group. does he have or is he old enough to get a hunter safety certificate/training? i would suggest you keep it to hunting with him only, as just two guys. you may even want to not carry a gun so you can focus and coach him without distractions? or, if it were me, i would have him walk without a gun and get him to observe safety issues first? just my random thoughts.......
Click to expand...

Side note, Hunter94: Thank you for being willing to advocate for safety first. You did so in a considerate and positive manner... you could have been a jerk about it but you were not. Too often people are afraid to say or ask things like this when situations come up, and many accidents that could have been avoided occur. Whether it is a thread, or advice to a new hunter or a comment when you notice someone in the field... I hope we can all maintain the courage to speak up.

My hunting partner (and Son's step dad... interesting combo) is the local hunter safety instructor and we have taught, advocated and stressed this constantly. Safety and decision making is learned, and doesn't automatically come with age (If it did my 30's would have had way fewer dumb mistakes :) )
 
I have hunted the Round up the last few years. Opening weekend is a zoo. Personally I would be more worried about the other hunters than your son. A few times I have teaned to with other hunters, and it was a bit scary. Once birds start to fly people loose all common sense.
 
One time I hunted with an aquatence from New Jersey, who had never hunted before.I loaned him a 1100 20, and let him shoot a few cans with it. So we start hunting, after about a half hour, I looked over at him, and he was twirling it around like a baton!! I really had to chew him out about that.Anyway, he turned out to be a decent Hunter.
 
Don't know about the roundup but Kansas offers a youth hunt the weekend before the season opener. We started taking my nephews when they were 9 and it was awesome. They also carried bb guns prior to hunting and started with 410 single shots when they got their license. The drawback is only the kids can hunt but it was great way to watch them and a perfect tune up for the dogs. You also pretty much have the whole area to yourself.
 
That is awesome about Kansas. Really enjoyed the youth waterfowl weekend here. Maybe in a year or two I'll have to make that trek with him and the dog. Thanks for the heads up!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top