Family

I have mentioned this before on this forum, but I just can’t imagine coming into the hunting world later in life and I think it’s so rad those that do.

My dad wasn’t a hardcore hunter by any means but we hunted a lot and it was ingrained in me from childhood. ( none of my siblings got into it at all though) Also growing up rural and all my friends doing it I took to hunting things my dad doesn’t do even before highschool, hell we used to go goose hunting before school.

I think just having easy access to it and land to hunt on back in the day made it so easy. Just like anything else. Accessibility. I was also obsessed with golf when I was younger and my parents never touched a club in their life. But it was accessible and I could do it by myself.

I have a brother and a cousin who played sports a lot growing up instead, they are hunting a lot more now but it’s not the same. They would never drive 3 hours each way in a day to hunt public land by themselves. Ever.
 
Accessibility to decent hunting land (public or private) and a dog are major hurdles. Of course, neither one is required, but they are the two largest variables IMO.

I think a lot of this has to do with whether the person is into the outdoors stuff in general. If that person is already a fisher person or hunter of some kind, the transition to upload hunting would seem much easier.

Hunting is not for everyone though. And frankly, I'm glad it's not. I have never tried to force anyone to participate against their own will power, and I never will. They should want to go. And if they don't, I not continuing to beat a dead horse.

I've introduced 3 individuals to pheasant hunting the past 15 years - 2 close friends and my own Father. My old man has been a fisherman and deer hunter for many years, just never hunted grouse or roosters.
 
Springer22 said:
I have mentioned this before on this forum, but I just can’t imagine coming into the hunting world later in life and I think it’s so rad those that do.

My dad wasn’t a hardcore hunter by any means but we hunted a lot and it was ingrained in me from childhood. ( none of my siblings got into it at all though) Also growing up rural and all my friends doing it I took to hunting things my dad doesn’t do even before highschool, hell we used to go goose hunting before school.

I think just having easy access to it and land to hunt on back in the day made it so easy. Just like anything else. Accessibility. I was also obsessed with golf when I was younger and my parents never touched a club in their life. But it was accessible and I could do it by myself.

I have a brother and a cousin who played sports a lot growing up instead, they are hunting a lot more now but it’s not the same. They would never drive 3 hours each way in a day to hunt public land by themselves. Ever.
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Excellent point, my nephew I know will not hunt by himself, and that bothers me. He doesn't live in a pheasant area, but there are chucker, and waterfowl, and he did go duck hunting last fall with a guy, a friend of his, so that's encouraging. Encouraging. Having access to land is important. That's another good point.
 
gim said:
Accessibility to decent hunting land (public or private) and a dog are major hurdles. Of course, neither one is required, but they are the two largest variables IMO.

I think a lot of this has to do with whether the person is into the outdoors stuff in general. If that person is already a fisher person or hunter of some kind, the transition to upload hunting would seem much easier.

Hunting is not for everyone though. And frankly, I'm glad it's not. I have never tried to force anyone to participate against their own will power, and I never will. They should want to go. And if they don't, I not continuing to beat a dead horse.

I've introduced 3 individuals to pheasant hunting the past 15 years - 2 close friends and my own Father. My old man has been a fisherman and deer hunter for many years, just never hunted grouse or roosters.
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Good point, having a dog is important, and people. Some people have to have somebody to go with them. Them they won't go by themselves. I did make the mistake of trying to push my nephews and cousins a bit hard when it comes to hunting.
 
The thing I did with my 10-year-old nephew, on his first hunt, was inviting my brother to go, who had not hunted in 40 years probably, but we went on a 2-day two-night hunt out of town to Central Montana. We did see some birds, but we didn't get any. We didn't get any shots at birds. I did let him shoot the little 28 gauge, and it didn't fit him very well. He's kind of a small kid. He loves sports, and he's a good athlete, and he grew up on a ranch up until second grade. I think. They had pheasant and turkey and every gamer. There is out on that ranch who it was a really good place but it was on an Indian reservation. My brother and his wife are very religious people, and his wife. I'm hoping will let her sort of take him hunting sometime I hope.
 
Goosemaster said:
Some people have to have somebody to go with them. Them they won't go by themselves.
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All 3 of the individuals I mentioned above only got into pheasant hunting because they knew me, and I invited them with. They would have never gone on their own because 1) they don't have anywhere to hunt, and 2) they don't have a dog.

The other thing is, at least in terms of who I take with me, I need to know that they are trustworthy and safe with a shotgun. If I don't know that, they aren't coming.
 
gim said:
All 3 of the individuals I mentioned above only got into pheasant hunting because they knew me, and I invited them with. They would have never gone on their own because 1) they don't have anywhere to hunt, and 2) they don't have a dog.

The other thing is, at least in terms of who I take with me, I need to know that they are trustworthy and safe with a shotgun. If I don't know that, they aren't coming.
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I've probably taught six or seven people how to pheasant hunt in my life, most have been safe, but a few haven't.
 
Goosemaster said:
I've probably taught six or seven people how to pheasant hunt in my life, most have been safe, but a few haven't.
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While I think it's admirable for trying to introduce someone to the great outdoors, when a firearm is involved, safety is more important. No rooster is worth getting shot at.

Anyone unsafe with a firearm has and will not be hunting with me. I'm not taking BBs just so someone else can tag along.

One of the first things they teach you in a firearms safety course is to be responsible with a firearm. Sounds some of the individuals you associate with need to take the training again.
 
Goosemaster said:
I've probably taught six or seven people how to pheasant hunt in my life, most have been safe, but a few haven't.
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Here's what you need to do goose, cause I know you're taking about your cousin. Ease into a conversation with him, and go over gun safety with him, all of it. You were in the army and always hunted so you know this stuff inside and out. If he listens that's good, you guys can keep hunting together. If not, then maybe you hang out with him doing other activities that don't involve firearms.
 
I think I made the mistake of being too aggressive trying to get family members to hunt. I just want the honey tradition to continue in my family, and I only have two options now, both nephews.
 
Bob Peters said:
Here's what you need to do goose, cause I know you're taking about your cousin. Ease into a conversation with him, and go over gun safety with him, all of it. You were in the army and always hunted so you know this stuff inside and out. If he listens that's good, you guys can keep hunting together. If not, then maybe you hang out with him doing other activities that don't involve firearms.
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Yeah I need to have a talk with that boy, that's for sure.
 
Sometimes it's not about shooting! It's about spending time with family; if family is just a dog, make sure the dog is a good one. I love being outdoors, seeing wildlife, looking over habitat and having a pheasant pushed out by the dog (even a hen is satisfying) where you think the bird could be. Hunting is always more than shooting for me and learning how wildlife works is 3/4 the mystery of hunting. We did not come home with a shot bird this fall, but hunting was a success as my newer pup flushed a big old rooster out of a small cattail slew and gave me the look of disgust when I missed and went in for more.
 
Start them young if you can. I loved nothing more than sitting by that monstrous radio on Sundays, listening to my grandfather, dad and uncles telling tales about dogs, guns and hunting. It's a Rockwell painting in my brain. As soon as my grandsons could walk, we were in the woods, fields and streams. One's little brain oozed with curiosity. The other not so much but loved to shoot and fish. Sports interfered a lot. Soon one will be out of college. Life will get in the way. The other will soon be in college on a baseball scholarship. They both still hunt when they can, so we'll see, but at least the foundation has been laid.
 
As some have said already some are genetically inclined to be more of a gatherer than a hunter but starting young is definitely a help. Both my boys are obsessed to a point of worry sometimes now, but it comes from me. My daughter will go as a social event only. Both my boys were in a duck boat before they could swim (or walk for that matter) and hunting with their buddies without me by 15. I missed them being with me only for a few years but now spend several quality days with them afield annually. PASS IT ON !
 
chad.vis said:
As some have said already some are genetically inclined to be more of a gatherer than a hunter but starting young is definitely a help. Both my boys are obsessed to a point of worry sometimes now, but it comes from me. My daughter will go as a social event only. Both my boys were in a duck boat before they could swim (or walk for that matter) and hunting with their buddies without me by 15. I missed them being with me only for a few years but now spend several quality days with them afield annually. PASS IT ON !
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I know exactly what you mean. None of my brothers like hunting. Me, I wanted to go when I was in first grade, and shot my first pheasant when I was 10 years old. I think I was hooked on pheasant hunting as a young kid, and never lost that enthusiasm to bird hunt. I was a hardcore waterfowl Hunter for years, because it was a lot easier to do than pheasant hunt where I lived. I would go out by myself, on a pond in the valley, and duck hunt, and I loved that. I'm crossing my fingers, that my 10-year-old nephew will take to hunting. My older nephew goes once a year on a week-long hunt. He is busy in college, out of state. All you can do, is introduce the kid to it, and cross your fingers that they will take to it and continue to do it.
 
My 10-year-old nephew wrestles, and plays football and soccer, and he's a good little athlete. He's going to be in a double a school, so he's going to have to be pretty good. He grew up on a ranch until he was 7 years old. I don't want to push him too hard on this hunting thing, but I do want to invite them at least once a year, and maybe I might even pay one of those places , bud, I'm actually sort of against those places.
 
My brother is 2 years younger than me and grew up in a big outdoors family. But he never took too the hunting realm. He did a lot of fishing with us, but only took him hunting twice. He requested to never go again. I think he has this idea that hunting is solely about harvesting something and if you don't, its a failure, so there's no point in doing it.
 
gim said:
My brother is 2 years younger than me and grew up in a big outdoors family. But he never took too the hunting realm. He did a lot of fishing with us, but only took him hunting twice. He requested to never go again. I think he has this idea that hunting is solely about harvesting something and if you don't, its a failure, so there's no point in doing it.
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Neither one of my brothers are outdoors types, my younger brother is a total nerd, librarian, my older brother has never been interested in hunting and fishing. I'm not real interested in fishing, but I sort of dabble in it just to waste time once in awhile in the summer. On a nice day. I just sure hope I can get one of these nephews to stick with it.
 
My brothers were 5 and 9 years older than me. They taught me how to squirrel and groundhog hunt at an early age. Safety was taught by a swift punch in the shoulder or a slap to the back of the head if I did something wrong. I always thought my dad was just too busy on the farm to take me. When I got my fist bird dog dad started going with us but wouldn't carry a gun. Then I found out through my uncle that not hunting didn't have anything to do with being busy. Dad was in the 3rd army during the war. He told my uncle that he didn't think he could ever carry a gun again. I fixed that when I graduated and got my 1st real job. Bought dad a 1100 lite 20 for Christmas 1974. We went out Christmas day and he shot some cans for the 1st time in 30 years. My oldest brother gravitated to deer hunting. Myself and my other brother stuck to birds. Even my little sister grew up to love shooting and went on to be a deputy sheriff. Dad decided to take up rabbit hunting at around 75. He and I had some grand times chasing Beagles. He had some great ones. He was still hunting alone at 89! I was truly blessed.
 
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