First Timer!

Alright guys, so ive had the privlidge of being brought up in the outdoors.  Ever since i can remember ive been in the woods, especially with my pap....so, ive got my first baby on the way, and its a boy....so im real excited about it.  But, to make a long story short, ive always been on the other end of this deal.  I started shooting 22s when i was maybe 6 or 7...with adult supervision mind you, and ol papa would always take me out when i got a little older and occasionaly, well more often than not hed take me small game hunting and sometimes id get to pop a squirrel....is that how everyone has learned?  How early is too early to take a kid in the woods with you? Ive been joking around with the wife tellin her if i can figure out away to safely put a carseat in my treestand he'll be in the archery woods with me next season haha..obviously thats a joke before someone reams me lol Anyway.. Has someone learned differently?...i wanna do this  right and any kind of advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated...

Chrome, congrats. My first was a boy also, he is now 4 and loves to fish. On the hunting side I was brought up the same way, started out squirrel hunting with my dad around 8 or 9. I think that is a good age to start. The only thing that is different now is I think it might have been a little safer back then. Sometimes in deer season it gets downright scary with all the shooting, that would scare me even more with my litte boy with me. I just wish all kids were guided the right way and not just handed a gun at 12. On the other side I look foward to hanging up the gun, bow and taking him. I also have a litte girl 1 year but my wife says no way am I getting her in the woods but I think she will be with me one day to. I am 27 and still my dad is my favorite person to hunt and fish with.

I think thats the right way, at 12, some squirrel hunting, dont push them too hard in deer season, just let them go when they want. The other night my 5yr old daughter says to me..."Daddy, when you buy me a bow and we hunt archery Ill be real quiet, Ill whisper."

ORIGINAL: DanesDad

I started when I was about 12, basically walking with my father and grandfather while they hunted rabbits and pheasants.  I think I went at least a year, maybe two, without a gun.  We didn't hunt over dogs, we just formed a rough skirmish line and tramped thru the bush to push the game out.  I suppose this would be a good way to start if you could find some ground that held birds and bunnies in any quantity.

I feel you, my son is 3 and I cant wait until he can go.  I hope he has the same passion for it as I do.  He already gets a kick out of fishing, so thats a step in the right direction.

 
 
Ditto this for me, except minus 2 years.  I did my 'no-gun' time before I was old enough to hunt.  When I was then old enough I started hunting.  I turned 12 after deer season so my first year was just second season small game.  After that it was the full monty of gun hunting until I was 13 or 14.  We started into archery then and small game dropped off until second season and right at Thanksgiving.
 
I was too young to remember when I started fishing, but I can remember going when I was 5.  I fished before then, but don't remember as much.

Thanks,
Rick

ORIGINAL: Mr.Slickfish

Wrangler,
  First...I think a lot of us grew up that way. My earliest memories are on the creek and in the woods with my Dad. I currently have a 10yr old boy that walks through the woods with me..occasionally popping a squirrel or sparrow on the way out. He loves it! No one can teach a kid about the outdoors like his old man. I attribute all the basic knowledge I have about hunting and fishing to those walks. The only piece of advice I have for you is to keep it light and fun (And of course informative). When I take my son out, I know there is a chance he will be cold, or tired, or whatever. When I take him, I make it ABOUT him. If he wants to go home, we go home. If he wants to look in the old rotten log....I let him look in the log. I want to make sure not to discourage him. If I want to hunt hard...I go alone. Good luck Buddy.

 
I could not agree more......... I have more fun watching my kids do goofy things in the woods/creek then actually hunting. They are fun !!

im 20 years old i have a nephew that just turned oneand when hes of age im gonna try and get him in to the outdoors because coming up in this new world ive seen alot of bad things happen to young kids so im gonna try and keep him active in sports and the outdoors no free time no trouble hes my first nephew and i love him to death like hes my son so i dont want to see him go down a bad road thats what kept me outta trouble was the outdoors and sports i was always hunting in the fall after football and fishing in the spring during baseball

my oldest daughter was 10 when she asked  to go squirel hunting with me.we headed out and in no time i had a fox squirel down..i told her now we have to take care of it(feild dress).i no sooner started the procedure,when her breakfast came back up.her two boys (age 7 and 4...she's 25 now) are starting to show a lot of interest in papa's deer mounts and are asking a lot of questions.ive already talked with them on gun safety,so i think this summer ,i'll invest in some 22 rounds and teach them the way to handle guns....and maybe let them shoot.they both knowthe difference between a deer scrape and turkey scratching.and the youngest is good at locating buck rubs.(just needs a bit of work on the being quiet part lol)

You better start saving now my kid didn't want no hand me downs.She said if she was going she wanted her own clothes and guns.I bought her a new turkey gun this spring which she got a 9 and half inch gobbler with and a new 243 this fall.I tryed to talk her in to going the first day of rifle she said she'll go next year don't want to push her.It's a great felling when you can get the kids involve in the sport.