Hunting with small kids.

[Travalanche]

I pretty much just stick to road/atv hunting with my 6 year old. Even though he likes walking around and is totally down for it, I'd prefer to wait until he is a bit more aware of his own surroundings and less reliant on me to keep him out of harms way when guns are involved trekking through the bush. at least with the truck or quad, I know he will stay put and be safe while I jump out to chase after something. He does help with dressing and butchering all animals though and always has been interested in it.

[J-Man]

Never too young, started all my kids at 3. Now I have 4 with the oldest at 11, youngest at 7 - now the issue is space in the truck and keeping them from fighting with each other when things are slow.

[Kill-da-wabbit]

Know a guy who gave his kid a bleat can while out to keep her busy. Stomping down the trail and Mr. Buck makes an appearance...

[Chopper]

to young ... no such thing

[Justaguy]

9yr and 7yr old with me yesterday when I got a goat. They have been coming with me for years. When i was skinning they started a fire to cook some meat. 7km return hike and 1600ft of elevation gain. they were leading the way. Earlier the better!

[Wild one]

Just need to make the hunt work around the kid

Short road hunts or blind style hunts work great. Waterfowl and grouse are great starter hunts. Have done bear and deer road hunts with young kids and works fine. For big game I recommend 2 adults just in case a long track is needed. That way one can watch the kid well other searches

[Rayne]

Took the kids out yesterday both 4. And we just grouse hunted. Short walks. Explanations of what rubs are,and what deer tracks look like. And they stayed entertained. We had a blast.

[barry1974w]

I started taking my son in a carrier when he was six months old, I bought him a little set of peltor kids ear muffs that he wore all the time then (I also got a little slide out mirror on a retractor from the dollar store, worked great for making sure his toque and muffs and such were still on without taking the carrier off). I shot a moose while he was with me when he was 18 months old. He cried, even with the muffs on I think the 375 has a bit of a shocker, he got over it pretty quick though. I think he was just startled. We still go quite a bit, lots of road hunting and mostly short walks, he's an absolute chatterbox so I don't normally expect to see much on our walks, but we did run into a curious moose today. Take lots of snacks and treats that they don't normally get all the time. I let him ride in the front seat instead of his booster when we're on back roads and trails, he gets to pig out on junk and I let him run the stereo. We have lots of fun and get a few chickens and such, I haven't gotten any big game with him along since that first moose, but as he gets older the walks are getting longer. Hopefully he figures out to stop talking all the time one of these days.

[Buchaneer]

We have just had our annual 'kids hunt' this past weekend. (More like a glorified camping weekend). Son in laws, myself and three grand kids...ages 8,6 and 5. Started taking them out when they turned four. A lot of good times with them. Usually, it involved quad riding (quad ban this year) and a lot of play. We understand that chances of success are minimal...although grouse is always fun. They enjoy looking for and seeing the deer. The early mornings are hard on them, but it sure is a quiet ride back home in the truck after the weekend is over as they enjoy a catch up nap! By the time the youngest grand child is old enough to come, the oldest one will be entering the age to hunt as a youth which will add to the fun for the kids.

[Nimrod]

Took my boy out for the first time when he was 2, got stink eye from mom but I said were just going camping.
Was going to scout some new areas and have a camp out, ended up driving a old narrow road at the end of the day and there was a 4 point playing invisible, we took that deer home,he still remembers that.
He's been coming to wall tent camp in late November since he was 4, nothing like a shooting gallery of ungulate figurines and a nurf gun to keep kids of all ages entertained during the long November nights.