bsa30-06
09-28-2008, 12:05 PM
I spent yesterday hunting grouse with my son Braiden(he's 4).Let me give you some background info on this story.
First thing your going to learn is never tell an excited 4 year you'll take him grouse hunting a month befroe the season opens.For the last month everyday i came home from work he would run out to meet me in the yard and ask"daddy is it time to go grouse hunting yet".I kept telling him it will be time to go soon.
So last week i clear a day off from work and tell him we are going on saturday.He then decided it was time to start counting sleeps before we left.This started at 7 sleeps.
Finally there were no more sleeps to count.I got up at 6am and loaded the truck.My daughter and her grandma decided they would come along and visit family in Lytton while Braiden and i hunted.
By 7am everybody was piled into the truck and off we went.I dont think we were on the HWY for 10 minutes when Braiden started asking that famous question"are we there yet"....yep you guessed it 3 hours of" are we there yet", and "how much longer", and one bathroom stop(not bad for a 4 year old).
We finally arrived in Lytton and dropped our passengers off to visit family.
I cleared a spot in the front seat , unlocked the .410, and my little man climbed in to sit beside dad and off we went looking for grouse.He slid over on the seat so he could hold the gun so it wouldnt slide around.The gun was fine where it was but you should have seen the smile on his face, holding that gun and driving in the front seat next to dad.
We only saw 2 grouse all day one was small so we let him live and the other didnt stay around long enough to shoot.Despite not shooting a single grouse this was a day i'll never forget.As we were driving around lookin for grouse he asked me if there were bears on that mountain, i told him there we lots bears around there and he replied with "do you have a bear tag" i was stunned that my little 4 year old knew you had to have a tag to shoot a bear,i told him i didnt have a bear tag, and he asked me"are bears open dad"again stunned that he knew about open seasons.He talked and acted like a true little hunter all day.
I guess kids listen a little more then we give them credit for sometimes.As we travelled around i showed him deer tracks, moose tracks,and a few bear paw prints.....oh and he was especially fascinated by bear poo(hey he's only 4).By the end of the day i had realized that it wasnt about how many grouse we shot, he was just happy to be spending time out hunting with dad.I cant say in words what a great day i had hunting with my little guy, and i know we will have many more great hunting trips together as he gets older.
So i guess what i'm trying to say is it doesnt matter how young or small you think they are, they just want to spend time with you doing the things you love to do.So get them out there and enjoy a great day together.At the end of the day i let Braiden shoot the .410, i held it while he pulled the trigger, he now carries that spent shell casing around as a trophy from our day together.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a275/deadbuck/DSC00938.jpg
First thing your going to learn is never tell an excited 4 year you'll take him grouse hunting a month befroe the season opens.For the last month everyday i came home from work he would run out to meet me in the yard and ask"daddy is it time to go grouse hunting yet".I kept telling him it will be time to go soon.
So last week i clear a day off from work and tell him we are going on saturday.He then decided it was time to start counting sleeps before we left.This started at 7 sleeps.
Finally there were no more sleeps to count.I got up at 6am and loaded the truck.My daughter and her grandma decided they would come along and visit family in Lytton while Braiden and i hunted.
By 7am everybody was piled into the truck and off we went.I dont think we were on the HWY for 10 minutes when Braiden started asking that famous question"are we there yet"....yep you guessed it 3 hours of" are we there yet", and "how much longer", and one bathroom stop(not bad for a 4 year old).
We finally arrived in Lytton and dropped our passengers off to visit family.
I cleared a spot in the front seat , unlocked the .410, and my little man climbed in to sit beside dad and off we went looking for grouse.He slid over on the seat so he could hold the gun so it wouldnt slide around.The gun was fine where it was but you should have seen the smile on his face, holding that gun and driving in the front seat next to dad.
We only saw 2 grouse all day one was small so we let him live and the other didnt stay around long enough to shoot.Despite not shooting a single grouse this was a day i'll never forget.As we were driving around lookin for grouse he asked me if there were bears on that mountain, i told him there we lots bears around there and he replied with "do you have a bear tag" i was stunned that my little 4 year old knew you had to have a tag to shoot a bear,i told him i didnt have a bear tag, and he asked me"are bears open dad"again stunned that he knew about open seasons.He talked and acted like a true little hunter all day.
I guess kids listen a little more then we give them credit for sometimes.As we travelled around i showed him deer tracks, moose tracks,and a few bear paw prints.....oh and he was especially fascinated by bear poo(hey he's only 4).By the end of the day i had realized that it wasnt about how many grouse we shot, he was just happy to be spending time out hunting with dad.I cant say in words what a great day i had hunting with my little guy, and i know we will have many more great hunting trips together as he gets older.
So i guess what i'm trying to say is it doesnt matter how young or small you think they are, they just want to spend time with you doing the things you love to do.So get them out there and enjoy a great day together.At the end of the day i let Braiden shoot the .410, i held it while he pulled the trigger, he now carries that spent shell casing around as a trophy from our day together.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a275/deadbuck/DSC00938.jpg