[joel the signman]

well the temps and wind were tolerable today so i picked up my 10yr old nephew and we drove to my hunting spot .We walked in and looked for sign spotted a nice flock of turkeys.got the birds to respond to yelps,that blew him away.his eyes were as wide as soup bowls..We got to my tree stand and went to open the lock it was frozen shut.he came up with the idea of using to hand warmers to get the lock to open.It works.Then we did some work on the ground blind and shooting lanes.Did some trail maintainience,picked up a little garbage by the parking area.then as a reward we went to the gun store.This was his first where he was allowed to handle the guns.He tried em all semi auto shotguns ,single shot 22,s a couple lever actions ,and the new hoyt youth bow.his arms are still too short.Then we went to a lecture about black bears that the rangers were giving.They asked if anybody was a hunter and he shot his hand right up.the ranger told everyone how the hunters were great for the park.he compared another park 10 miles away that doesnt allow hunting and how the deer had eaten the whole understory now all thats left is the grass by the roads .the deer are all emaciated.then he explained how that the hunters cull some of the deer allowing for a greater biodiverty in this park.reptiles,plants,trees,animals.The hunters were responsible for all of it .you could see the approving nods in the non hunters.All in all we had a great day

 

[buckfever]

sounds like a sweet day. seems like he us going to grow up to be a hunter. plus he is learning the conservation part of it at a young age.

 

[muleskinner]

very cool! I did a little tree stand maintenance today with my 5 year old. It felt good to get out in the woods. I haven't been able to get away since early January. After that I took my two youngest boys and their grandpa to an outdoor show here in Akron. You know, it's tough to take them with me during the season being 4 and 5 years old. The off season is the perfect time to get them out and start teaching them about our sport.

 

[buckslayer30/06]

no offense to you guys when i say this but im not an old timer like you guys with years of experience but i do have few years under my belt and the way you teach your boys is exactly how i learned to be a hunter and outdoorsman. if we dont teach the kids now hunters may some day be a dying breed, keep up the good work boys.

 

[Hunting Man]

The fact is, if more people would take the time to introduce kids to the outdoor world, camping, fishing, boating, hunting ect, and pull them away from the TV, and electronic games and sugar foods the kids would be much better off not to mention a whole lot less diabetic cases showing up in later years. Kids today have wat too much butt time and not enough leg/foot time. Lets get them outside where the real fun begins!

 

[Turtle]

Took my 3 year old Daughter scouting with me yesterday. She loves just being in the woods and the off-season is the best. She's wearing these little pink Dora Explora boots that seem to slip between evey little branch and twig. It just tickled me, eveytime my big boots snapped a twig she'd turn and tell the shhhhhh.
It had rained over night so I picked out a fresh track to show her and she said yeah he was here yesterday too because those have been mess-up from the rain and point at an older one. Last year she caught her first trout and bass, should have seen here eyes when that ten inch bass came up out of the water.
The thing is I really didn't intend to take her along. But when she asked if she could go with me this time I thought of Joel and his nephew. Thanks Joel for keeping me grounded and reminding me about what's really important. It made the experience even more enjoyable.:yes:

 

[joel the signman]

your welcome i laughed out loud when i read"ssshhh".way to go.the "off season" is definately the time to take em out.you dont have to worry bout spooking game ,having them get bored by sitting still etc.Glad you both had a good time:ibtl: