At what age would you start your child?

[Griggs]

Thanks for the replies, that answered a lot for me. I was basing it off my sons maturity level. My step-son started showing an interest when he was around 8 or so, with his first hunt being when he was 11. I actually ended a hunt one time because he wanted to go home. This is while I had a deer (the he had spotted for me) pinned behind a lone tree, either way it went the deer would go down. He asked to go home, repeatedly, so we did, lucky deer.

My son has gone with me on a lazy elk scouting trip, walking about 2 miles roundtrip when he was three. I only based it off him and his desire to keep going, since I just went to check my trail camera and treated it like a short hike. Now he will take his toy guns and put them in my pelican case when I'm packing for a trip.

Funny to read about the thoughts of spoiling the kids with good hunts, since my children know all too well the "thrill" of coming back from a week afield with nothing, since most of my hunts have had to be OTC hunts where there are almost no animals remaining. But their attitude about it now is "I just like to get out of the city, so even if we don't see anything I have fun" according to my step son.

 

[kmbrewcrew]

Griggs, like you I started my oldest son at 3 ish. He was and still at 25 is obsessed. I don't believe that early success spoils a hunter. I also don't believe that early success increases the chance of a hunter staying in the game.
I remember as a kid running out to the truck when my dad returned from a hunt. We would ask if he got anything, and more often than not he would answer...I got back.

I remember those conversations with my dad after a hunt too...He would say, "I got cold" or "I got wet" or "I got tired"....good memories!

 

[3855WIN]

My son was actually hunting some at five and killed both deer he shot at when he was six. It was wide open from there. He killed around 60 whitetails before he left home. Private Land DMAP rags allowed him to kill plenty of does.

 

[Griggs]

My son was actually hunting some at five and killed both deer he shot at when he was six. It was wide open from there. He killed around 60 whitetails before he left home. Private Land DMAP rags allowed him to kill plenty of does.

That's a whole lot of white tails before leaving home! Good for him.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I show my nearly 2-year-old daughter the field-dressed game when I bring it home; let her touch the hair/fur/feathers/antlers, and tell her the name of the animal. She's on a "deer" fix lately (I love it). I butcher small game in the kitchen, cook it up that night, and we eat it as a family. If she doesn't become a hunter, it will not be for lack of exposure. If she shows interest in going afield, I will take her as soon as she is ready, whether that is 4 years old or 14. I was first taken hunting at age 7. I wouldn't have been ready before that. My favorite memories hunting as a child were sitting in a deer stand with my dad as still and quiet as statues, to hear the wolves howl, or have squirrels or birds walk on our clothing. If no one had taken me hunting as a kid, I may never have gone as an adult.