These days, there’s a lot out there competing for your kids’ attention. Getting them to fall in love with deer hunting might prove more challenging than you’d think. Luckily though, you’ve found your way to this article. Here are a few tips that’ll help you get your kids pumped about spending a thrilling day hunting in the woods!
1. Take a Hunter’s Safety Class Together
In most states, kids need to clear a hunter’s safety course before they can hunt legally. Accompany them through the course and make their day as enjoyable as possible. Also, play your part in raising their awareness of the importance of learning about hunting regulations and gun safety.
2. Make the hunting trip an exciting family experience
The more people there are, the more fun you’ll have. Gathering all your hunting equipment before setting off can also be a thrilling activity. Get your kids involved in the process as you find the best hunting firearms Melbourne has to offer.
Once everything is ready, cram your family into the car and travel to the hunting destination early. Set up camp with your kids, light a bonfire, and roast marshmallows as you tell exciting campfire stories!
3. Educate your kids on wildlife management principles
One of the best ways to make your children more involved in your hunting trip is to teach them about how wildlife management works, and the principles behind it.
You can bring up the history of whitetails and how deer hunting isn’t only an effective management tactic, but also how it protects the environment by keeping whitetail populations in check.
Once they understand a bigger purpose behind their hunting efforts, they’ll be more excited to succeed. From there, you can bring up what it’s like to harvest a deer to get them even more pumped about celebrating their first successful hunt on the trip!
4. Have realistic expectations
Back in the day, your dad might have told you to sit still for 8 hours in your first deer hunt, but for today’s young hunters with short attention spans, that’s simply not a realistic scenario. Also, your children won’t be going crazy about hunting right away. It takes time to genuinely fall in love with hunting, so be patient.
5. Keep the first hunt short
Children have shorter attention spans than adults. As social media consumption trickles down to younger and younger hands, that attention span is only getting shorter. Roughly, they’ll only have 3 to 5 minutes of attention span per year of age. For instance, if you’ve got a ten-year-old, you can expect him to comfortably concentrate for about thirty to fifty minutes on one task.
To make sure the novelty doesn’t fade away for good, plan your first few hunts to be fairly short. Bring along snacks and drinks to keep the kids energized. The goal is to make this activity fun and exciting—something they’ll look forward to, not something they have to painfully endure.
For hunters, a short trip means it won’t be as rewarding as a session with your hunting buddies might be. However, it’ll make the experience much more enjoyable and meaningful for your children. As your kids add more and more of these hunting trips under their belts, they’ll be asking you to stay just a little longer—and that’s when you know they’re passionate about hunting!
