Elk and Deer hunting with 10 and 12 yr old

[spdrman]

Way cool. Reading thorough this I can't help but think that you and your boys had an incredible year and put in a lot of work. What may not be obvious is that those boys don't have a year like that without a lifetime of following you around the woods, more than likely making your hunting trips substantially more difficult than they would have been had you gone alone. It may have sometimes seemed like a detriment at the time but you are reaping the rewards for your own hard work now, and will continue into the future.

My daughter is 8 and my boy is 4 and both have been hunting with my wife and I since they could walk. Both have been on many successful hunts for elk, whitetail and turkeys. My girl has 3 turkey tags to fill for herself for the first time this fall and we are both very excited to spend some time in the woods.

Those with young kids wondering when the right time to take their kids into the field with them, the answer is NOW. I am not sure there is a 'too young' age to take kids with you.

Thank you! You couldn’t have described it any better and I 100% agree, both my boys have had diapers changed on the mountains and been carried all over, they’ve spent countless days and hours in antelope blinds and have spooked more antelope than they watched me shoot the first couple years.

This year was awesome archery antelope hunting with my older boy. He passed on several smaller antelope bucks with his bow and even does. After our hard winter a couple years ago the numbers are way down. He said he’d rather see them grow and reproduce than notch his tag on a small buck. That was awesome and showed he wasn’t out to kill something, he enjoyed the experience and with the years of seeing antelope up close he realized they are struggling and willing to eat a tag and wait for a good buck at only 13 years old.

This year was the first year I turned my older boy loose on his own, we weren’t to far apart but he spend a lot of days solo in a blind for archery deer. Felt weird dropping him off with a rifle to go afree elk and watching him walk off as I took his younger brother to hunt somewhere else. We spend a ton of time shooting and I didn’t have any doubts he’d mishandle the rifle, if there was any safety concerns I wouldn’t have turned him loose solo. He was super stoked to kill a cow elk solo this fall. I was able to watch it all from a distance and was a super proud dad moment but also sad that he doesn’t need me as much as he used too.

Take the kids out, it’s worth it, they’ll make you appreciate all the small things you’ve seen so much you just over look it anymore