Proud Dad!

[Fowl Play]

Have just been focusing on trying to instill a love for the outdoors in my daughters. Hiking, fishing, etc. Actually thought they might be a little too tender hearted for hunting. (And still might be for hunting mammals) but both of my daughters wanted to go pheasant hunting with me the last two years. I tried to make it as fun for them as possible, and both thoroughly enjoyed being “bird dogs.”



My oldest expressed allot of interest in turkey hunting with me last year, so we went out several times. No real luck, and found out she really doesn’t like long afternoon sits (does anyone really though?), but still had fun.

This year, she was a bit more determined and really practiced hard with her little .410. We had a couple great mornings, totally covered up in birds, but I could just not get them to pull away from their hens. I was trying to keep it fun, so was switching to bass fishing and 4 wheel riding in the afternoons, to avoid long boring afternoon sits I knew she didn’t like. But the last day she says “Dad, I’m mad at that ol’ gobbler, how about we go to that place with all the strut marks in the road and sit from 1pm till we get him.” Well… sure enough, that’s what we did! She made a perfect shot on this old boy, after an awesome strutting display, and full on attack of my avian x jake. Knocked its head clean off and then kept attacking it when it was laying on the ground. It was awesome, and she’s hooked!

 

[JJ1179]

So awesome! Don’t look past the time you get to spend with your kids in the field and out. Time really does fly and before you know it, they will be old and may not want to do anything with you lol. Hunting and spending time in the woods with my son is more important to me than killing any trophy.

 

[RockAndSage]

Have just been focusing on trying to instill a love for the outdoors in my daughters. Hiking, fishing, etc. Actually thought they might be a little too tender hearted for hunting. (And still might be for hunting mammals) but both of my daughters wanted to go pheasant hunting with me the last two years. I tried to make it as fun for them as possible, and both thoroughly enjoyed being “bird dogs.”

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My oldest expressed allot of interest in turkey hunting with me last year, so we went out several times. No real luck, and found out she really doesn’t like long afternoon sits (does anyone really though?), but still had fun.

This year, she was a bit more determined and really practiced hard with her little .410. We had a couple great mornings, totally covered up in birds, but I could just not get them to pull away from their hens. I was trying to keep it fun, so was switching to bass fishing and 4 wheel riding in the afternoons, to avoid long boring afternoon sits I knew she didn’t like. But the last day she says “Dad, I’m mad at that ol’ gobbler, how about we go to that place with all the strut marks in the road and sit from 1pm till we get him.” Well… sure enough, that’s what we did! She made a perfect shot on this old boy, after an awesome strutting display, and full on attack of my avian x jake. Knocked its head clean off and then kept attacking it when it was laying on the ground. It was awesome, and she’s hooked!

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That's pretty awesome, glad you're having success with that approach. It's incredibly interesting to me that kids and women seem to have far less of a problem with killing birds, even pretty ones, than they do with even a squirrel or rabbit...

 

[OneGunTex]

Have just been focusing on trying to instill a love for the outdoors in my daughters. Hiking, fishing, etc. Actually thought they might be a little too tender hearted for hunting. (And still might be for hunting mammals) but both of my daughters wanted to go pheasant hunting with me the last two years. I tried to make it as fun for them as possible, and both thoroughly enjoyed being “bird dogs.”

My oldest expressed allot of interest in turkey hunting with me last year, so we went out several times. No real luck, and found out she really doesn’t like long afternoon sits (does anyone really though?), but still had fun.

This year, she was a bit more determined and really practiced hard with her little .410. We had a couple great mornings, totally covered up in birds, but I could just not get them to pull away from their hens. I was trying to keep it fun, so was switching to bass fishing and 4 wheel riding in the afternoons, to avoid long boring afternoon sits I knew she didn’t like. But the last day she says “Dad, I’m mad at that ol’ gobbler, how about we go to that place with all the strut marks in the road and sit from 1pm till we get him.” Well… sure enough, that’s what we did! She made a perfect shot on this old boy, after an awesome strutting display, and full on attack of my avian x jake. Knocked its head clean off and then kept attacking it when it was laying on the ground. It was awesome, and she’s hooked!

Great job! Hope you're a proud dad. You both earned it!

 

[Exterra]

Congratulations to your daughter on a great bird and to you for keeping it fun. Trophy time spent with the kids.

 

[Nick22]

My oldest daughter was the turkey hunter when she was a teenager. We had some great hunts and a couple of doubles on longbeards over the years, those are some of the moments that make life worth living soak them up. She did shoot one little buck one year but it wasn't her thing. She could kill turkeys because although they were beautiful they weren't cute!