Taking a girl to elk camp. . .

If she is showing interest, you have to foster it imo, if you don’t she will definitely lose interest
I don't have kids but if I had a young daughter and she wanted to go backpack hunting with me or a situation like you have I would take her in a second. Hard and uncomfortable things are amazing learning experiences and you never know....you could end up with an elk killing machine for a hunting partner
 
Ask the group their thoughts

If they are good with behaving appropriately around a 12yo kid (daughter should no different than son IMO) then great.

If not, find some like minded parents or individuals and start a new group.
My kids (and now grandkids) always get consideration if they want to hunt or fish.

If taking them is a possibility and they want to go, do what you can to make it happen
 
I say take her, but definitely ask them. As others have said, it is vacation time for your buddies too. Some people just aren't "kid people". It doesn't make them bad guys. I wouldn't dream of bringing ANY new person, of ANY age or gender into camp without clearing it with the group. It seems like it is only common courtesy to me. Think for a sec if someone were to have a problem with it. You bring your daughter to camp unannounced and it is going to be awkward for you, awkward for your buddy and crappy for your daughter.

If you get green lights all around, go and have a great time. Someone who is burning their vacation time and elk tag has a problem with it, respect their position and take your daughter somewhere else! Then the 2 of you go and have a great time.
 
If you hunting buddies aren't cool with you brining your daughter....find new buddies. My little girl turns 3 in December and will be going to deer camp with me this year.
My 3 year old got sick right before my elk season this year, she was gonna come out for an afternoon and she was pretty sad that she couldn’t come, hopefully there will be a lifetime of Septembers for her to enjoy
 
Absolutely take your daughter hunting, every chance you get. My daughter started hunting at 12 yo and has hunted every year since. She is good luck and has filled her elk tag nearly every year since. She got engaged at elk camp last fall and married a great guy this summer.
 

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Clear it with guys and if they say no, it is time to start your own camp w son and daughter. Dont miss this opportunity - you have to bring her.

My uncle wouldnt let me go to his deer camp so mom and dad bought a camp and we had us + others. Uncle did his thing.
 
I agree with the consensus here, but I think there’s also another perspective to look at. The OP’s mention of bickering brought back some memories.

I grew up with a sister who dominated my parents’ attention, and loved to torment me. The few days each summer that I got away, camping and fishing with just dad and grandpa, were the highlight of my year. Then Mom declared sister had to come along. It was never the same after that.

I fully support taking your daughter hunting and spending as much time with her as possible. I also encourage you to make sure you still get quality one-on-one time with your son.
 
I think that you could take all the responses in this thread, and make an assumption of what your buddies thoughts on you bringing her would be lol. I have a 6 year old girl that will eventually go to hunting camp with me, we did a family antelope hunt last week and I know she'll end up going to elk camp in the future. Also, you know your kids and your buddies best, so you can probably estimate how it will go if you're honest with yourself and I assume you are only trying to get a second opinion and get some affirmation that taking her is the right idea.

There are only a couple things to me that would make it a no go for some of your buddies,

1. If they are early 20's, they may not be "mature" or in other words like to be hammered and being ridiculous and a kid would hamper that, but you are likely not in a camp with that because you have a 12 year old and after having kids we're just too tired to do that kind of thing anymore.

2. Your kid is a brat and that kind of attitude would be real annoying in camp if you are constantly bickering with her about being outside, doing camp chores, being cold, etc. etc. Bickering with a sibling, wouldn't bother me because I think that those kinds of fights can be funny because at that age they are usually about unserious things, but with a dad I don't like it. If I were at camp and this was going on I'd be annoyed mostly with you for allowing that to happen. I wouldn't likely say anything unless she was specifically rude to me or unsafe since there are guns in hunting camp, but I may rethink the next year on if I would attend or not. But I would never deter someone to take their kids and they would likely work through it all with time.

Now my experience growing up, though I was not a 12 year old girl, my dad took me to all hunting/fishing camps, to the point we might have been butting up against truancy laws. He later told me that some of his buddies were not super pleased with it at the beginning but he just told them that he's taking me and that's the end of the conversation, and since he was the one that actually knew how to hunt/fish and put the trips together, if they wanted to go they had to be ok with that. He would take me to our hunting club in Alabama that was anything but kid friendly, mid 90's stacks of playboys by the toilet, a weird portrait of a naked woman in the living room, lots of drinking that would get out of hand (he shielded me from that for the most part, and he was a pretty big guy and I'm pretty sure that he had some tumultuous conversations with some guys about their behavior). Those are the things that we didn't talk to mom about haha. But it was a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

In the end, I think you know what you want to do and you'll end up taking her, because If you are anything like me, if there is anything going on in camp that is truly despicable enough that kids shouldn't be around, I wouldn't want to be in the camp either.
 
Take her! Run it by the guys before telling her. But if they are friends they will welcome her with open arms. I am definitely bilingual in elk camp especially after a Jim Beam or 2 but I think we’re all used to toning it down automatically when we need to. One of the best hunts I ever had was getting my 13-year-old niece a cow elk.
 
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