That boy won't hunt

I think that it's admirable of you to allow your son to make his own decisions, but what I think will be even more crucial is your ability to allow your son to hold onto his own ideals. When I was growing up, my father tried to force sports on me and I would have much rather played guitar in bands than try out for football and all the like. There was a lot of tension and for a great while, I absolutely hated him. It wasn't until I became (fairly) independent of his income that he and I started to get along. For a good ten years, he wanted me to be an athlete, and I wanted to be artist.

Your son doesn't want to be a hunter, but it seems that he still enjoys firearms culture (as you said, he likes to shoot targets) and I would suggest that you always have an open invitation to your son to go hunting, but never push the issue on him. At his age, it's important for him to find out who he is and what he wants. And maybe, to him, at this age, the idea of killing an animal is absolutely atrocious, but with time he may change his mind. By telling him stories about "fun hunting" you may further alienate him, as you may create an atmosphere of forcing it upon him by further talking about it. Just let him be who he is, and maybe he'll want to hunt with you. If it does turn out to be the bugs and heat that bothers him, set up and scout yourself, then take him to shoot. If he enjoys that, then take him a couple more times in the same vain, and eventually force him to do the scouting and setup and tell him that it's part of the price of hunting.

I personally don't think that it's the videogames, as others have suggested, but it may be the new "PC" culture that we live in.

My point is, just let your boy be who he wants to be, and don't try to force him to be/do what he doesn't just because you enjoy. That's a great way to have 10 long years of hell that my father and I had.
 
Depending upon your lifestyle you may have to wait until he's around 14 to get him back into hunting.

If he's grown up in A/C with video games you aren't going to pry him away until girls want guys. Then he'll want to prove that he's a "guy".
 
lots of good advice already. Only thing I would add based on my experience as both a son and father (son is 14 now) . make sure he's comfortable. I'll skip a day if the weather's rough. make sure he's warm/cool enough tho in FLA you have the opposite situ than here in NY. Good bug suit. yeah let him bring the gameboy on stand. My dad took me out young but didn't invest much in gear, Steel toed work boots and a hard kicking 12 ga didn't do much for my attitude back then. Got into it after all the distractions of youth were over. You introduced it well, plenty of time for him to come around.
 
Why did you wait till he was 12 to take him with you? How does you wife feel about hunting? Do you eat the meat you kill? What's your son's work ethic? Do you work with him on projects, etc? It's hard to raise a hunter in today's society.

When my youngest son was 11 YO we were pheasant hunting and I had a heart attack. He was traumetized and was with me in the hospital. He passed out in my hospital room and hit his head on the sink. He's 17 now and is in band at school and they do marching competitions this time of year and so he's always too busy to go out. Tomorrow is the opening of pheasant season, and he has a band competition. I want to go, but he has other plans, and I'm not supposed to go alone.

My two older sons like to hunt, but they both live far away. Last year my son in Washington got his elk again. My other son killed his first deer with his bow when he was 14.

I think that unless one takes his kids out when they are young, they'll lose interest as they get older. In my youngest son's case, I think he just had a bad experience. I'm lucky that my wife has always supported me in my efforts to teach my kids about hunting and the outdoors, even though she never came from that type of background.
 
"...he really doesn't want to hunt..." You ask him before you bought the rifle? Did he do the Hunter's Safety course because he wanted to or to make you happy?
Does he want to shoot and just not hunt(quite possibly influenced by his school)? Mind you, if he doesn't, that's not the end of the world either. Do other things together.
 
Hey, at least he told you that he didn't want to go. It would have been worse to drag him out there and both of you ended up miserable. He'll likely come around some day. Give him time.

And I think I saw someone post it earlier, but I practically begged to go hunting with my father when I was your kid's age so at least you gave your son the chance early on.
 
It's great that you aren't pushing him to go.

I think it's a good idea to know the ropes, but I can see why many people don't enjoy regular hunting. There is no need for it, and hunting for fun is obviously wrong.

If everyone did their own hunting, deer would become extinct very quickly.
 
...and hunting for fun is obviously wrong.
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Obvious to whom? I don't know here you came up with this idea; but, I disagree with it totally. Killing for no reason may be wrong, but hunting and using the animal for meat and leather isn't wrong - even if other alternatives exist. After my first heart attack, my doctor told me that eating wild game was more healthy for me that any other alternative, because domestically produced meat is packed with fat and chemicals that don't exist in wild meat.
 
Hunting

You know, some folks just aren't into hunting. Sometimes it isn't the media, or anti-gunners or what have you, it just doesn't interest them. I myself shoot a lot, sometimes competitively, but I don't hunt. Not for any other reason other than I don't like the gore of field dressing. Could I put a hole in an animal? Sure. But I don't believe in it myself because I'm not into eating game (again, just doesn't interest me). I certainly don't berate anyone who does, I think it's a necessary thing to do. I'd see if the kid is into target shooting. Might be a natural at that.
 
The Boys.....

I have 3 boys. One is 23, one is 19, and one is 17. I always imagined them hunting with me. Well, they do like to go out and shoot. The 23 year old loves to set his Weatherby .223 cal. up and shoot paper. He does not like to hunt. The 19 year old wants to go everytime I pick up my rifle to clean it! The 17 year old doesn't like to hunt anything, and would not go unless forced....which I don't do. The fact is, they all are different. So me and my buddies go, and I leave two of my three son's at home. Oh well.......:confused:
 
I bet when young men are required to do a two or three year hitch in the armed forces that interest in guns and hunting will pick back up.
 
my boy

I have a son, now 14, who I have taken hunting and introduced to shooting at age 6 or so. He still goes w/ me, but is not really on fire for it.


He goes mainly 'cause he wants to be with me, I think. Conversely, I fool around w/ his video games and interest in team sports to be with him.

He still lacks patience to stand hunt, and likes spring turkey more than deer hunts 'cause '"you get to walk around and stuff". Its warmer (usually) too.

He's his own guy. I was disappointed at first, and still am to a degree, but we make the best of it. I don't push him hard, though I did for a while.
NOw, I'm happy when he goes, and try to find time to go his stuff when I can.

He has shown a distinct increase in interest in firearms as he matures.
When he discovers girls, all bets are off.
 
It is very good you can talk, that is very important. Sometimes you hope your kids will be into something you are into, but there not. Thats o.k. Who knows maybe someday he will change is mind. At least he has a good father that is not pushing him to do something he does not want to do. My son in law is a pitcher, and played in the minors for awhile, they did not sign him for the majors, and that was very hard on him. To make it short his son, my Grandson shows no interst in baseball. He is not pushing him, and just letting him be a kid, and do what he wants as long has it is clean etc. So I think your doing great just being able to talk, and handle it the way you did!
 
I applaud you on your handling of this situation. Whatever his reason, it is his choice, and telling him he has to hunt would be the same as PETA telling us all we have to refrain from hunting.
 
I was really excited this year, because my oldest boy is 12 and I wanted to take him to the woods. I took him through the safety course last month and bought a ladder stand. I ordered a Stevens 200 in .243. I was getting ready to outfit him the rest of the way this weekend. Well, long story short, he broke it to me that he really doesn't want to hunt.
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I would ask him why not. Maybe he doesn't like the hard work like you suggested, or maybe he has another reason that is due to wrong info and assumptions on his part; which you can discuss and overcome. I took our boys target shooting for 2 years before allowing them to hunt. Maybe your son needs more time practicing and target shooting before the urge to hunt sets in. My older son actually did not want to hunt because he did not want to clean the animal. He also doesn't like to clean fish. So, would I rather he hunt and fish with me and I'll clean his game or would I rather leave him at home and hunt with out him?

Cleaning his game is worth the time spent together.

Take a moment and find out why. Just be sure to not ridicule him make him feel stupid if it is a silly reason.
 
Scout, I agree on your handling also...but did have some thoughts cross my mind as well though in regards to your situation...

Even though it sounds like your an awesome dad...you maybe just too awesome for a 12 year old coming into his own and worrying about expectations going into the hunt.

I remember going into one of my first hunts with my father who outfitted me with knowledge and supplies for years prior to our first "real" hunt together. And I botched the shot(s) on purpose to avoid having to field dress because I thought my father would of been disappointed that I had forgotten a lot of what he had already taught me. I had watched him and friends field dress for years and had even done some of my own when I was trapping at an early age.

I think it was when it came down to the first real showtime and with me being center stage, that is when it hit me that I would maybe not shine like the grand wizard of the woods like my father seemed to be, a man I looked up to that made me think I was not prepared at all. Will I get the shakes, will I hit the bladder, what if I make a bad shot and ruin the meat those and dozens of other thoughts went through my head on that first hunt.

Knowing that the report of the first hunt would be thoroughly gone over by him and his friends over a case of Löwenbräu as well.

I guess I thought being judged on a "missed shot" was far better then being graded on a whole event.

You may want to take the pressure of the "first kill" in front of pops away and see if that sets him a little more at ease. See if he would rather just go along as a spotter or a little extra muscle on the carry out rather then inadvertently putting pressure on.

My third (irc) hunt with my father and his friends is when I bagged my first buck. I was alone at the far end of a hay field wheni took my shot and had my small buck at the roadside and field dressed when they came by about 2 hours later.
 
I bet when young men are required to do a two or three year hitch in the armed forces that interest in guns and hunting will pick back up.
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I don't know about requiring it, but it certainly did the trick for me. I was raised in a household where water guns weren't allowed because my parents thought they'd make us violent. Well, I ended up joining the military and now I own several guns. Sometimes kids just take a different path :rolleyes:

I think exposing him to it without making it mandatory will be the best thing you can do to prevent him from going completely the opposite direction when he hits his late teens and decides he hates you (or maybe that was just me).

But even as much as I enjoy it now, I'm from South Florida and if you asked me to go hunting during the day in Florida heat and humidity, I'd rather be playing X-box too. It should be starting to get cooler down there by now right?
 
Well, by way of follow up...my 12 year old still hasn't expressed an interest in the hunt, but my 9 year old jumped out of nowhere and declared himself a hunter. I took him squirrel hunting once already and he had a great time. ( As did I.) Thanks again for all of your interesting thoughts and insights.
 
He didn't shoot any yet...he was pretty good at spotting them, but a little slow on the trigger. I would give him a few moments to acquire and fire, but he'd lose them in the mean time, so I was shooting them with my .17M2 as they ran off. So, we're going a few more times this season and saving the squirrels for a big dinner in January. He's having a ball, though.
 
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