I have been asked with my job at Utah State University to start working with 4H more and specifically on working with the youth on hunting and shooting sports. I had a chance to start with an article about hunting and my kids. Home you enjoy. This article will be published in the summer or spring issue of Mule Deer Foundation Magazine.
Making—willing—taking our kids into the future of hunting
I don’t know what it is, it likely has to do with generational differences and the ‘now’ generation then anything but I find it difficult to get my kids excited about hunting. It seems they are so keyed in on video games and other things that bring quick instant satisfaction that they seem too board and impatient with hunting? Why is it? I know one thing, when I was there age that is all I lived for, I ate, slept and drank the outdoors and hunting. To this day I can still remember actually crying myself to sleep when I was 10-12 years old because I couldn’t go with my dad on the opening day of the Utah general season deer hunt. Partially I’m sure it was because my dad wanted at least one day to himself but I’m sure equally it had do with my mother being scared to death to let her little boy go out there will all those crazy rifle hunters in Utah.
Man how things have changed. Today in Utah we have 60% less than the number of deer hunters we had during the heyday of mule deer hunting in Utah. There are also fewer deer and fewer places to hunt. To be honest, I have to share some of my kids’ lack of get up and go especially when it comes to hunting public lands during the general rifle hunts. I also have to be honest and tell you that their interest in hunting was much higher and more energetic when we were just hunting rabbits and birds. There is no question that the action was greater more opportunities to pull the trigger then with deer hunting. So is it a question of desire, priorities, age or what? I have noticed lately that my 13 year old daughter seems to be more into hunting and interested in hunting then my 16 and 18 year old boys, after all she specifically asked for camo for Christmas. All my boys seem to care about now is football, basket ball, girls and grades (and not that there is anything wrong with it) at least you know they are normal boys but somehow they have missed the bug that I had when I was there age and still have today. I question if it’s partially my fault as well, do I spend too much time guiding and doing my own hunting that I have somehow neglected my kids? My oldest will flat out tell me, “we are just not that into it as you are”. So what is missing, why don’t my kids share my passion? As I sit back and scratch my head I have to wonder if it’s really about the opportunity and I’m not talking about the opportunity to go out in the hills and hike around with dear old dad and hope to see a critter. I’m talking about the opportunity to really take aim and pull the trigger on something, to harvest an animal. I’ve witnessed this first hand, I saw it this year, let me tell you why I think this might just be what these kids need to have to keep hunting into the future.
I’ll start out with the archery deer hunt. My oldest had a chance to hunt deer on a piece of private ground (a cooperative wildlife management unit) that I am managing which essentially allowed him a very long season. It was close to our home and it actually made it easy to fit in (even with work and school for him and hunting, work, and guiding for me) an evening here and a morning there for several different outings. I have to admit I loved it; it was a great chance to spend one on one time with him hunting. He really wanted to take a buck with archery tackle; two years ago he missed a good buck and really wanted a chance to redeem himself. It never happened, but on one night, he had a cow moose come into the water hole that held up behind him, I think that was ‘hunting experience’ that he will not soon forget. We hunted off and on with a rifle saw several nice bucks even one 3 year old 3x3 that I tried to get him to harvest as a management buck. I was amazed at his control—if my dad would have told me to shoot-it would have happened so fast it would have made your head spin. But he held off and kept telling me “we have plenty of time”. It almost happened one night, and I wish it would have, I had my dad up (Houston’s grandpa) and we got in on a buck but just couldn’t get close enough to finish the deal and we ran out of light and time. Literally on the second to last day we decided to hit it hard again, it was a Friday evening and we only had the next day to hunt before the season closed. We had been watching one particular area for most of our outings, there were a bunch of does and a few small bucks in this area and we kept saying the closer it got to the end of October the better our chances were of having a good buck show up would be. As it happens it did, we spotted a good buck and got to within a few hundred yards. We had time to get the bogpod out and set up, relax and wait for a good shot. I was amazed how calm Houston was, relaxed, no shaking, no fidgeting, just calm as a cucumber. That was until the shot went off and we watched but buck run 50 yards and go down in sight. That’s when it happened, that’s when the adrenaline kicked in, the shakes, the high fives, and the ‘that was awesome yeah!’ expression that was let out as loud as he could yell. That’s when I knew that Houston finally felt the feelings I have so many times and for so many years.
Next is my middle child, and boy is he a middle child. Porter loves sports and playing the X-Box it seems like those 2 things consume him more than anything right now. I have to admit along with my wife that it’s much better than the girls that consumed his life 2 years ago. Porter had a deer tag as well and was focused with a bow all summer long but then football started and it just didn’t happen he didn’t hunt at all. Fortunately he was able to draw a cow tag on the same property where Houston was hunting deer. Because of football and my guiding we didn’t get much of a chance to start hunting until late November. With Porter, I had to continually force him and even drag him to get out of the house and out the door for an evening hunt but it never happened in the morning, it was always too early or ‘I’m too tired’. On one occasion we spotted a group elk and managed to get within 218 yards. Again, out came the bogpod, set up, relax and take our time but with Porter it was just the opposite of Houston, he couldn’t hold it still he was shaking so bad and I knew when the safety was on and he jerked there was just too much adrenaline to make the shot. Finally shot came twice as a matter of fact and he missed both times and with similar results on another outing although I still don’t know how he missed that one. I remember him specifically saying “man that adrenaline rush is just awesome”. I just smiled, I knew the bug had bitten but despite the bug, the mornings were still out of the question. Finally just before Christmas, we made an outing with a friend who had a client that had a tag, we found a group of cows, made a good stalk through 1.5 feet of snow and took the shots. We shot and the client shot, and we shot and nothing. Finally after a few more shots the client hit one and it went down, the elk were moving around, confused from the shots and didn’t know where to run. I had decided by then that the elk were too far for Porter’s gun so we got Porter set up with the big gun and amazingly enough he made a perfect shot at 550 yard shot with a 30-378 (wow!), the cow stumbled and then fell. Same reaction, yelling screaming, high fives, and even a trip down the bottom of the canyon and across the other side in 1.5’ of snow without even complaining. Porter was excited and maybe even hooked.
I’ve saved the best for last but it’s a father daughter thing and I guess a bit more tender when I think about it. My youngest Mariah drew a turkey tag for the spring hunt. It took her 2 years to draw the tag, she even cried the year before when she didn’t draw out and her brother Porter drew his second in as many years. Day one was a waste, too windy to even hear and too cold for what we chose to wear that day. The next day we didn’t hunt and went to church instead. On day 3 after much debate Jake (a good friend who came with us) and I made a plan to get in as close to the roost area as we could before light. Well as luck would have it I think the birds saw us and pitched off the other way but we held our ground and Jake continued to call while I coached Mariah on what to do when mr. tom came in. I was amazed; we held our position for almost 2 hours when finally Jake coxed a tom to come in. I don’t know what was more exciting watching and listening to Mariah or watching her reaction from the blast of the shotgun and the tom flopping on the ground. Again, same results, yelling, screaming, big smiles, high fives, and picture messages to her non-hunting girl friends.
Mariah also drew a doe pronghorn on a CWMU in northern Utah. She has said for several years now that she wanted to hunt an antelope. We made a trip over the mountain and actually spent the night trapping sage-grouse for a research project we are doing there. After a long cold night and only a couple of hours of sleep, we got up just before light and ventured down a ridge where we had seen a good heard the night before. Shortly thereafter we located the herd but soon realized our high vantage point was not to our advantage so we backed out and went around and in from the bottom. The wind was right, the sun was at our back, and we had a nice little draw to creep through the sagebrush to a small knoll where we then belly crawled the next 50 yards to get into position. I got Mariah in front of me, put the bipods down and got her all set up. She was ready, doe in scope, gun in position but nothing happened finally after the second or third ‘shoot’ from me, she turned and said, “dad, I don’t want to I’m scared”, not sure what she was scared of I tried encouraging her but nothing would happen. I told her that was fine and we would just go home but then she started crying and telling me I should just shoot it. I told her that wasn’t going to happen and it was okay and we would just go home. Again with the crying, finally after much discussion, we agreed on a compromise that involved me helping (more then I wanted too). We now had to move up and over a bit to reposition ourselves, we got settled in again, bipod down me now behind the gun, (bracing against my shoulder) and then I turned to Mariah and said, “okay I will hold it, you make sure the crosshairs are where you want to shoot and then you pull the trigger when you are ready.” She looked things over in the scope, back and me, “that one right there right?” she said, yes and then boom. I knew right away it was a hit but it didn’t drop, “did I miss, did I miss”, it sounded good to me, let’s go check. As we made our way up the next little ridge we talked about what had just happened and replayed the shot over in our conversation. I could sense the excitement yet the nerves and doubt came through as well. As we crested the ridge I could see the herd looking back to where they came from, a sure sure sign of doe down somewhere and as we walked a few more yards there was Mariah’s doe. Her reaction was a bit different than the boys, I don’t know if that’s just a guy girl thing or what but while she was excited I think she was more humbled by the whole thing, which again isn’t a bad thing and I still think Mariah is hooked maybe it’s more hooked on daddy daughter things than hunting but that’s okay with me.
2009, was a year I won’t soon forget, all three of my kids not only had trigger opportunity, they also had good positive harvest experiences which I think in the long run is really what our kids need to keep them hunting into the future. Our freezers are full, we just may have all the jerky we want to eat and we have pictures and video of the hunts to remember them always.
The more I think about it and as much as it goes against the whole experience of the outdoors thing, I think that what it really boils down too is this; if we are going to have a future in hunting, if we are going to get our kids into hunting we have got to make and take the extra effort and go the additional mile to find positive experiences and opportunities for our kids that are more than just being out in the hills, they’ve got to have positive hunting and I will add harvesting experiences to know not only what it’s all about but how it feels as well. Thanks Kids I really enjoyed our harvesting experiences….
