Bringing a new bowhunter into the game

[Grouse]

This is my 8 year old granddaughter Cadence.  She has become obsessed with archery and wants to shoot her bow all the time.  She's getting pretty good on the ten yard paper plate with that youth recurve and no sights.  As the bow hunting season gets closer and she sees me getting ready for it, she's telling me she wants to go bow hunting for deer.  I've been telling her she is too young yet, but she can tag along with me if she can keep quiet and still.  So far, she has not demonstrated she can do that. 

I'll let her keep practicing and encourage her to do so while I'm bow hunting, but this little girl has a fire in her that guarantees she will be bow hunting as soon as the law allows her to, provided Grampa thinks she is ready.

 

[Splitear]

That is awesome! Congratulations on bringing a new hunter along, and I hope she has many successes. It's so rewarding to see a young person get started in hunting/shooting sports. 

We saw a huge uptick in the number of girls interested in archery after the Hunger Games movies came out. Thankfully, that trend has continued for our 4-H program, and now over half of our archers, and almost half of our Shooting Sports participants are girls/young ladies. 

[Grouse]

I figured that movie had an impact on girls in archery.  I'm glad it did.  My granddaugter has never seen it though.  But she has been into karate for 2 years now and archery has been discussed in her classes.  Plus she has always gawked at all of my archery equipment.  I look forward to hunting with her in a few years.

[ApexerER]

She is old enough to go out there and sit with you in a stand or blind. Get her out there with you a couple times. Yes, she will fidget, yes she will talk to much and yes, they will be memories that last for ever.....

[Splitear]

9 minutes ago, Grouse said:

I figured that movie had an impact on girls in archery.  I'm glad it did.  My granddaugter has never seen it though.  But she has been into karate for 2 years now and archery has been discussed in her classes.  Plus she has always gawked at all of my archery equipment.  I look forward to hunting with her in a few years.

Yeah, the "Hunger Games Effect" has worn off, but it's nice that the interest is still there  Great photos! That smiling face says it all. There's nothing like the excitement of those little successes, whether it's the first time they get an arrow on the target back, the first time they bust a clay or the first animal harvest. It makes it all worthwhile. 

[rachunter]

That’s awesome grouse!!!!
Even if she doesn’t take up hunting/archery she’ll never forget it. My niece use to shoot with me when she was 6-9 and always talks about it. She’s 27 now.


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[grampy]

1 hour ago, Grouse said:

This is my 8 year old granddaughter Cadence.  She has become obsessed with archery and wants to shoot her bow all the time.  She's getting pretty good on the ten yard paper plate with that youth recurve and no sights.  As the bow hunting season gets closer and she sees me getting ready for it, she's telling me she wants to go bow hunting for deer.  I've been telling her she is too young yet, but she can tag along with me if she can keep quiet and still.  So far, she has not demonstrated she can do that. 

I'll let her keep practicing and encourage her to do so while I'm bow hunting, but this little girl has a fire in her that guarantees she will be bow hunting as soon as the law allows her to, provided Grampa thinks she is ready.

 

So awesome that your Granddaughter is interested in archery! Keep feeding that interest. I started taking my grandson's out with me when they were six. Some things I learned was, they will not be still, or quiet for very long at that age, impossible after an hour! So plan for short sits. Also bring along plenty of snacks and drinks!!  Looking back. it was some of the best times I ever had in the woods. Enjoy your time out there too.

[Grouse]

I think I will take her out with me a few times.  I'm just worried she may get bored and turned off to bow hunting if we don't see anything. 

I was thinking about taking here squirrel hunting, as she like's shooting guns as well.  She loves the .410 single shot and the lever gun loaded with .38 special rounds.  She can't hit anything with either of them because the stocks are too long, but she loves to shoot them.

I let her play with some of my duck and goose calls and she liked that.  She did the crow call and the deer grunt pretty good too.  I gave her the coyote "dying rabbit" call to try and she thought it was hilarious.  Every time she called with it she laughed out loud for twice as long as the call screeched, but she kept calling with it over and over.  She kept expecting a coyote to come into the yard and I kept expecting my neighbor living 500 yards away to come over looking to see if I was killing the kid.  LOL!

I was laughing myself silly.  Good times.

[Moho81]

Get her out in the woods with ya man!!!!

Yes she won’t sit still
Yes she won’t be quiet
Yes you will only sit for an hour
Yes you won’t see anything

Guess what? It will be your best hunt of the season. Besides the bow season is LONG you can afford a couple of short sits.

I started taking my daughter when she was 5 because she was interested. Short sits plenty of snacks and things to do but some of the best conversation and memories.

I still remember the time when she was probably about 8 years old we where out for a 2 hour sit in the evening. I mistakenly mentioned grabbing McDonalds on the way home for dinner as a treat about half way through the sit. For the next hour until sunset she whispered/sang this song about getting McDonalds for dinner. It was non stop and she had me laughing pretty good. Not a chance in the world where we going to see anything but it didn’t matter one bit.


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[Bolt action]

That's awesome that she's so excited about getting out in the woods. If you're worried about it hurting your chances of shooting a deer, take her scouting with you. My 7 year old is showing more and more interest, so I plan to bring him scouting with me before the season opens. He'll still get the experience of being in the woods, the camo, trying to be quiet, learning about movement and scent.. and I get to teach him, scout, and not have to worry about spooking deer while actually hunting. 

[G-Man]

Got a 49 year old into archery after a year of crossbow.. was afraid to try it as it was made to sound so difficult.. so my old bow and new string and in 5 min shooing a 3 in group at 20 yards a week shooting 40 yard  3 in groups.. his words this isn't hard at all...  

Time we stop pretending it's an elite skill to shoot a bow ..  in any form

[Swamp_bucks]

I would take her. My kids love it when they go even if they dont see anything. My 4yr old wants to go this year so opening weekend I'll take him and just enjoy the time with him.

[coonhunter]

Grouse, I take a lot of kids and newcomers hunting. Get yourself a good sized pop up. Put it up where you know you will see deer most of the time, and take her for a few 2 hour sits. She won't sit still for very long, she will talk, she will have to pee,well, you will be amazed at how much a kid has to say and do in a couple hours. Keep it short and sweet, and don't really plan on getting a deer.

It is good to plan ahead. Have snacks for both of you to share. If you carry a thermos, get one for her and put whatever she will drink in it, so she can do the same as you. Find out if she wants to watch you kill a deer beforehand. If she does, be prepared to use up a tag when the opportunity comes because she will be begging you to shoot it.

Some years, for the youth hunt, I will have two girls in the blind with me. It is usually a fiasco with them tee heeing on their phones, oohing and ahing when squirrels and turkeys come out. They always get a deer before we are done. Sometimes it takes a couple sits, and sometimes they will both score on the first morning.

All I can say is that having kids along makes hunting so much more fun. 

[Hock3y24]

nice, my 9 year old just graduated to a release with his compound, got him shooting at 20, he can stay on a paper plate. 

[crappyice]

I would say this is the time to seal the deal as their time is your (and her parents) time. Once she gets a bit older and has more and different plans of her own (and her friends) that time gets harder, but with those outdoor seeds planted she may come back later.
I always went with, “if they ask, say yes!”

How could you say no to a face like that!!!!


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[crappyice]

That’s awesome grouse!!!!
Even if she doesn’t take up hunting/archery she’ll never forget it. My niece use to shoot with me when she was 6-9 and always talks about it. She’s 27 now.


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Hey Rac…curious if your niece has any Interest in shooting now in her later 20s?


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[rachunter]

1 hour ago, crappyice said:

Hey Rac…curious if your niece has any Interest in shooting now in her later 20s?


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Na she moved on to softball and field hockey,but still enjoys venison steak.