Anti-Hunters Worst Nightmare!

[GSP]

The worst nightmare an Anti-Hunter could have,would probably go like this. 75% of all the kids really loved hunting and shooting!
Well, we have a new chance to make that happen. Squirrel season will be here in about a month. Make plans now to have a kid sitting under a hickory with a .22 or .410. You will hook 75% of all the ones you take.
I talked to a guy tonight that is president of KY Hunters Saftey Education Assoc. He holds a squirrel hunt each year for some kids. He has a good philosophy, he won't take a kid deer hunting with him until that kid goes squirrel hunting with him a few times. (This is how I learned the "way of the woods" also.)
From the time I was 5 until I 20, I never missed opening day of squirrel season. At that time it was bigger than deer or turkey could ever be,(we didn't have many of those then).
Last year I took my daughter out opening morning and that "magic"
from many years past re-appeared. I'm looking forward to August 17th!!! Opening day!
If you really want to "Beat an Anti", be sitting under a hickory with a kid. If you don't have one, go borrow one, there is a bunch of them out there!

[CPA Hunter]

Man ain't that the truth. First hunt ever for me was squirrel and from then on I can remember being hooked. That one squirrel on a hickory was a changing point in my life. Then we brought a couple home and my neighbor cooked them up, talk about a proud kid putting meat on the table.

[Herper26]

I 100% agree!! Keep in mind though that you may want to scout a good area so the kids don't get bored and have plenty of action. Also, I like to find an area that has very few mosquitos, that can ruin a kid if they are bothered constantly by the bugs. Also, the heat of August. I generally like to wait for a cooler overcast day and go out in the late afternoon just before dark. The key to hooking them early is that they have a great time with no downfalls!!

[gates]

Make sure and spray all their clothes with peramethrin spray before they put them on for a early season hunt. This will keep all the ticks and chiggers off and most to the mosquitos.

I agree about the scouting. Go by your self first and find a few big shag barks that the squirells are hitting hard before you take a kid on a hot trek through woods were there are no critters.

I will be out there this year with my boy for his first tag along hunt for squirels. He is 3.5 years old and loves walking in the woods. I plan on letting him take his red rider along. I think I will enjoy being with him in the woods more than the hunt. I have a 2 year old coming up too.

James

[Herper26]

And I forgot the worst of all...Poison Ivy!!! It is everywhere in August!

[GSP]

Good points guys, but damn the moskeeters and full steam ahead. Get a kid, get them in the woods, get a gun in their hand and make it FUN! Killing ain't hunting and hunting ain't killing. Get them in the woods. If you don't see a squirrel, point out the woodpeckers, deer and chipmunks you see, let them pick flowers, pick up walnuts, it don't matter, get them in the woods. On the way out set up some cans and let them shoot. Whatever it takes, get them in the woods. Last night I was in a room with over 30 people that I regard as some of the best sportsmen in this state. One guy asked, "who took a kid hunting this past year"? I was the only one that raised my hand. That gave me a sick feeling.

[Herper26]

Some of the "best" sportsmen in the state, or the "wealthiest"? I may be stereotyping, but it seems that the little farm hunting guys like myself are the ones taking the kids out because thats how we started and we know it works. Some of the better off people I've hunted with didn't want kids around "screwing up my hunt"!

[Birdman]

Dido on that.

[GSP]

I hear what you are saying 26 and I know exactly the type you are talking about. The fellows I mentioned are not that. They were all hunter safety ed instructors, youth co-ordinators and such. I can cut these guys some slack, for I know they work the a$$ of voluntering time to work with kids. It just made me realize that we have got to get them in the woods. Most of their work stops at the range. I am preaching to the ones you are talking about, the ones that don't want kids around "screwing up my hunt"!