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Youth hunting? Tactics, what to shoot & anyone going?

Sligh1

Sligh1

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We are really simple on youth hunting…. TRY for cold weather!!! If we get it - kids usually get crack. It’s clearly by food in evenings or travel to them. If it’s hot- we rarely have success. So- we’ll pull some strings to get em out during cold spells.

What set ups u all seem to have best luck on?

I know there’s the spectrum… “a doe”, “first buck that walks out”. “A giant”. “An old buck”. “What the kids want to shoot”. NO RIGHT OR WRONG!!!! What u all ok with? For ME…. I did not allow the kids to shoot a “giant”. Lot of reasons but I personally would not allow it…. I can explain why but I’ll leave it there for now. All started with them shooting does as first deer. My son said “I want to shoot an old buck” - & that’s what we tried for. Took a few seasons. I like to keep it “fun but challenging”. That balance is tough but I think we’ve done it. What u guys allow or how go about it? & again- NO WRONG ANSWERS!!!!

We have a few old bucks that the kids will be after. & some does. We really struggle with the weather historically. When it’s hot- we usually take it back up in December gun season.

Who’s going and what’s your goals and set up? Good luck to you all!!
 
Was hoping my oldest daughter, 9, would want to try it this year, but she told me she wasn't ready for it yet. I do think she will go with me for a couple sits during late muzzu and hopefully that gets her back into it.
 
My oldest 11 now, has taken a # of nice deer. He has a good comprehension of age class and prefers not to shoot a deer if he doesn't believe him not to be 5 years old. ( Not an easy task) Sometimes that standard changes while in the stand and has opted to take a deer knowing he was probably younger. I'm ok with it either way as it is a good opportunity to teach regret as well.

Last year was a struggle and held out all season trying to capitalize on a 5+ year old which did not happen. Kinda tough to know if we made the right call as towards the end of the season I could see his attitude souring a bit...

He did make an excellent shot on a doe with his bow and got his first bow attempt and kill under his belt at age 10. Prior to bow hunting I required him to hit 40lbs on his drawl weight, and pass a 20 yard proficiency test (18 out of 20 arrows in the kill zone on 3d deer target) prior to hunting with his bow.(yearly)

Also another rule is he has to successfully take 3 does prior to getting the green light to go after a buck with his bow. (1 down so far)

Once after the doe quest is fulfilled I am going to urge him to take the first buck that presents a quality shot. ( Hopefully a dink). Hopefully we will build up from there.

The youth hunting has significantly changed since I was a youth hunter here in IA (93)
I had a single shot shotgun with a bead on the barrel, never heard of a trail cam a hunting blind a range finder or food plot! Thinking back I don't know if I shot much more than a basket rack. I'm not sure if there is a right or wrongs here but one thing is for sure the countdown is on in my house hold for youth season and we all look forward to it.

Now have 3 youth hunters
Oldest boy 11
Daughter 9
Youngest son 6 ( first year out)

We have gotten some timely rains in the areas we hunt and the food plots are all in pretty good shape (corn/beans/radishes/ clover) and there seems to be a # of potential shooters around so should be a good year. I know we will have fun.
 
I have been able to take various family members over the years, and my younger sister is up to bat again this year. Four years ago we got lucky and the giant deer in my avatar wondered into 12 steps on Sept 29th. From the ground. First deer she had ever seen while hunting herself. We could not let him walk! Perfect shot and that was history. Couldn't have been a better experience!! Luckily I was able to successfully maneuver around and keep her interested even with her first 2 hours hunting resulting in a 185"+ buck! She always wants a bigger one, but understands how unique her situation is. I suppose she see's me obsessing and spending every waking hour on deer, so she gets it, luckily.

Last year we struck out in youth, but connected on a very nice mature public deer early muzzleloader on a cold front.

One big mature 8 on a beanfield is target #1. Hope they stay green for another few days! Chasing that weather as always, looks to be a warm one in the 15 day forecast as of now. We'll be on em.
 
My daughter is interested in small game and bird hunting but not deer hunting. My son is 9. He shot a 1.5 year old buck on youth opener last fall. It was a great experience for him and I. We are both excited to get going in a few weeks. over the last month we got all off our cameras, blinds and stand work done. Last weekend we shot his gun and the muzzleloader. So we are all set. Now the season just has to get here. We have a doe tag along with the youth tag for my son. He can shoot any adult deer he has a tag for. Last fall he was going to wait for an older buck. Then the younger buck walked out about 75 yards and I could see him get excited (last fall was his first season being the tag holder). I wasn’t about to tell him he had to wait for a mature buck. We did a euro Mount with a picture for his wall. He still talks about it regularly.
 
I let my daughter decide. I emphasize that it’s her choice. I do recommend that we focus on harvesting mature animals (either sex). I’d be thrilled if she shot a giant. There is a “very curious” lack of 5+ year old deer in my area every year so if we see one, it’s not going to get a pass. This year has been extremely dry and I’ve yet to see a mature buck on camera so we will see. I’ll probably set up in some acorns unless some rain comes in and bounces the clover or newly seeded alfalfa. Then we might hunt that too. I’m already looking forward into mid October the way things are setting up.
 
Our rule as always been they take a doe during youth season first. Then a buck during one of the gun seasons. They rotate every year on who goes first for each and they both have a good understanding of taking a mature deer or like the last couple of years a bully buck. They've each been fortunate enough to kill a couple nice ones but they've also both ate tag soup and experienced failure. Failure can be a great motivator to keep the fire burning.
 
After making the last post I went digging through my phone and found a few very low film quality youth hunts we recorded with my phone(glad I did!) and thought I'd share

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Can load the da** videos but here are some pics of my daughters hunts.
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I wanted to circle back to this topic as it is approaching us this weekend. The youth hunting season is a fantastic time of year to get the kids out especially if you have put in some work and have your farm or even permission farm set up.

(As it can be very miserable and uncomfortable if not, been there! Weedy, buggy, itchy, sweaty...)

Now here's the dilemma, which I've been through multiple times but still not sure on the exact right answer would love to hear some opinions. In the realistic mindset of trying to promote deer to get to a mature age on your own farm or permission farm How and when is it appropriate to convince a youth hunter that a beautiful 150 in 3-year-old is not a shooter?? ( Oh and by the way there's always a lot of Young bucks very present during the good evening sits early youth seasons) so this probably happens a number of times......

My goals are
-1 MOST IMPORTANTLY- HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE TIME TOGETHER
2-share the things I've learned along the way
3-hopefully be successful at some point
4-still maintain a mature age class on the farm



For us I like to ask them a lot of questions about the beautiful buck, is it a big one, does he have long legs, does he look heavy or skinny, does he have a saggy belly, usually the kids can talk themselves out of shooting it after talking about it. Now what I don't know is is that what they want or are they doing what they think I want?

Now there are a lot of youth opportunities from youth season, bow season, early muzzleloader, shotgun, late muzzleloader...... There is lots of time.
I do try to remind them of that however don't want to be the stick in the mud that always says no....

What do some of you dads out there do or have done?
 

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I generally give youth hunters the green light on any deer that gets them excited. The window of time they are that age is too short and I want it to be their hunt. I have tried to encourage my oldest son to continue to raise the bar on what he shoots. We talk about shooting does for balancing herd and emphasize they taste as good as the bucks. End of the day it's his hunt and he is the one taking a life. We don't take that lightly and he has to be sure when he pulls the trigger. It's worked for us so far. There is not one right way, each kid is different.
 
I’m taking the 6 year old boy and 8 year old daughter out for the first time this year. I think I’ll let them shoot anything that makes them happy this first year.
What sort of things do you guys do to keep it fun for the kids in the blind? I’m not allowing any electronics to be taken into the blind so looking for ways to keep it fun for them. I know it can get really boring for kids sitting that long at times.


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No right or wrong answer. I enjoy reading other peoples ideas. Other than them filling a doe tag before a buck tag rule I'm pretty much shoot whatever makes you happy category. Last year no buck tags were filled and they passed on plenty all on their own. DMar I'm stealing your games idea and no electronics. Although that might be harder on me than them. I love solitaire.
 
My oldest son aged out this year, and is excited about shotgun season. My 2nd oldest son isn't interested in youth season, but is excited about shotgun season. My youngest 2 aren't interested in youth season.

So, I'm not going to push any of them this year. It's hot and buggy, and if they don't want to go, I get to tick a few more things off my honey do list before my season starts.

Win!
 
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