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On a recent ride to the grocery store, I pointed out a flock of geese to my daughters. My five-year-old piped up and told me she wanted to shoot one of them with her bow. I didn\u2019t point out the legal or logistical barriers to her endeavor, but I did feel a huge sense of pride welling up. I knew it was a sign that maybe I was doing something right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If you have a family or little ones, you know how challenging it can be to balance life and hunting. Joining the two naturally makes sense. While there\u2019s a fine line between cultivating an interest in hunting and making it a chore no one wants to do, you can gradually introduce your kids to it by letting them tag along with you. Besides, if you\u2019re trying to score some brownie points for the fall, giving your spouse or significant other a little me-time can help you do just that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Even if you just want to introduce them to scouting, here are a few ways to summer scout with your kids that don\u2019t involve running them through a mini bootcamp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When he was still alive, my grandfather would load me and my cousins into his Toyota pickup, and we\u2019d ride through his hunting club. He did this year-round but especially during the summer. Sometimes we\u2019d stop to check blackberry patches in recent cut-overs or look for ripe persimmons or summer grapes dropping into the gravel roads. My grandfather had plenty of stories tied to these spots. As he drove, he\u2019d point across a cut-over to where he\u2019d once killed a turkey or an SMZ where he shot a buck and ran his truck into the ditch after loading it up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He rarely made these rides about hunting, even though I know he used them as little scouting trips. They were a great way to include me and my cousins, and those rides, along with my grandfather\u2019s stories, made us look forward to hunting season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Even if you don\u2019t leave the truck, riding gives you an easy way to get the kids out of the house and show them something new. You can monitor spots from the road, glass, or even try door knocking. Either way, it doesn\u2019t take a ton of effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I recently made the mistakes of dragging my two daughters with me to hang a trail cam during the hottest part of the day. Normally, this little trip wouldn\u2019t be an issue for them, but it was a long, hot walk (way to go, Dad). It wasn\u2019t long before the tears started and I was swatting mosquitos while haphazardly putting their hair into buns. Luckily, there\u2019s a way to include your kids on a trail cam mission without collective and instant regret.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As long as you take them early in the morning or late in the evening, setting a trail camera with your kids is a great way to include them in scouting. Depending on their age, make sure the walk or hike doesn\u2019t feel like the journey to Mordor. Otherwise, there won\u2019t be a repeat trip. If it feels like fun to them, they\u2019re more likely to want to do it again or even help you during your set up process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Don\u2019t only include them in the work process either. My girls love seeing photos and videos of deer or other critters, and it\u2019s a way to show them that the \u201cwork\u201d we did to hang those cameras actually paid off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In my home office, I have a pair of binoculars that lives on my desk. Every time my girls come visit me throughout the day, it\u2019s the first thing they reach for before heading to the window. Why? Because glassing is cool whether you\u2019re 5 or 35.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Glassing from the road can be an effective way to summer scout without putting pressure on deer. It\u2019s also an easy one for kids, because they get to ride in the A\/C and you don\u2019t have to worry about hosing them down with bug spray. Plus, you can bring snacks. If there\u2019s one thing that will keep kids interested, it\u2019s snacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
You can also teach them how to glass. It\u2019s not the same glassing that\u2019s required to spot the ear twitch of a bedded deer, just the casual viewing of a few deer feeding in a field. It\u2019s also worth noting that you don\u2019t have to glass where you plan on hunting. There\u2019s valuable intel in just observing deer, even if you can\u2019t hunt them. Besides, your kids won\u2019t know the difference either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n