Youth Season has went to the dogs...

[bowhunter1023]

Here is a little bit of what I saw/heard this weekend...

Within the first hour of daylight on Saturday, I had heard 3 "kids" empty guns at deer. How many kids are capable of emptying a gun efficiently at a deer?

I witnessed at least 4-5 truck loads of "kids" setting up to do drives with no adults around. In addition to that, I witnessed at least two drives being set up with adults carrying guns with no kids in sight. Knowing a few people involved in the one drive, I am 100% certain no kid was going to see that gun and the adults were there to shoot...

Two kids on the wife's side of the family were nearly shot on a drive by two kids under the age of 12. Neither kid was sitting with an adult and were firing at running deer in the direction of the other stander and drivers. This same group killed 9 deer in two days, with one kid killing three and another kid tagging in deer he didn't kill. I also know that some of the deer were not tagged and were cut up in the barn...

An adult was witnessed heading in to a draw before a drive without a youth, and then was witnessed on a four-wheeler dragging out a deer after the drive. Again, no youth in sight...

I am completely disgusted at what youth season has become in my area. It is just another excuse to sling lead for both kids and adults. The amount of driving I saw this weekend was astonishing. I heard of one 6-year old who went through 3 boxes of shells this weekend and wounded 2 deer; each was shot at on the run during a drive. Party hunting and daylight to dark driving is a way of life around these parts. Youth season has become another two day stretch of this style of hunting and has enabled the parents to pass on this style of hunting. Of course we need two more days of gun season so we can have two more days to spread the disease...

 

[Buckmaster]

spread the disease...

That best sums it up.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

That's slob hunting, with or without the kids. Start 'em young geeze

 

[Darron]

I am not a fan of youth hunting. I am a teacher and work with youths everyday. I didn't have a youth hunt. My youth hunt was opening day of deer gun season with the big boys. Although maybe not the majority, I feel a lot of laws are broken during this time. I've gotten bashed by people that I am "anti youth." That's not the case. I enjoy being around children every day. However, some parents are passing on terrible hunting habits to their children.

I had two kids come in today telling me about their youth hunts this weekend. Both kids shot deer and could not recover them.

Jesse, Can you imagine this early ML season??? It would be the same thing.

 

[Schu72]

That's really unfortunate. Youth season gets a bad rap due to lazy adults with no morals or ethics. Nothing like starting kids out on the wrong foot. Geeeshhh.:smiley_confused_vra

 

[cotty16]

In my opinion, deer drives shouldn't be allowed during the youth weekend. Way too dangerous.

 

[Darron]

In my opinion, deer drives shouldn't be allowed during the youth weekend. Way too dangerous.

I agree, but it would be hard to enforce. Plus, wouldn't it be illegal in the first place if father left johnny at said tree and made a 500 yards circle to push deer back to him??? The father wouldn't be with him,

 

[brock ratcliff]

I agree, Cotty! Driving deer with kids involved, and likely unsupervised is just dumb! I had a great time with my son this weekend, though. He fired some shots, but aside from that we only heard two. Different world up here I guess.

 

[cotty16]

Do you believe I never heard a shot? Now, I only hunted Saturday morning because we had a busy weekend, but no shots heard from daybreak until about 10:00. I couldn't believe it.

 

[rgecko23]

Last night was rediculous. I heard a ton of shots around me. It was constant for the last half hour of light. I'm sure they were driving them for the kids

 

[epe]

Right at the end of legal shooting light Saturday night someone shot on the neighboring property. Could hear adults talking and looking afterward. Were close to tresspassing. Donno what they shot.

 

[jagermeister]

Disgusting... plain and simple.

I know this may be in a bit of a different direction here, but is the youth season really necessary? There was no youth season when I started hunting and I'm just as dedicated a hunter as anybody. Why is it that getting kids hooked on hunting has to be about "the kill?" Can we not show our youths a great time in the woods if a deer isn't harvested? This just blows my mind. In my opinion, a kid is more apt to becoming "hooked" on something if they realize just how significant the accomplish really is. Placing them in a "canned-hunt" type of situation does not teach them the significance of the accomplishment, IMO... not to mention the fact that the Youth Season in general is full of slob stories like Jesse has mentioned here. Please don't get me wrong... I'm all for getting youths to participate in the sport of hunting... But I just don't think the youth season is doing the kids any favors. I don't believe that special priviledges are the way to make up for insufficient mentoring and guidance.

My dad started me hunting small game when I was 8 years old, but I wasn't allowed to deer hunt until I was 12. I didn't kill a deer until I was 14, and in that time between I got to experience all of the ups and downs in gun hunting with the adults. When I finally did harvest my first deer, it was a feeling of accomplishment that I almost couldn't comprehend. To this day it's still my most cherished memory of deer hunting.

 

[epe]

Disgusting... plain and simple.

I know this may be in a bit of a different direction here, but is the youth season really necessary? There was no youth season when I started hunting and I'm just as dedicated a hunter as anybody. Why is it that getting kids hooked on hunting has to be about "the kill?" Can we not show our youths a great time in the woods if a deer isn't harvested? This just blows my mind. In my opinion, a kid is more apt to becoming "hooked" on something if they realize just how significant the accomplish really is. Placing them in a "canned-hunt" type of situation does not teach them the significance of the accomplishment, IMO... not to mention the fact that the Youth Season in general is full of slob stories like Jesse has mentioned here. Please don't get me wrong... I'm all for getting youths to participate in the sport of hunting... But I just don't think the youth season is doing the kids any favors. I don't believe that special priviledges are the way to make up for insufficient mentoring and guidance.

My dad started me hunting small game when I was 8 years old, but I wasn't allowed to deer hunt until I was 12. I didn't kill a deer until I was 14, and in that time between I got to experience all of the ups and downs in gun hunting with the adults. When I finally did harvest my first deer, it was a feeling of accomplishment that I almost couldn't comprehend. To this day it's still my most cherished memory of deer hunting.

I agree. Not trying to make any members with young children mad, but I do not think you should be able to deer hunt until you are twelve, Maybe 10. Kids are just not mature enough to "Get it" at younger ages..

 

[jagermeister]

I agree. Not trying to make any members with young children mad, but I do not think you should be able to deer hunt until you are twelve, Maybe 10. Kids are just not mature enough to "Get it" at younger ages..

I completely agree, man.

 

[Schu72]

I agree. Not trying to make any members with young children mad, but I do not think you should be able to deer hunt until you are twelve, Maybe 10. Kids are just not mature enough to "Get it" at younger ages..

I think each kid is different. Honestly, starting my son last year was probably a mistake. At 7 he was too young and not only did he have trouble sitting still, he just couldn't process what we were doing. This year was much different. I had an absolute blast with him. Sitting in the blind talking about what he should be looking and listening for was great. Watching squirells and chicmunks. L:aughing about the cows that came through.

Do I expect him to recall everything...no. But I think the experience taught him something. Youth season gave me the opportunity to make the hunt all about him and not even consider myself. I had no gun, I never left his side. I made sure we were taking ethical shots and making good choices. Don't blame the kids or claim its wrong just because you didn't get to do it. If adults are abusing the system it's on them. They are the same ones poaching and breaking every other rule. Times have changed, life is much busier than it ever was. Kids need parent to get involved. Sorry there are a bunch of a-holes out there screwing things up. Turn them in, call the sherrif do what you have to do.

 

[Ohiobowhunter1]

Maybe it's just because I have 4 kids but I really enjoy the experience that youth season gives to atleast some kids out there. I also never had a youth hunt and explain to all my kids that, they understand that and cherish the fact that they get time ahead to enjoy the woods and the opportunity to hunt along side Dad. I hunted public land on Saturday AM and didnt hear or see one other hunter out there so maybe what some of you are experiencing is soley on private land? We also spent the following day at the Taxidermist who lives smack dab in the middle of WNF outside Nelsonville. Didnt see any cars coming or when we left, didn't even hear one shot. People who break the law are going to do it anyhow and I agree this gives those types more opportunity but just for some bad apples it shouldn't ruin it for all. I take no offense to anybody, I think if you know the people breaking the laws... turn them in.

 

[Hoytmania]

I think this is broken and not really a good way to fix it. I too heard shooting from drives on Sunday morning. I heard the same gun go off 5 times in ten minutes, each time it went off there was two shots fired. I figure it was probably minnenites as thee are some in the area of where I was hunting on Sunday morning. I was thinking to myself wouldn't you even try and see if you shot the deer before trying to shot another one? Geesh!!!

I know I am preaching to the chior here on this point, but all in all if you really want to get your youth involved in deer hunting then get them a crossbow and then you have a youth season that starts the last weekend of Sept. all the way to the first weekend of Feb. There is no better way to teach hunting than through archery. It force you to hunt the animal not just pop off shots.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I grew up without a youth season as well and still became a dedicated hunter later in life. I started shooting squirrels at 6 and shooting at deer by 8. It took me 10 years to kill a deer due to never hunting all the often and horrible bouts of buck fever, but I learned a ton over that time. I agree with Scott that the age a child starts hunting is purely case dependent IMO. My little cousin killed a buck at 7 with a crossbow. By 12, he was gutting his own deer and the following year, he was killing deer with a bow from treestands he picked out. He was born to be a killer and had a strong grasp of what hunting was all about at an early age. On the other side of the coin, my other cousin who is the same age, was a train wreck in the woods and still is at 17. It just wasn't his cup of tea and we all saw that early on.

I am all about getting kids involved in hunting, and not having kids, I reside on one side of the fence on this issue. IMO, taking away the youth season would be a PR nightmare for the DNR (not that I care about the DNR's image). On the flip side of the coin, I believe it would make for a better quality of young sportsmen without having their own season in which to learn dad's bad habits. Some of you guys live and hunt an entirely different environment that the one that exists down here. Spend a week in the hollers and hills down here when the orange army is out and you'll rethink all gun seasons! It is a lawless, ethics be damned time of year and that is being passed on to the youth via this past weekend. It is crying shame...

 

[brock ratcliff]

I agree with you Jesse, gun season is a wild time. That is why I like being able to take my kid out a lil earlier than the majority of maniacs are out there. Honestly, having to keep an eye on my kid with all the nut jobs running loose during gun season is going to worry me a bit. We have some fools around here that drive entire sections of ag country with no concern over property lines, and they do it in a hurry with recklessness being the only rule. I just hope we don't run into any of them next week. I never participated in a "drive" until I was in my early 20's, with my FIL's friends. My dad didn't teach my brother and I to hunt that way. We stayed put, watching for deer and other hunters. I know now it was a safety concern for Dad, as it now is for me. I suppose it's like anything else...there will always be those that abuse it.

 

[Lundy]

What about all of the kids and parents that do it the right way? Are they the minority? I don't think so, but that's just me.

Aren't slob hunters going to be slob hunters no matter when they hunt. Won't they teach their kids the same bad habits no matter when they hunt?

There was no youth season when I grew up either. I wish there had been. My father always did it right and a youth season would have been no different.

Kids get a weekend to hunt without missing school.

I really don't like slob hunters but I don't blame thier kids....yet