I started my son off hunting at the age of seven. He wanted to go, so I told him he had to show me he was seriouse, and that meant becoming profitient with a rifle. He did it, so we went. At age seven he and i had a hunt that will never be forgoten. He shot his first deer, a doe, and i shot the nine point that was dogin her. He didnt get to hunt the next season because i lost the lease. But i got permission to hunt a place when he was nine, and he got to kill another doe. After that, he pretty much stopped talking about hunting, or wanting to go. Now that i live in the boonies and hunt behind the house, i cant get him to go. If he does go he just makes noise, gripes about being there, and busts my azz wanting to walk home. He has made new friends that have influenced him to beleive it is wrong to kill animals, however he loves vinison. Hes 15 now and does nothing but talk on the cell phone and play video games. He doesnt know how bad his dady wants him in the stand. What did i do wrong? Any of you guys that have raised teens had this experience? Did they end up going back out with you later in life? Skinner

Sound like those "friends" need to be replaced. They are probably busting his chops about you hunting & that he hunted and probably he does still like hunting & wants to go but those "friends" are giving him greif & thats why hes turning the other cheek on this. If he truely believe what the "frieds" say about killing is wrong, then he WOULDNT still eat deer. Be patient & talk to him some but dont force the issue or he may push away further, sometimes you need to leave it to where he comes to you.

Like I said, those "friends" need to be replaced.

What does a 15 year old kid need a cell phone for when he's at home? I can see if they have to go some place without a parental unit for safety reasons, but what does he really NEED a phone for except to get bum info from the "friends?" Video games? Not in my house until chores and schhol work are done and then only with permission.

My position is I'm a parent, I'm not here to be their friend and make them like me. I'm here to tell or show them the right way, not the easy or popular way.

You need to do what you think is right, but the phone and video games don't take precedence here. JMO

The cell phone is not the problem my daughter has had one since she was seven.

Your second sentence bothers me a little, " you have to show me your serious by proving your proficiency"??? Make it fun and the proficiency and ethics will follow. 90% of the video games must go, now. Try to find another hunter with the same age son and take them hunting, alot, the season is just beginning. You're a stand up guy for asking, good luck.

maybe let him take a buck, I would get tired of shooting does watching you shoot the bucks, just a thought, made huge deal with my daughter also had her published in ttha mag. She got second in big buck contest at extravaganza she has certificates from tbga guys I hunt with have pumped her up and tell her how great it is and get just as excited as I do, she talks about hunting I'd what she wants on her custom rifle daily. Let her pick out her Steiner binocs, and this year I am going to try and get her my trophy and I will take a cull or nothing. She grew up in a taxidermy shop and is as obsessed as I am, wants to go to Africa to hunt for her 16th bday. I never forced her are told her she had to be proficient just took her shooting and made it fun.

I agree with BMD I would have let him take the buck. My dad always let me take the first buck of the season, and as a kid I probably would have been a little upset if he made me shoot a doe while he shot a buck. JMO

if your not going to get rid of the video game's then cut him down to certain time's and with certain requirements for him to have that privlidge. the cell phone,well every kid seems to have them and they do serve a purpose for contact with parents and emergency situations. but just wait until you start getting those $300.00 bills for ringtone's and game's. your just going to have to figure out a way to make hunting fun for him again. maybe do as stated above and make taking a buck this year a gift for him or make it a coming of age type thing. he'll come around. i went years without deer hunting due to life and money mainly. but i really missed those time's in the field with my dad. finally we found a place to all hunt together again and it was awesome.

I can't really give any advice, as my daughter is only 7 1/2 months old.

But here's my plan;

First, as I'm an avid fisherman, take her fishing every time she can go with me. I'm buying a pontoon boat this winter instead of the center console boat I've been wanting for years. I figure this will allow her to start boating with me in a safer environment at an earlier age. It will also include mom more too.

Hunting; We will be making treks to New Mexico regularly for me to Elk hunt, and for Mom and Riley to have extended camping trips. I'll sacrifice some of my actual hunting time to hike with both of them, and see the nature. Mainly this will serve to show her the wonders of the wilderness, beyond sitting in the same ole deer stand watching the grass grow. When she asks to go with me while "hunting" I'll take her. So what if it ruins a trip or two. The experience for her and me will far outweigh the cost of the tag. This will be an annual trip, wether I draw an Elk tag or not. If I don't draw a tag, then we'll just go camping. We'll also do plenty of more local camping. A lot of that taking place while I'm hunting. A lot of it centered around fishing. But the main thing is we do it as a family, and/or with a tight group of friends.

Killing; I'll probably start her in the off-season killing pigs. They're plentiful, and there's no need for me to shoot them at all, as long as she's there to shoot them. Then we'll graduate to deer. And when she hunts with me, she'll be the designated shooter every time she wants too.

Shooting; We're going to start out with the .22 at an early age. Shooting targets I already have downloaded which have games on them. Like racks of pool balls and such. I want to make it fun for both of us. Then when she's ready, she can start shooting my .222rem. and then graduate to a .243 before her final step to a 7-08. And I hope to have her actually reloading her own ammo as well. I do mine,and find it very gratifying. I already have her a starter Bow too. One I bought for my wife, and she never really got bitten by the bug. So whenever she's physically ready, the we go.

Cell phones? She won't have one 'til she can pay for it. If she does, it will be one that only us (the parents) can program who calls it, and whom it can call. Keeping in mind that we'll be providing this for our own purpose, not so she can show off to all her friends.

Video games, likely not too much of a problem with a girl.. But still, not until all of her obligations have been met.

ANYONE who tries to tell her that hunting is wrong, will be cut out of her life FOR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it takes me moving to get her away from them, that's what I'll do.


I grew up hunting and fishing with my dad. As most teenagers do, I got out of it for a few years, then returned to it in my early 20's. My Dad does neither anymore. I pursue both with a passion that makes him proud and thankful he exposed me to it while I was young. But mostly, I just wanted to spend time with my dad. The hunting and fishing were just ways to do that.

Hopefully your boy will come around. The only piece of advice I can offer, from my own experience as a youngster...is to get your son, and whole family, out there and show your kids that there is a world beyond the local mall, and school. And beyond the liberal goobledygook that is being used to brainwash too many young minds these days. Too few youngsters even know what lies beyond the county in which they reside. To me, that is almost criminal. But it is all too common! You've made that effort, and I applaud you for it. Not all will pursue it with the passion that must of us here do. I don't see that as right or wrong, but it is the way it is. With him being 15 now, it's gonna be hard to turn him around. He's gonna be driving soon, and that is the age that I got away from the outdoors. So no help here in that dept.


Jay

I would have let him shoot a buck. He proved himself with the first doe. My dad made me shoot a doe the first time, then from then on, he let me take his buck. now I am more into hunting than he is, and i have to drag him out with me...

I have a nephew the same way 15 and just wants to play games and watch tv etc. I honestly believe it is a stage and alot of influence is from his friends. Its like when you a kid you had to listen to country music; when I was a teenager I wanted to listen to vanilla ice, nwa, the cure and crap like that, when I was an older teenager I quit listening to that crap and went back to my roots that I grew up on. It the peers making the influence.

Also since you can hunt in your back yard thats no fun to a teenager, take him on some different places and such. Maybe a place where animals flow like wine. keep him interested.

Stupid video games

Yeah, it's a stage he's going through. He'll get over it, but don't count on just letting things "ride". Just ease back into things you and he like to do, then branch out.

I'm no expert, but I've raised kids all my life...

LOL The "hating" on video games really makes me laugh. I played video games growing up ALL THE TIME. I played them with my dad and remember some really good times we had together with my brother. It was a family event really. Now I also played some sports and such so that is not all I did, but we still had fun. Maybe you should start playing games with him?

Its a phase, don't force him and most likely he will grow out of it. You can't make people enjoy things they don't want to do, doesnt matter if they are 15 or 45. I remember my older brother stopped eating most meat for 2 years around that time, now he's a carnivore

Also, you can't change a kids friends because they don't hunt. Give me a break. Its hard enough to find a good group of friends growing up. If they aren't bad kids let it be and try again later.

I am not a Dad, but I was a 15 year old boy a while ago

When 14 and 15 yr old boys start smellin theyselves, tain't much you can do...

A close friend was really upset that his 15 yr old wanted to start wearing those baggy shorts and flip flops and such...said he didn't like what his son had become.

I said, "Become? He hasn't become anything yet, but if you don't let him try out some things (I emphasized "some"), then he's apt to go hog wild after you turn him loose".

Kids that age have to try out different things, differnt clothes and manners...even different characters. They were born different than anybody else in the world - including their parents. It really goes without saying that one way or the other, they're going to be who they are.

We really try to mix it up around here. We hunt, fish, ride mountain bikes and golf. Not all my kids participate in everything, but they do at least in some of it. Hunting is just not for everyone.

When I was 15 it was cool to wear your hair like the Beatles and have plaid, double knit pants with penny loafers and turtleneck shirts. I got me a dose of that...

It never...never...it ne...ver...affe...affected me...

Looking back I used to dress like a street pimp...AH! The early 70's...ain't nothing like it.

My dad used to come into the bedroom and unplug the AM radio (didn't have FM until around '74 or '75) and say, "My kids ain't listening to that crap!"

It was stuff like Lobo - Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, and Freedom by Bread with a little CCR mixed in now and then...

Psycho I see you got a plan. But with all the rules you got you will be. Posting a what did I do wrong thread later, just instill good morals and values and give them a good foundation and everything else will take care of itself, that force feed crap and I will cut them out of their life ain't gonna cut it this ain't 50's your plan will change. Lmao

I definitely agree with some of the above advice. Play the games with him, take him else where to hunt, and understand that those years are the toughest, just don't get frustrated.

I don't have any kids yet, so I haven't gone through those situations nor do I have much of a plan laid out. Over the years, I've noticed a variety of different attitudes toward hunting through fiends going up, but it always seems like the kids who's fathers were on a lease seemed to pick up the appreciation for hunting more so than the ones who's fathers had the occasional hunt or those with fathers that owned land. And as strange as that seems, a couple kids I've known that had land growing up and had no interest what so ever in hunting, now that their parents have sold off their country, they wouldn't rather be doing anything else aside of being out hunting. Don't know why that happens.

ur language seems like u may force the issue too much, to regimented, needs to be fun QT, if you can take a trip to hunt, i dunno, I saw cousins and friends lose interest in hunting, I never did, and I still hunt on the same lease with my dad, we still have a great time....been goin since I was 2...I dunno, but i'll pray for your boy....thats all i know

Don't think you've done anything wrong. Your son is not interested in hunting. The best thing you can do, IMHO, is make sure he knows the door is open, if he decides he wants to start going again.

I can remember when I was 15. My Dad got a boat and started fishing, I just wasn't into it. Getting up early, and going to same spots that never produced fish. It wasn't my cup of tea. I was more interested in getting a date for Saturday night.

Well, I probably didn't get back into fishing until after college. First Red fish I landed, it was an awakening. Only problem is my Dad move on from fishing to playing Golf. I don't enjoy it as much as fishing and hunting, but I do enjoy going to spend time with him.

So, again, my point is you've done nothing wrong. You won't be able to get him interested until he decides he is interested. All you can do is make sure he is invited each time you go.

I have tought that age for about 10 years now and there are so many things going on with him right now it's ridiculous. MOST are noticing girls, peer pressure is everything. MOST are more concerned about his friends than he is his family, which is why the cell phone talking is so important.

As said above, make it fun not a process of test and stages. He's at an age where he has realized pleasing adults is not as important to him anymore. He values his friend's approval and what he or they deam as "fun" more.

As said above, invite a friend his age to go with you, preferably a girl.

By the way, I'm sorry to break it to you, but you now have a real "teenager."

Hard as it might be to believe, some people just don't like deer hunting. I started taking my son deer hunting with me when he was 5. When he was old enough, I got him a rifle and he killed a few deer. He's almost 34 now and doesn't care a thing about deer hunting. He likes to dove hunt and turkey hunt but not deer. Sometimes they grow up to be what THEY want to be instead of what we had in mind for them. Besides, if your son is 15, he's got a lot of growing up to do and in a year or two...or 10, he might be a totally different person.

Yes his friends where giving him grief about hunting, no the cell phone is defiantly not going to send him to hell, by proficiency I meant become good enough to kill and not maim, he was too intimidated to shoot a buck at age seven so he CHOSE to shoot the doe, and at age nine all we had permission to shoot was a doe. I know all about the $300 phone bill thing, and made him pay it with money he saved for a motorcycle, he has stated that he hates sitting in a blind behind the house that its not really like a hunt and wants the weekend lease experience, however because of prices that’s out of the question. Big Orn, that’s exactly what I figured and what I have planned, just like my parents did, give me space, let me be weird, and like another post said, he will come back to his roots. I have never forced the issue of him going to the stand, there is more to life than hunting, but I do ask him every year if he would like to go sit in the blind and just chill for a while.

I was able to get the boy out in the woods two years ago, but had to take him to Decatur to the LBJ Grasslands, and away from home. I wanted to sight my muzzle loader in and shoot his 243 and make sure it was still on. His was dead center after three shots in a 1” group. I let him shoot it and he limp shouldered it and got tagged in the eye by the scope. He pretty much checked out after that, and 30 minutes later I was given a $150 fine from the forestry service for firing his rifle in a shotgun/ muzzle loader/ no target practice zone. He said he was doing me a favor and not taking the rifle from me as required by law, so I took it, even though you have to have a magnifying glass to read the part of the sign that says no target practice. Part of his problem sitting in my stand is he got used to the deer numbers in Mills County where you see 20-30 deer every time your on stand. Well, I hunt near Boyd Texas, and deer numbers aren’t what I would call out of control. Ill just keep inviting him and keep the door open. Anyone need to fill a spot on a lease in Mills or San Saba? Skinner

I dont know what I did correctly , my son loves to play video games, he has bought all of the game systems they have for sale, You notice I said he bought, he worked and paid for everyone of them himself. I started him hunting when he was 12, he shot a doe and loved the experience. We work every month at our lease , its not much east Texas lease few deer but we enjoy the time together. I think that is the key , do things he likes, play some video games with him I do with my son, we have always done things he likes as well. My son has the cell phone and does the text messaging all the time with his friends as well. So I know where you coming from . He is 19 now just started college and is still looking forward to going to deer camp with me. That could be part of the issue , you dont get away from home to hunt. For us old guys that is great but for a kid its the same old same old. I guess my adivce would be figure a way to spend time with him no matter what you do, the time will come when you and he wish that you had.