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Johnch
09-04-2018, 07:19 AM
Well I was going to take my Nieces 6 year old son out goose hunting with us Saturday morning
But we had been watching the geese and as warm as it was the geese were not flying , just sitting in marshes or fields

So Plan "B" was dove hunting

There were 4 guys and 2 ladies in our group .... with 3 non hunting kids
Or as we called them , a 4 , a 6 and a 7 year old Dove Fetching "Dogs"
Also 2 Labs to help find doves and for the kids to pet ( Kids were Dog Toys IMO LOL )

We hunted a patch of Sunflowers and Wheat that had partly been bush hogged
The Sunflowers were 5' tall but not real thick , that hid the kids and dogs from the doves

We all sat on poly chairs along the south side of worked up wheat field next to the sunflowers

The doves flew in small groups and around 9:30 we all had our limits
Also the Kids were tired from running around in the taller sunflowers with the dogs .... not always after doves , but for fun

Saturday after lunch I took Jeff to the Gun Club
As it was a easy place to set up targets in front of a tall backstop

I had 50 Balloons , 4" and 6" in size
Also 24 pop cans and 200 paper plates

I put out the balloons , pop cans and 5 paper plates from 25' to 50 yards in front of the 50 yard backstop

The balloons and most of the pop cans were tied to or stuck on simple sticks
The paper plates I stapled to target holders

Well he had a ball with my 308 , 100 gr cast bullet and Red Dot .... almost no recoil if any

We ....he started at 25' to get used to the rifle , he was shooting off sand bags and almost never missed
But at 50 yards he did miss a few pop cans
But he didn't care

He now has a paper plate on his bedroom wall with a 5 shot group of about 2" that he shot at 50 yards ( the rifle and load shot a lot better than that , but so what )

Saturday evening we went to church and he was still super happy and telling people about his hunting and shooting

Sunday morning we went Blue Wing Teal hunting
Just him and I were the the only hunters in that 60 acer marsh area

I only had 2 flocks of teal come in to the decoys and I shot 2

No dog , so I put Jeff on my shoulders and we walked out in the 6" water to pick them up

Now he wants waders and a shotgun to "Help" me kill ducks :-D :-D

I bet in a few years he will be my helper


I love taking a youngster hunting and shooting like that
But I am glad when he got tired , as he was sure full of energy

John

lightman
09-04-2018, 08:46 AM
Sounds like a fun time! We had 3 kids under 9 or 10 on our Dove hunt. 2 of them killed their first Doves. And yeah, they did their share of running around too! The girls liked fetching the birds better than shooting I think. There were 2 families, including mine, with 3 generations present.

Handloader109
09-04-2018, 09:35 AM
You betcha! Keep that up and he'll be right beside you.

slide
09-04-2018, 09:45 AM
You are a good man!