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Delta Waterfowl’s Top Ten Tips for Introducing Kids to Waterfowl Hunting
‘You Can’t Start’em Too Early’

Top Ten Tips for Introducing Kids to Waterfowl Hunting

Delta Waterfowl

WINNIPEG, Manitoba --(Ammoland.com)- Delta Waterfowl President Rob Olson has a message for adults thinking about introducing kids to waterfowl hunting: Just do it.

“I really believe you can’t start’em too early,” said Olson, who hunted ducks and geese with his father well before he was old enough to pull the trigger.

“One important thing we’ve learned with our First Hunt program is that hunting participation soars in families where parents hunt. The more you can nurture the culture when they’re young, the more likely you’ll have a kid who hunts over their lifetime.”

Olson recently took his son Benjamin, 4, and nephews Petey, 8, and Joey, 6, to Delta Marsh in Manitoba to hunt ducks. “They had an absolute blast, and we didn’t even shoot at a single bird,” said Olson. “In many jurisdictions across North America, there are age restrictions on when kids can start hunting waterfowl. Restrictions or not, there is nothing stopping you from bringing the little ones along for a hunt. My advice is to just do it. You can’t imagine how rewarding the experience will be—for you and the kids.”

Here are ten tips Olson recommends considering when you bring youngsters into the field:

1. Keep it short. “It’s like training a young Lab—short is always best,” said Olson.
2. Pick the right day—this isn’t the time for a tough, cold day in the marsh.
3. Make it fun. “Keep the focus on the kids and make sure the experience is fun and upbeat,” said Olson. “Bring a football in case the birds don’t cooperate.”
4. Start teaching some basic skills, but concentrate on safety.
5. Bring lots of calls, and let the kids blow them as much as they want. The outing isn’t about bagging birds. “Bring some ear plugs too, because it’s probably going to get loud,” Olson said.
6. Bring lots of snacks. “Kids always want something to eat,” said Olson.
7. Bring a dip net. Yes, a dip net. “If the birds aren’t flying, switch it up to a frog or water bug hunt. It doesn’t matter to them.”
8. Take a lot of photos. They are certain to become family heirlooms.
9. Bring a change of clothes because your kids are likely to get wet.
10. Get your kids to help clean the birds, and eat them that same day. “If you do, they’ll get hooked on eating game,” said Olson.

Editor’s note: Click here for more information about Delta Waterfowl’s First Hunt Program

About:Delta Waterfowl provides knowledge, leaders and science-based solutions that efficiently conserve waterfowl and secure the future for waterfowl hunting. Visit: www.deltawaterfowl.org

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NSSF Suggests 9 Ways to Maintain Your Hunting Traditions

Families Afield

National Shooting Sports Foundation

NEWTOWN, Conn --(Ammoland.com)- At this time of year, millions of Americans feel the tug to participate in what they consider the ultimate interaction with the natural world–hunting.

For many hunters, it’s a time for sharing long-established traditions with family members and friends.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and target shooting industry, notes that hunting seasons will be open for small game, big game and bird hunting across the nation over the next several months. Those who are successful in their hunts will stock their freezers with nutritious, locally obtained meat. Many also will share their bounty with food pantries to provide meals to the less fortunate.

With the list below, NSSF offers a reminder of how to maintain your hunting traditions and, for newcomers and inactive hunters, how to establish or re-establish them this hunting season.

• Go hunting! It’s sounds simple, but the activity itself, whether you successfully take game or not, is a senses-heightening, fulfilling experience.
• Share your hunting experience with friends and family members–whether afield, in hunting camp or by introducing a newcomer to hunting at, for example, a gamebird preserve, or by being a mentored for an apprentice hunter. (Find a gamebird preserve at www.wingshootingusa.org and learn about Families Afield/mentored hunting at www.familiesafield.org.)
• Share a game meal at your table. This is one of hunters’ oldest and most favorite traditions, made sumptuous because the harvest and hunt coincide at this time of year. Today many people are making an effort to use sustainable, locally acquired foods–something hunters have practiced for a long, long time.
• Tell your hunting stories. Write them down. Take photographs and videos. Share your stories on social media or with an online photo album. Such records help keep your traditions alive.
• Continue to use the ammunition of your choice–traditional (containing lead components) or alternatives that use steel, copper or other metals. Understand that some extreme groups want to ban traditional ammunition but that science does not support such a drastic measure. Also, remind fellow hunters that eating game taken with traditional ammunition does not pose a health risk, as confirmed by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. (Learn more here.)
• Remind others that wildlife conservation is funded through the sale of hunting licenses and excise taxes paid on firearms and ammunition, a tax that hunters supported and Congress approved in 1937. Through the Federal Aid in Wildlife
• Restoration Act (also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act), $6.8 billion has been collected for conservation. Another good post-hunt conversation can be about the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, one tenant of which is that wildlife is held in public trust for the citizenry. (Learn more here.)
• Use the firearm of your choice as long as it meets your state’s hunting regulations. These days more hunters, particularly younger hunters, are using modern sporting rifles–rifles based on the AR platform. If you prefer a wood-stocked, bolt-action rifle, that’s understandable, but NSSF encourages you to support the choice of firearm made by others. Modern sporting rifles may not look like “Old Betsy,” but after many hunting seasons, such firearms will carry the same meaning for someone as the “Old Betsy” that was passed on to you.
• Set an example for ethical behavior. Before hunting, review your state’s hunting regulations; during your hunt, practice good sportsmanship. The public overwhelmingly supports hunting, but unsportsmanlike behavior by even a few hunters can tarnish the reputation of hunting in general.
• Practice safety in the field, when traveling with firearms and when storing them at home. Practice the four firearm safety rules: Treat every gun as if it were loaded. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to take your shot. Know your target and what lies beyond it.

You may have other traditions to honor. We hope so.

NSSF offers a number of resources for hunters, including the websites www.huntandshoot.org and www.wingshootingusa.org and video and literature titles covering firearm safety, hunter ethics and the hunter’s role in conservation that can be viewed at www.nssf.org/hunting and www.nssf.org/safety.

About NSSF
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.

NSSF is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011. Learn about the Foundation’s history at www.nssf.org/50.

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