I took my oldest son (7 years old) out for an afternoon duck hunt yesterday. We took out the canoe and went to some public land about 40 minutes north of here. We didn't see any ducks, and the only geese we saw were out of range (although the were directly overhead). However, the trip was just perfect IMO. Here's a (probably incomplete) list of what we did experience:
- We spent about 1 1/2 hours travelling, during which we visited and talked without distractions.
- I taught him about using the canoe, from how it's secured while travelling, to boating safety and how to row.
- He helped me paddle out to the area in which we were hunting.
- We put out decoys together, and talked about how they are constructed and the different kinds of birds they emulate.
- We got rained on a couple times.
- We saw an awesome rainbow.
- The fall colors were still vibrant, and we spent time talking about the different colors and shades we could see, as well as the types of trees.
- I explained how animals tend to move early in the morning and late in the afternoon... a pattern he was able to see for himself.
- We both used goose and duck calls.
- Quite a few sandhill cranes came by our location.
- He started to get an idea of ID'ing songbirds by their size and flight patterns. He also got used to listening for geese and figuring out just how loud and irritating cranes can be.
- We had several thousand blackbirds which had landed in the wetlands near us (they came in a steady stream for almost an hour) take off en-masse. He thought that the loud noise was thunder, and was amazed when I explained that it was just all of their tiny wings moving all at once.
- A large "V" of geese formed directly overhead, from smaller bunches coming together. I didn't shoot, as they were too high, and explained at length about why I didn't take the shot. It was a good lesson in ethics for him.
So, it was a GREAT day!! By the way, at one point, I asked my son how he was doing. He replied "Well... I'm cold, wet and a little bit bored." I laughed and said "Of course you are. You're hunting!"