Youth Hunting - Part 1 - The Smiles & the Memories

badthirtyone

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
Messages
1,103
Location
Denver Colorado
Adventure boys collage.jpg
Introduction -

I am blessed beyond measure.


I cannot even begin to count the wonders that have been added to my life by having these three outstanding young men as a part of our family. I am blessed beyond measure that they call me dad.

I began kicking this thread around quite some time ago, as I am the proud papa to these young outdoorsmen, and I occasionally run across posts here on this forum where we get to celebrate our children and their accomplishments. From time to time, usually in response to some other posted event, our membership here will post a quick photo or two of a recent adventure or hunt.

I am fortunate enough to contribute the first post within this thread of what I am hoping becomes thousands of posts wherein we get to celebrate, laugh, and cheer each other on in the growing and nurturing of our children. I also realized that a topic that continues to re-surface in many threads is the overwhelming need that we have as hunters and outdoorsmen - to pass all of our skills and passions on to the next generation.

This thread is, therefore, meant to be a celebration of developing outdoorsmen in general. While I am aware that we are on a relatively dedicated hunting site, this initial post will touch on many other elements of enjoying the world around us, from fishing, hiking, camping, and yes, certainly hunting. I would imagine as it rolls along, we will get to see an even broader variety of what our youths get to be involved in regarding outdoor activities.

Along those lines, I wanted to provide what I hope will become an "anchor thread" that allows for exactly that. I fully encourage you to post your latest adventures that involve youth in any way. I, along with many, many others here would love to see your exploits in the field with your children, grandchildren, neighbors kids, youth-group outings etc.

Continued purpose & motivation -

As I stated above, I am the proud father of three wonderful young men. I figured that I would break my posts/threads into multiple topics that include many of the facets of involving youth in outdoor activities such as: hunting, training, motivation, and possibly others. I simply cannot think of a better place to start than with what I am hoping you will agree is the most important of all of those - the smiles and the memories!

After having a chance here to post a significant portion of my own personal "smiles and memories," I plan on delving into the training and development of these young men that allowed them to get to where they currently are on their road toward being functional and accomplished outdoorsmen.

I'll also state upfront that I, and my family (like the vast majority of the membership here) do not base the success of our time together in the field on the taking of any particular animal! That is to say that our success is solely dependent on having spent time within any given endeavor - whether we harvest an animal or not!

So, I'll begin with some of our most significant adventures.

In sitting down to prepare this post, I became overwhelmed by the fact that I had to choose such a small portion of our outdoor time together from, what is now, some 20 years of wonderous experiences together in the field. Please enjoy the "Parks Boys Adventures!"

Bird hunt collage.jpg

Bird hunting with family friends. Our family Dove hunts opening day of each year along the Platte river.
2021, was a good year for Dove



Various collage.jpg

Various adventures along the way...
(Left photo) My oldest son, who has become quite good with a bow
(Center photo) Two wild-caught trout, both caught and landed by these wonderful, little (at the time) anglers - my oldest, left, and my middle guy, right
(Right photo) My younger two fishing from a flooded dock near our home



Noodle collage.jpg

My littlest guy, on various aquatic adventures in different states.
In the right-most photo, he wanted to let me know that he had "made friends" with the ducks




Fish collage.jpg

My oldest guy, on various fishing and boating outings. This kid will fish for hours and hours
In the right-most photo, he is holding a large-mouth that was the result of his prodding me - "C'mon dad, just one more cast!"
He was not prepared to go in for the evening until he had completed that ten-thousandth "one more cast"




goofin collage.jpg

Boys, being boys.
Goofin' around somewhere in the wilderness. Making each other laugh




Will fish collage.jpg

My middle guy, always wanting to be the pilot in command. He also enjoys pretty much everything out-of-doors





J deer collage.jpg

My oldest, with his first and second deer


Dub deer collage.jpg

My middle guy, with his first and second deer


Noodle deer collage.jpg

My little guy, with his first and second deer
* A special note here, my camera completely conked out during the taking of his 1st deer. We had to wait until we got home to get any photos of his animal.



A second post will follow this one immediately, as I am limited in the number of photos that one can attach in any given post. This secondary post will also contain additional summary information.
 
Pheasant hunt.jpg

The Parks Boys, on a recent pheasant hunt in eastern Colorado


Boys with Piggy.JPG

My youngest two sons with another great Colorado buck


Summary -

As I stated at the beginning of this post, it is my hope and encouragement that each of you will also share your adventures in the field, in any outdoor context, so that we can celebrate our youth. They are the future of our way of life!



superior to old self.jpg


The Parks Boys scouting a field together
 
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I'll add some of my sons and their buddies in on this . I love to hunt but I get a whole lot more enjoyment from watching these boys and girls hunt .
Pic 1 here was my oldest sons first gobbler called in and shot at 12 yards with the 20 ga.
Pic2 here is younger brother about 10 mins later while walking back to the truck. This big ol opossum ran out in front of us and my youngest bio son said I can I please shoot it. He'd been itching to try out his grandfathers ol single shot long time 10 ga .( yeah a freaking 10 ga) Needless to say ol mr opossum didn't handle a 3 1/2" load of number 6's to well at 20 yards

I've got piles more pics I'll add though out. Love seeing these kids hunting
 

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I'll add some of my sons and their buddies in on this . I love to hunt but I get a whole lot more enjoyment from watching these boys and girls hunt .
Pic 1 here was my oldest sons first gobbler called in and shot at 12 yards with the 20 ga.
Pic2 here is younger brother about 10 mins later while walking back to the truck. This big ol opossum ran out in front of us and my youngest bio son said I can I please shoot it. He'd been itching to try out his grandfathers ol single shot long time 10 ga .( yeah a freaking 10 ga) Needless to say ol mr opossum didn't handle a 3 1/2" load of number 6's to well at 20 yards

I've got piles more pics I'll add though out. Love seeing these kids hunting
Outstanding! Thanks for sharing.

I'd bet a 10 gauge does a number on about anything smaller than a coleman cooler!
 
View attachment 297847Introduction -

I am blessed beyond measure.


I cannot even begin to count the wonders that have been added to my life by having these three outstanding young men as a part of our family. I am blessed beyond measure that they call me dad.

I began kicking this thread around quite some time ago, as I am the proud papa to these young outdoorsmen, and I occasionally run across posts here on this forum where we get to celebrate our children and their accomplishments. From time to time, usually in response to some other posted event, our membership here will post a quick photo or two of a recent adventure or hunt.

I am fortunate enough to contribute the first post within this thread of what I am hoping becomes thousands of posts wherein we get to celebrate, laugh, and cheer each other on in the growing and nurturing of our children. I also realized that a topic that continues to re-surface in many threads is the overwhelming need that we have as hunters and outdoorsmen - to pass all of our skills and passions on to the next generation.

This thread is, therefore, meant to be a celebration of developing outdoorsmen in general. While I am aware that we are on a relatively dedicated hunting site, this initial post will touch on many other elements of enjoying the world around us, from fishing, hiking, camping, and yes, certainly hunting. I would imagine as it rolls along, we will get to see an even broader variety of what our youths get to be involved in regarding outdoor activities.

Along those lines, I wanted to provide what I hope will become an "anchor thread" that allows for exactly that. I fully encourage you to post your latest adventures that involve youth in any way. I, along with many, many others here would love to see your exploits in the field with your children, grandchildren, neighbors kids, youth-group outings etc.

Continued purpose & motivation -

As I stated above, I am the proud father of three wonderful young men. I figured that I would break my posts/threads into multiple topics that include many of the facets of involving youth in outdoor activities such as: hunting, training, motivation, and possibly others. I simply cannot think of a better place to start than with what I am hoping you will agree is the most important of all of those - the smiles and the memories!

After having a chance here to post a significant portion of my own personal "smiles and memories," I plan on delving into the training and development of these young men that allowed them to get to where they currently are on their road toward being functional and accomplished outdoorsmen.

I'll also state upfront that I, and my family (like the vast majority of the membership here) do not base the success of our time together in the field on the taking of any particular animal! That is to say that our success is solely dependent on having spent time within any given endeavor - whether we harvest an animal or not!

So, I'll begin with some of our most significant adventures.

In sitting down to prepare this post, I became overwhelmed by the fact that I had to choose such a small portion of our outdoor time together from, what is now, some 20 years of wonderous experiences together in the field. Please enjoy the "Parks Boys Adventures!"

View attachment 297852
Bird hunting with family friends. Our family Dove hunts opening day of each year along the Platte river.
2021, was a good year for Dove



View attachment 297856
Various adventures along the way...
(Left photo) My oldest son, who has become quite good with a bow
(Center photo) Two wild-caught trout, both caught and landed by these wonderful, little (at the time) anglers - my oldest, left, and my middle guy, right
(Right photo) My younger two fishing from a flooded dock near our home



View attachment 297861
My littlest guy, on various aquatic adventures in different states.
In the right-most photo, he wanted to let me know that he had "made friends" with the ducks




View attachment 297870
My oldest guy, on various fishing and boating outings. This kid will fish for hours and hours
In the right-most photo, he is holding a large-mouth that was the result of his prodding me - "C'mon dad, just one more cast!"
He was not prepared to go in for the evening until he had completed that ten-thousandth "one more cast"




View attachment 297871
Boys, being boys.
Goofin' around somewhere in the wilderness. Making each other laugh




View attachment 297872
My middle guy, always wanting to be the pilot in command. He also enjoys pretty much everything out-of-doors





View attachment 297873
My oldest, with his first and second deer


View attachment 297874
My middle guy, with his first and second deer


View attachment 297875
My little guy, with his first and second deer
* A special note here, my camera completely conked out during the taking of his 1st deer. We had to wait until we got home to get any photos of his animal.



A second post will follow this one immediately, as I am limited in the number of photos that one can attach in any given post. This secondary post will also contain additional summary information.
I love the spirit of this thread. Thank you, wonderful idea!
 
My kids are 7 (daughter) and 9 (son). This was last year when Oso (Oscar) was finally old enough to chase turkeys.

He worked his little tail off that season (I estimate that he hiked a total of 40 miles throughout that season before we connected on this bird at 7 yards).

My daughter Thea is just ITCHING for her turn this coming Spring.

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Pic 1 here is my youngest bio son again with a good sized doe he killed the first morning of our general rifle season with his 260 rem.

Pic 2 is my wife's nephew that I take hunting all the time . This was his first deer ever . I ended up giving him a beautiful inter arms 30-06 that I'd bought a long time ago.
 

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The youngest bio son killed his first bear over hounds and that's when the true addiction began that we have now .

The second pic was the youngest bio son again and one of my sons buddies setting on a big rock. They'd been there awhile that morning watching over a big bowl shaped holler . I just always liked that pic
 

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Pic 1 is my youngest sons first archery deer . He'd hunted hard for 2 seasons with no luck . This young buck walked in perfectly broadside at 10 yards and he let him have it

The second pic was his second bow kill the following season . He'd watched this deer all spring and summer every single day . No exaggeration from like the middle of may . Killed him the 3 rd day of archery season . This kid lives to bow hunt and hunt bears with hounds
 

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