Take the kids bird hunting!

Nelson and Isabel hit the field

Last summer I took my scout troop to the trap range several times. While big-game hunting is very popular here in Montana, many of the boys do not own, and had never shot a shotgun previously. I was impressed with how quickly they started hitting clays. They all had a ton of fun, and to this day continue to ask me when we can all go to the range again.

One of my scouts, Nelson, knew I loved to hunt birds, and asked me if I would take him hunting this fall, and I committed to him that I would. Now the pressure was on

I was out of town during the special youth pheasant hunt weekend, and had prior commitments on the pheasant opener. My usual haunts for pheasant hunting were more “involved” than a casual hunt where a pheasant rookie could have some success, and not be turned off to the sport by my usual death marches in search of roosters. I needed an easily accessed, high-potential-for-pheasants place to hunt – I needed some private land!

JT on the left and daughter Isabel on the right

As the pheasant season continued into December, I still needed to take this youth hunting. I finally got an invite to go hunt some private land in the Billings, MT area, and Rob (our Uplanders employee) and I hunted the private land on a Saturday. It was incredible – lots of birds, easy access, and an easy hunt. Rob and I had out limit in short order, stopped for lunch and headed home. I instantly thought this would be the perfect place to bring Nelson for his first pheasant hunt, and asked permission to return with a couple kids a week or so (Nelson plus my 2 older girls). Permission was granted, and I set the date for Friday, December 23.

Early morning of the hunt, I loaded up the dogs, my two girls, and picked up Nelson. We drove over to Billings on a dry, mid-30′s day – a very nice day by Montana December standards. Everything was shaping up nicely.

We pulled the truck into the farmland where we would hunt, and saw two roosters run across the dirt road in front of the truck. It was hard to hide the big grin on my face thinking what a great experience this would be for the kids. We parked, geared up and got the dogs out.

Nelson out on the wing

About 20 yards from the truck, one of my dogs goes on point next to a ditch. I was still lagging behind the kids when the rooster flushed – very close to the kids. I yelled “rooster” but the kids were all indecisive and no one took the shot. No worries – I was sure we’d have plenty more opportunities.

We continued into the field we were hunting, with Nelson and my youngest daughter on the wings. 5 minutes later, we had another point right along a fence line on Nelson’s end. The rooster held really tight as Nelson approached, and to Nelson’s surprise (or shock) it finally flushed a foot or so in front of him. Unfortunately the rooster took off directly in line with a farm house, and I yelled at Nelson not to shoot – and not shots were fired. Still no worries – we had two roosters flush within the first 15 minutes of our hunt – and not all was lost, as Nelson got the full adrenaline experience of a rooster flushing from underfoot. And I still remained confident we would have several more opportunities.

That confidence soon disappeared as the same field that Rob and I had previously worked with great success was empty! The dogs weren’t birdy, and me plus 3 kids in a line didn’t flush another bird for an hour. Finally, we had another point. Again, right in front of Nelson. As we approached, the rooster flushed about 10 yards out. Nelson lifted his shotgun and followed, and followed, and followed… then fired. By the time he pulled the trigger, the rooster was out of range – and escaped without a scratch. Ugh!

Style points, but no birds.

We finished the field without another point of flush. Tally: 3 roosters flushed (but only 2 of which were shooters), 1 shot fired, no birds in the bag.

We loaded up in the truck and drove over to another nearby field. We pushed through that field without any hint or signs of birds. I could tell the kids’ patience was starting to get thin, so we called it a day and I took them all out for burgers.

Though we didn’t bag any birds, they all told me (unsolicited that they had fun and wanted to do it again. As a father of 4, I’ve learned the hard way not to push the kids too hard. Keep it light and fun – and eat a good lunch – and they’ll want to come back for more.