My Son is 12 and I've had him exposed to the outdoors since he was born (hunting, camping, fishing, etc). But unlike me he really has no interest in it and I pretty much have to drag him out. He never asks me to go. When I was five I would chase birds or anything that moved around and try to kill them with my Red Rider...lol. Or I'd trap minnows in the creek. Basically what I'm saying is that it was instictive for me and it's all I wanted to do.

I've bought him his own guns and everything, but he really has no interest. Very frustrating. You want your son to be your future hunting/fishing buddy and pass these things on to him. It's just not in his blood like it is mine I guess.

Anyone else have this problem?

Don't push or pressure him into anything. That could be cause for resentment. It's gotta be on his terms.

It's the video games. One of my sons is the same. He is coming around slowly now that he is 14 he went with a friend and had fun. Maybe that's what he needed was not to have me hounding him but to go with a buddy and them have fun

You have done it right. Exposure to the outdoors is all you can do. I was exposed to the outdoors all my life but really never had any interest in killing a deer until I was 18 years old.

If you push them you are more likely to push them away.

Exactly... I grew up loving the outdoors and went on every opportunity I was given. My brother on the other hand loved the tv and games. It wasn't until he was 34 that he took his first deer and is almost as obsessed as I am

Totally agree.....
You keep hunting and fishing...
ask he each time you go..if he says no..go and keep going and never ask him repeatedly..
One day he will just say yes ,and go....
Now....on his events in school. do your very best to make them all...
If you don't he may hold this against you

I am now 23. I grew up hunting with my dad since I was 3 years old. I turned away from it at about age 12, and came back around 16. Now I am obsessed... At 12, I just had other stuff that I wanted to be doing. Just hang in there! Dont PUSH him to, just continue to offer for him to go with you, and let it come naturally. Maybe let him go with friends some, or make a trip to a place where there are a bunch of big nice bucks mounted! Maybe that will help him be motivated

Thanks for the advice fellas, that makes me feel better.

I appreciate it!

My son did the same thing, lost interest at the age of 16. He is just now getting interested again and he is now 32.

You might try some reverse psychology. Stop inviting him and bring your other friends instead. Talk about how much fun you have and he might start to feel left out. He is old enough now that if you push him too hard, he might buck back, just because that's what teenagers do.

I have the opposite problem with mine. I can't my boy to show interest in anything other then hunting, trapping, fishing, ranching, taxidermy, etc. He is 15 and doesn't care about getting his drivers license, or dating, or computer games, or the latest iPhone. I'm starting to wonder if he has the same mental illnesses as me, lol.

Try to expose him to maybe exciting forms of hunting where there is not a lot of waiting to be done. Like hog hunting and the same with fishing instead of a lake go to a stock tank where he is almost guaranteed to catch something. But don't pressure him into it. I am 18 and went through the same thing about the age 12-15. I wanted to do what more my friends were doing so I didn't miss anything. I also liked the game call of duty which took up a lot of my time. Then I found bow hunting and now I would rather be in the woods with my bow then in front of my TV.

Remember, a 12 year old boy is not a grown man. Their attention span is short and their interests are diffferent. With my son at that age I made sure their was some fun (on his terms) mixed in with the serious stuff. When hunting, what he really wanted to do was shoot the gun, so we stayed in camp and shot some. When fishing, he wanted to catch something, anything, so we fished for perch. He's almost 30 now with a wife and daughter. He's been here twice this season to go hunting and we sat together in a double blind (that he helped me build when he was 15) and though we didn't see anything to shoot, he told me how much he enjoyed it. I remember when he was a teen that he'd sleep through most of those early morning hunts and I'd wake him in time to either take the shot or watch me shoot. I didn't berate him for not having the level of interest I wanted him to at the time.
I say don't force it. Expose him to it and make it fun, then he'll either like it or he won't. Cram it down his throat and I guarantee you he won't like it. Good luck.

Maglite, I agree with you. When Pong and Atari were the only options in the late 70s-early 80s, hunting was quite an upgrade in entertainment but with today's X-box, IPAD, IPHONE, Playstation x, kids don't seem to go outdoors as much whether it be hunting, playing football at park, anything. At least a lot of kids IMO. That said, I still wouldn't push it on him and see if his interests change.

I have 3 kids 14 to 11. They go in and out of interest from year to year. My 11 year old son would not go at all last year. This year he got interested and shot his first deer. Don't force them but keep encouraging them.

I was like that as a kid. at 15 all I cared about was going hunting and fishing.

There are worse things to be interested in. at 15 my step brother was interested in Beanie babies, pokemon and soccer.

You might try to get him interested in target shooting, instant reward, and learning the technical aspects is a real world application of math, engineering, and physics.

All great advice...thank you. I'm probably pushing way too hard.

You did your best. For the longest I asked my daughter to go and one year I was surprised that she wanted to go, hooked ever since. Now my boys are going and they've made it a competition, so I haven't had any problems with getting them to go. All of my kids first few hunts were short and I made them jam packed with fun and left while they were having fun. Good luck.

Beanie Babies? Really? Is he, um, different?

TNDEER, great thread BTW. Know this occurs more than you think..

This might be a good tactic, and throw in some tannerite to make it exciting.

Same thing seems to be happening with my grandson and it is killing my son. He lives to hunt and is only able to get down here once or twice a year. Time will tell.

My kids never showed that much interest in hunting at that age, but i took them any way. Let them 4 wheel and shoot 22. They came around like other said but 4 wheeling and shooting keep them interested.

Can't force some do and some don't I guess. I feel lucky to have a daughter with a passion for it

I've heard it said that personal interests often skip generations and such was the case in my family. While my grandfather loved hunting and the outdoors, my dad would just as well watch the grass grow rather than to sit in a deer stand.

So while your son might never show an interest, your grandson might start asking before you're ready to take him.