And yet, how many of us play with our phones while in the stand, or encourage our kids to do it.

Link

Im guilty of being on my phone. From the time I started hunting when I was 6 until the first year after I started hunting by myself I brought a gameboy with me every time. But I would play hunting games if that counts for anything lol. Some kids just can’t sit still long enough without something to play on. I loved hunting when I was little but I just could not sit still without some kind of game.

I got wifi that reaches my front stand. I make sure the kids go to the back stand. I take the front in case work calls.

Hard work
Attentiveness
Patience
Myriad other skills

You don't learn those on a smart phone. I typically don't hunt over a feeder-any deer I see I may have only a few seconds to react. If I've got my head in my phone I may miss an opportunity I'll never get back.

Wow, that article had so little to do with smart phones.

"Don't Text and Hunt" you might miss something or trip and fall hurt yourself. IDK?

If i am sitting in a blind, yes. If am out west, yes using earthmate app

Each generation is getting less and less able to sit still because they're constantly entertained by movement. Art museums are basically doomed. I'm in a couple of community bands and you can't believe how the younger set is glued to their phones. The guy next to me appears to always be checking gaming sites...and he's in his mid-thirties and single (what a surprise).

I do use the earthmate app occassionally while hunting.

I get no cell signal anywhere on my in-laws property so no need to have a phone other than taking pictures

We don't get a signal on our place, for the most part.

I will let my kiddo spend a little time playing a game silently if it helps keep us in the blind and quiet. I'm more interested in getting him hooked on hunting than I am in enforcing a "100% no cell phone" policy. If this helps keep us in the blind until we score, then it's accomplishing that goal.

I am, generally, mindful of their time on devices and try to limit it.

x2

I don't use my cell when I am hunting. Although, I don't hunt over bait anymore either.

I spend most of my blind time napping....heaven forbid if an animal came along....it might wake me up...

I have a good quality pocket radio and ear buds that I like to use in the stand. In the quiet of the woods, you can listen to a game, talk radio, or music with such low volume that you can easily hear over it.

But I have been known to take the company-provided iPad to check mail during those late Friday hunts.

Finally. Someone with their priorities straight.

It depends on how I am hunting...If I am sitting in my box blind I do get on my phone a little but I have two feeders going at different times that keeps my attention aimed at them and the surrounding area.

It teaches multitasking skills.

Last year while in my blind, I was texting with my buddy who's land I hunt on and was giving him an update on not seeing anything. He texted me wanting to know if there was any movement going on. His house is on the property and he wasn't feeling that great so he couldn't get out that day. So I am texting with him for a couple of minutes, raise my head to look out my blind window and I spot a deer's arse. The buck walked all the way down to the front of my 5ft tower giving me no shot since I was using my crossbow. Lucky for me, he walked back up the trail and turned for me while walking towards the game trail on the right. Now I shut my phone off and learned my lesson.

What's difference in being on a smartphone and reading a book in the blind?

Nothing. I have done both on occasion - sparingly. My justification: it keeps me there longer. I don't do either during what is normal "prime time".

What I do (absolutely use it) and what I might have a kid who spent too much time on the phone do, are entirely unrelated.

True.

The kids need to be finding the Playboys under the carpet and looking at them just like we all did.

Darn straight. Go find some Penthouses in the creek, son. That fancy googling just makes you lazy.

I don't have good enough service to browse my phone in my stand, can only call when I need help. I am guilty of getting on and playing poker, blackjack, or yahtzee on it though. Playing games on it runs my battery down fast so I quit after a while. Nothing but dozing on and off and spitting in the ol spit bottle after that.