Just include him in everything you and he can possibly stand together, lol. I waited too long to get my girls I should have fully immersed them from toddler aged.

Best advice I can give you is take that toddler with you to dress that deer and let him get right up in it with you. Take him to the stand with you even if he does only last 15 minutes.

15 minutes is about how long my oldest daughter (12 at the time) lasted squirrel hunting with the mosquitos and the briar patches. I tried to take her and her sister together one time (11 and 12 at the time). Whoopsie!

You just need to get him out there right now! Don’t wait for him to mature a little bit.

You don’t need to take him on every hunt but he needs to be in it and immersed in the kill when it happens. At least I got that much right with my daughters, they are not squeamish with that, lol.

Just be prepared, they may not like hunting even if you include them.
We took our young son to every hunt before he started school.
He's a great shot with a shotgun, took to bird hunting pretty quick.
He loves game meat too , but he will not hunt for anything now except some birds perhaps.
For some reason high powered rifles put him off and we have many that have little to no recoil.

He owns handguns, a shotgun, and small caliber rifles and goes to shoot with his friends now, ARs , etc .
He still has no desire to hunt but asks about meat when we see him. He enjoys seeing our takes too.

You never know how they will take to it.

Started taking my boy to the woods at a very early age making sure he was having fun while he helped me do whatever and he loved it.
Then it just naturally evolved into the hunting and fishing part of it.

My boys got into playing multiple sports so hunting took a back seat. They would rather shoot 22s or skeet than hunt. Its something.

In fairness to them, they didn't grow up in the 70s like I did which involved being gone all day on your bike with your 22. They grew up in the 2000s burbs.

My 8 & 7 year-old boys absolutely love deer lease trips. They hate deer hunting though….too much time with too little activity in E.Texas. They are always fed, warm and distracted. I can make it until about 10:00 on morning hunts before they’re done. They’re normally complaining around 8.

The part they like is driving the Pioneer, cooking, roasting marshmallows, walking around looking for bones/critters, killing snakes, shooting 22’s, etc.

They love bird hunting, but are not shooters yet.

As a 37 year-old who’s hunted my whole life, it’s somewhat hard for me because I’m angry at the deer and in E. Texas it’s hard hunting.

The 8 year old has no interest in killing, the 7 year old talks about his first deer/pig constantly.

They’ve been in the woods with me since ~3 or so. My advice is to get them out there, keep them warm/fed/entertained, and see what happens.

That’s a great pic

The main thing though is don't push it. I have 2 sons, I didn't take mine that early but I started taking them when they were pre teens. They both love guns and love shooting (you have to in my house). But only one is a hunter. I don't know if it's that he doesn't like killing things or just doesn't like sitting still for hours on end but my youngest just never developed a love for it like his brother did. They both love fishing though. I just go with what we all share and love, and hunt with my oldest when his work lets him go now which is no where near what I would like

That’s the best advice

When I was still married to my kid's mother I took my son a time or 6 we had fun, but were in no danger of killing anything but time. When we got divorced she managed to get it into the decree and past my lawyer that no activities both parents didn't approve of, so hunting went out the window til he was about 17 and did what he wanted to do. But he isn't crazy about it, he loves the camp life, and has taken a couple over the years. But there isn't that burning desire to go.

Lots of good advice here.

Starting out at 2.5, you don't have a hunter yet, but you can still make some wonderful memories out in the woods. Take him with you on a weekend out of season. Drive him around in your off road vehicle. Put corn in the feeders, fish in the tanks, shoot bb guns at cans, roast marshmallows and look up at the stars.

Starting around 5 they can probably handle a .22. Let them plink at cans or rabbits. If you have coon problems at your feeders, let them dispatch a trapped coon. But at 5, I still wouldn't want to put them in a stand yet. They will have a tolerance for about 30 minutes of inactivity. After that they will get restless.

What works best for me is when grandparents come. The kiddo can hunt in the evenings, then sleep in and sneak out to the camp stand around 8 with grandpa.

IMO, there are 3 rules that you must follow with kids:
1. Don't let them get cold.
2. Don't let them get hungry.
3. Don't force the issue. Once they get bored, pack it up and find something else to do.
These are the easiest ways a kid can have a negative experience when hunting, and if they have negative experiences they won't want to come back.

Kids will either take to hunting or they won't. My kids got to hunt whenever they wanted, some pretty nice places too and had some good success at a young age. None of the places they frequented would be described as tough hunting.

The oldest will go, but its gonna be on his terms. I don't know if he will be a hunter later in life....he strikes me as a guy who will like to fish and golf with his buddies on good weather days.

The middle son enjoys it much more, but he is sorta passive about it....but he is like that with everything. Just doesn't get excited about much, pretty mellow kid. He isn't afraid to pull the trigger though and has racked up some pretty good kills. I can see him going with me on some adventurous hunts as he gets older.

The 8 year old girl is probably gonna be into it as well, she loves going to the ranch and killing an animal is of no consequence to her.


Me, when i was a kid, i was cold, hungry and bored on every trip...and loved every minute of it. At best i had a book or magazine with me in the stand....half the time didn't have that. Went seasons with out shooting an animal, but that's just what i wanted to be doing.


Only difference is, I hunted a lot but usually sub par properties. I shot a few dinks during my teen years but didn't kill a decent buck until I was 25.....everything was does and culls. That might have been a driver but it very well could have been a discourager as well.....so I don't place many restrictions on what my kids can shoot as long as it meets our age requirements. They have voluntarily passed on deer I would still shoot with my bow.

I started mine with a bunch of little trips out to the creek to look for tracks, get dirty, that sort of thing. And bit by bit spending longer and doing more. About the time he turned 4 we started taking a kids digital camera and he would get pics of his "discoveries"