This weekend me and the family (wife, son and daughter) went down to our lease to get a little work done. Set up a new blind, fill some feeders, and maybe kill a pig or turkey if we can. We ended up asking my nephew if he wanted to go as well.
My nephew Cayden is my younger brothers son... but my brother is useless and doesn't support or even do anything with his son, so he lives with his mother. I don't know a whole lot about his mom other than she has another son and does what she can with the help of her mother. Typically Cayden likes to play lots of video games and plays outside with his friends some, but not much else. Also, Cayden is actually a pretty good kid, he does good in school and doesn't get into much trouble so that is a plus. Needless to say Cayden doesn't have much male influence in his life, and definitely has little exposure to the great outdoors and hunting and fishing. So my wife and I try to include on some of our family's outdoor adventures when he can go. Fortunately his Mom let Cayden miss school on Friday to go with us ( it's an 8 hour drive, so we have to leave early on Friday to make it worthwhile.)
Anyways, we make it to the lease about 5pm and unload the truck. I told Cayden and my son Luke we will see if we can go kill a pig this evening.
We settle into the blind about 7pm. Feeder has already went off, but it was so hot and windy I figured it would be late if the pigs decided to show up.
We made it till about 8:30pm only about 25 minutes of light left and the kids we're getting a little antsy as we hadn't seen anything yet. I told them, let's get down and go check another spot before it gets too dark to see, but before we left I needed to pull the game camera card. The wind was blowing 35+ mph from the south east so I circled around to the North of the feeder to get the camera, both kids walking behind me. As we get to about 40 yards from the feeder I heard some movement in the brush. 10 seconds later I see a group of pigs about 30 yards in front of us. I told the kids get behind me and stay still. I let the front pig step out and I popped her in the head dropping her in her tracks. The other pigs ran the other way thankfully. Now I know it was necessarily the smartest move having the kids with me as I was making my way down there, but I figured as loud as they were being, they would scare everything off anyways. It was a little scary, but extremely exciting for the kids they loved it. Cayden had never seen a wild pig or been on a hunt. My son has been many times with me even though he is only 3.5 years old.
Luke, my son is on the left, and Cayden is on the right.
They were pretty excited and I was glad it worked out and we got a pig.
The next day we drove around the lease looking at all the critters. Saw tons of deer, lots or turkeys, coyotes, quail, and jack rabbits. All of these except deer were new to Cayden.
We worked on my new blind for awhile and get it set up and filled the feeders.
Before we filled the last feeder we were driving down a trail and I spotted a big rattle snake. With the wife an kids still in the car I got out and put a couple bullets in the snake and removed his head.
Cayden wanted a picture with the snake so, I obliged.
Naturally my son wanted a picture too, but he was a little unsure at first, lol!
Before we left I asked Cayden if he ever shot a gun. He had not. So I got my AR15 out (6.5 Grendel) and let him take a shot. He had a huge smile for awhile after he shot it. (Unfortunately no pics of him shooting)
Sunday came too quickly as we needed to head home. On the way out of the ranch I spotted a horny toad in the road and stopped and caught it to show Cayden.
He wanted to keep it, but told him we should release him and we did.
All in all I think he had a great time. He wants to come back and even try and shoot a pig or deer. Who knows with a little bit of practice behind the rifle I may be able to get him on his first deer this year.
I'm glad we took him and want to take him again soon because he needs something like this in his life. Less TV and video games and more hunting and fishing. Hopefully we can instill a love for the outdoors like we have.
On a side note, I never knew how many questions a kid can ask in a weekend. Lol. And every 5 minutes of the drive I heard " how much longer is it till we get there?" Lol
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My nephew Cayden is my younger brothers son... but my brother is useless and doesn't support or even do anything with his son, so he lives with his mother. I don't know a whole lot about his mom other than she has another son and does what she can with the help of her mother. Typically Cayden likes to play lots of video games and plays outside with his friends some, but not much else. Also, Cayden is actually a pretty good kid, he does good in school and doesn't get into much trouble so that is a plus. Needless to say Cayden doesn't have much male influence in his life, and definitely has little exposure to the great outdoors and hunting and fishing. So my wife and I try to include on some of our family's outdoor adventures when he can go. Fortunately his Mom let Cayden miss school on Friday to go with us ( it's an 8 hour drive, so we have to leave early on Friday to make it worthwhile.)
Anyways, we make it to the lease about 5pm and unload the truck. I told Cayden and my son Luke we will see if we can go kill a pig this evening.
We settle into the blind about 7pm. Feeder has already went off, but it was so hot and windy I figured it would be late if the pigs decided to show up.
We made it till about 8:30pm only about 25 minutes of light left and the kids we're getting a little antsy as we hadn't seen anything yet. I told them, let's get down and go check another spot before it gets too dark to see, but before we left I needed to pull the game camera card. The wind was blowing 35+ mph from the south east so I circled around to the North of the feeder to get the camera, both kids walking behind me. As we get to about 40 yards from the feeder I heard some movement in the brush. 10 seconds later I see a group of pigs about 30 yards in front of us. I told the kids get behind me and stay still. I let the front pig step out and I popped her in the head dropping her in her tracks. The other pigs ran the other way thankfully. Now I know it was necessarily the smartest move having the kids with me as I was making my way down there, but I figured as loud as they were being, they would scare everything off anyways. It was a little scary, but extremely exciting for the kids they loved it. Cayden had never seen a wild pig or been on a hunt. My son has been many times with me even though he is only 3.5 years old.
Luke, my son is on the left, and Cayden is on the right.
They were pretty excited and I was glad it worked out and we got a pig.
The next day we drove around the lease looking at all the critters. Saw tons of deer, lots or turkeys, coyotes, quail, and jack rabbits. All of these except deer were new to Cayden.
We worked on my new blind for awhile and get it set up and filled the feeders.
Before we filled the last feeder we were driving down a trail and I spotted a big rattle snake. With the wife an kids still in the car I got out and put a couple bullets in the snake and removed his head.
Cayden wanted a picture with the snake so, I obliged.
Naturally my son wanted a picture too, but he was a little unsure at first, lol!
Before we left I asked Cayden if he ever shot a gun. He had not. So I got my AR15 out (6.5 Grendel) and let him take a shot. He had a huge smile for awhile after he shot it. (Unfortunately no pics of him shooting)
Sunday came too quickly as we needed to head home. On the way out of the ranch I spotted a horny toad in the road and stopped and caught it to show Cayden.
He wanted to keep it, but told him we should release him and we did.
All in all I think he had a great time. He wants to come back and even try and shoot a pig or deer. Who knows with a little bit of practice behind the rifle I may be able to get him on his first deer this year.
I'm glad we took him and want to take him again soon because he needs something like this in his life. Less TV and video games and more hunting and fishing. Hopefully we can instill a love for the outdoors like we have.
On a side note, I never knew how many questions a kid can ask in a weekend. Lol. And every 5 minutes of the drive I heard " how much longer is it till we get there?" Lol
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