Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

I have some ideas one thing we do is we have food at our hunts free they can show up eat and visit and not feel pressured into hunting lot of young ones feel intimidated buy us older guys give them time to get to know us !

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Registered: May 2005
Location: Bellevue, IA
Posts: 1874

I have had better luck introducing or re-introducing older hunters to sport than young.

Seems they stick with it longer. jmo

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

I got it i got it tell them the can win a new pickup truck ( just jokin!!!! )

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2027

Social media is the best way to reach the younger generation.

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Registered: Jan 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 32

Actually make the kids turn off the electronics and go outdoors! Kids now sit inside like hermit crabs!

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Registered: Feb 2010
Location: southeast alabama
Posts: 180

Yadkintar- Yes sometimes certian gimmicks will work but only to a point

T Felderman- You are right many as they get older lose the time to hunt playing ball, chasing girls, or starting families will get in the way. But many will start back when they get older that is why you can "re-introduce" them.

Fisher13- Yes they will read it on social media but they won't feel invited.

Dale Huff- Yes they can be lazy. I wonder who they learn that from?

Kids are not the problem we are the problem. I see alot of men at night hunts but I don't see their kids or grandkids. Why? Lazy Men. Men are too worried about winning. Men don't take them because they are too loud, run around and they act like KIDS.

Seeing more youth at clubs starts outside the club doors. Take them with you during the week. The youth are playing with electronics because dad , uncle, etc. is too busy to fool with them. I take a kids and an 83year old man with me almost everytime I go.

So you don't have kids or yours won't go. I have found that there are boys out there that would give their left arm to just to have a man spend quality time with them and teach them the right way to act. No you can't take 15 kids with you everytime you go, but if just pick out a couple good ones that are worth your time and teach them about coon hunting and life neither you nor they will ever forget it. So lets stop blaming the youth and remeber YOU are supposed to be teaching the youth.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

Ok here I go taking a trip down memorie lane when I joined my first club people started getting at the hunt at 10 o'clock in the morning domino tournaments , treeing contest , swim race,the ladies handled the kitchen the men ( had to be non hunting judges for the ntch cast) served full breakfast kids playing all day long you what would happened if sombody would have said you can't have a treeing contest we had armadillo sacking for the ladies one crazy armadillo could put four ladies over a fence quick! For running the kitchen we always took them somewhere nice to eat the next week gimmicks you say nea ! It's called effort it's called work if sonic, McDonald's , Burger King , Taco Bell didn't change they're menu every once in a while how long you think they would be in buisness jmo !!

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Registered: Jan 2009
Location: berkeley springs w va
Posts: 448

the club in in has had wv state youth hunt 4 out of last 6 yrs.. we try to put on a good event for them an everybody has had fun. we gave away a dogbox for each class in night hunt an a box for bench show too.. if we treat them right young they learn to love it.. draw them in a cast an work with them on rules while you hunt. dont take advantage of them cuz there young an wana learn. teach them right.. i was in a cast one night where judge was older feller an had a 15 yr old boy in his first night hunt.. he was really workin that boy over on rules. an boy had a good dog just needed steered in right direction. i withdrawed an when hunt was over took the boy pleasure huntin with his dad an we took a card . boy understood rules then. he was gona stop hunting hunts cuz of that older feller

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Registered: Jul 2014
Location: IOWA
Posts: 958

I take my 7 year old hunting with me everytime I go if not a school night. He loves it. Thats the easy part the hard part is trying to tell him no on school night. I gues im fortunate to have a son who wants to learn the sport. It is also nice to have good hunting partner like Jeff Nelson who dont mind his company as well. Im like the rest of you that miss the old hunting days @ the hunts. I got out for it 17 years and it is a different sport now then the old days things change I know that but just dont understand what happen to the hunters just dont seem like the numbers are there like th3y use to. I remember the old daysyou had 30 or 40 dogs at a hunt now lucky to see 15. We need the youth to keep the sport going

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Registered: Jan 2012
Location: Goshen,Ohio
Posts: 2679

This sport is tough and it takes a lot of hard work.I think the biggest hinder to young hunters and new hunters is the dogs.The thrill of the hunt to me is in following a good dog.If these young hunters have to hunt with sorry dogs that don't tree coons they loose interest quick.That or they buy a pup and have no ideal how to train one.They spend countless nights out in the woods loosing sleep and there pup don't make it.Not sure the solution other than breeding more natural coondogs.Jmo

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Registered: Mar 2006
Location: Western NC
Posts: 1529

I offer and usually take my 8, and often also my 4, year old everywhere I go, and that doesn't just mean hunting. A dad who doesn't want to spend his LIFE (I said life, not just TIME) with his kid(s) needs to seek thought, prayer and guidance.

But, also, I seriously struggle exposing my sons to a bunch of the yahoos that show up at some of these hunts. Especially when a cast gets sideways. I have had to begin telling the cast, whether I'm the judge or not, that while I'm sure one day my son may learn to cuss, it ain't gonna be tonight, so just hold the vulgar talk. I can handle it, but not our kids. We have work to do to help the youth and step #1 is setting a good example.

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Registered: Nov 2013
Location: Convoy,Ohio
Posts: 1693

Start giving away electronic games and or those high dollar fancy cell phones for prizes,just like you would get a trophy,,I bet the kids that wanted a new game like x-box,wii,play station etc. would participate a lot more just so they could try to win one of those things

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Rockmart, Ga.
Posts: 2652

From what I've saw there are plenty of kids around 15 or 16 years old that are interested in coon hunting. But what generally happens is that it fades away and a lot of those same ones aren't hunting anymore by 30 or 40 years old. I know there are some good hunters out there both competition and pleasure hunters both. I don't want to sound totally negative but I want to be truthful also. The truth is just one cheating , lieing, bully can literally turn away hundreds both from coonhunting in general and also competition hunting. Sometimes people are cry baby's and just can't take losing. Then other times you got real problems but because of politics and money nothing gets fixed. Less bully cheaters and less ill dogs would go a long way to getting more young people to stick with it. But it all goes back to priorities and doing what's right. When the love of money and politics runs the show it's a bad situation.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: usa
Posts: 108

HI you all need members at the clubs .yes that is a fact first you give all kids a free member ship . you need to go after kid 8 to 14 years old .send letters to your 4H clubs and your boy scouts . and get the kids hanging on the corner in town on friday nite . off the corners . have a fun day at your club and invite every one .keep it fun and have free food and drinks . do your 50/50 have moves playing all day long have some one talking about coon hunting and so on .the rest is up to you .............keep hunting and have fun .............

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: michigan
Posts: 2573

Usually there's a natural rhythm to a kids life . Family and dogs and then sports followed by girls/boys marriage and kids.They often find their way back thru hunting with their dad and their own kids or sometimes divorce figures in too . there's a point were you're almost going against nature to keep them involved .
Most of todays problem is a different life style that pretty much preaches everything we do is wrong and cruel . Fewer kids grow up on a farm or around one to learn anything about animals . They learn things in school starting with Bambi and the bad hunter and in todays world it keeps going right on thru college . My world isn't even close to what my father lived in and my grandkids will never see what I've seen . Some of that is good and some not so much but the point is there's no going back for most of us in most areas .

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Registered: May 2005
Location: Bellevue, IA
Posts: 1874

quote:

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Originally posted by Jason Baldwin
From what I've saw there are plenty of kids around 15 or 16 years old that are interested in coon hunting. But what generally happens is that it fades away and a lot of those same ones aren't hunting anymore by 30 or 40 years old. I know there are some good hunters out there both competition and pleasure hunters both. I don't want to sound totally negative but I want to be truthful also. The truth is just one cheating , lieing, bully can literally turn away hundreds both from coonhunting in general and also competition hunting. Sometimes people are cry baby's and just can't take losing. Then other times you got real problems but because of politics and money nothing gets fixed. Less bully cheaters and less ill dogs would go a long way to getting more young people to stick with it. But it all goes back to priorities and doing what's right. When the love of money and politics runs the show it's a bad situation.

---

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Registered: Jul 2013
Location: Franklin County, VA
Posts: 388

I'm 16 myself and I can tell you that if I didn't already hunt, the #1 thing to get me to do so would be to take me huntin. Plain and simple. My dad quit huntin when I was pretty young so I didn't get to do much huntin till I was about 13-14. I went a few times with my dad when I was around 5 but not much. One night when I was 13 my uncle showed up and asked if I wanted to go huntin with him that night and Ive been hooked ever since. Really all you have to do to get a kid huntin is to take em to the woods with you. Don't take em once. Every time you can, take em huntin with you. If you're planning to shoot a coon out, let them do it. Let them lead the dog out. But takin a kid huntin is all it takes.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

We had our hunt last night I had two young ones ( one winning the state race one really close ! ) I got beat had the best time ever they helped me up out of the mud every time I fell !! Did snicker at me a little !

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: New York
Posts: 108

When I was growing up in the 1980s, I never remember hearing people swear that much at any public event even at the county fair. I have a 3 year old, a 5 year old and a 7 year old. 2 girls and a boy. My wife and I took the kids to a bench show, water race, and field trial last summer to get them interested in coonhounds as I have hunted my whole life and my wife most of hers. It would have been a good time but there was so much swearing being said as if it was normal in any conversation, that we had to keep moving in different spots at the events to try to protect my kids innocent ears! People who were 30,40,50+ years old who should know better than to swear around little kids! It got so bad at the bench show, that instead of telling basically most of the people there to what there mouths around my kids, I just told my wife, "lets go this is ridiculous." We tried other club houses, some better, some not so much. I say we need to bring morals and respect back to our sport and nation. Because if we don't, we will loose the honest upstanding youth who deserve the same hunting experience that you and I were shown! Why would any real loving parent who actually cares about there kids and how they turn out subject there kids to that kind of language as if it should be normal? In upstate NY there are a lot of clubs that wont be seeing my youth anytime soon! JMO.

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Registered: Oct 2012
Location: burnt district MO/KS border
Posts: 787

IDK. I had my kids in the woods as much as anyone ever did, and now neither of the 3 have any interest in it. it got worse and worse from the oldest kid to the youngest.

my grandkids aren't even allowed to have a dog or other pet because there parents think ' its too much trouble to take care of"

they were allowed to have pretty much any pet they wanted when they were at home :/

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Rockmart, Ga.
Posts: 2652

quote:

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Originally posted by T Felderman
I disagree, LOOSING turns kids and young hunters away. They don't put the time in during the week to win and thus the excuses role. jmho

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Registered: Dec 2012
Location: Big Swamp
Posts: 216

I think when your talking about getting kids involved in hunting that are younger than 16 and don't have a drivers license, if there not getting the Time In and have the desire, they need a parent or mentor to be involved so they can get the Time In. Not many of us anymore have 2000 acres in our back yards.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: New York
Posts: 108

My dad pleasure hunted until the late 70s. He tried comp. hunting for a few years and said there was too much cheating and fighting and arguing in it for him. So when I was growing up I never attended any comp. events what so ever. Just because a few unruly people, ran the show and got away with it, the coon events never saw my brother or I. I was in my early 30s before I ever entered my first night hunt. That's a whole generation! It hasn't changed much cause it all still goes on and we all know it. I have learned to take the good with the bad. I was 36 before I joined my first coon club and that was last week! I have hunted coon most of my life, my dad kept me away from the comp. hunts so I didn't get a bad taste in my mouth and not want to hunt anymore. I like the comp. hunts and pleasure hunting I just hope my kids don't get ruined on them from a bad experience, but god willing I will be there to guide them to show them how to get over the idiots in our sport, cause they are in every sport. I say just take them hunting when they want to go and don't make them walk too far. A good cornfield race or feeder bucket race will get them interested if its in the blood it will bubble out when ready. make it easy and comfortable and if it was meant to be it will be. God bless you all.

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Registered: May 2007
Location: Idaho
Posts: 407

1 helping kids get to woods 2 helping them get or have acess to a decent coon dog or a couple that can tree real live coon .. money look at the $kc youth program look how many show up year after year to there youth world
some those kids get to 3 or more youth world hunts before they turn 18 this tells me many of them havent lost intrest also i read articles all time about kids that have hunted in that hunt format for 2-7 years before there interviewd that tells me that not meany are doing it 1 yr and done ...one older kid sead he was less likely to get cheated hunting for $ then he was a win slip in other regisitry's... just i thought $ makes world go round why cant we use that incentive to get kids intrested in hunting dogs...

heres what we can do on ukc side things 1 take kid to a couple big coon hunts or pound hunts as some call um or a couole small youth hunts at club level or both then if they still want to hunt in compition expalane to them ukc performamce program expalning every time you win your cast most time you get a check next year for it if you have a perfromanced dog also explane to the kid aboit the slam series ukc has were you get payed right at hunt if you win this kid is still hunting dogs after first year and the youngster still has the fire in um somone pony up the $250 let this youngster hunt in the ukc new supper slam hunts they have.



also i like the idea of takeing kid to water races feild trials and leting them enter a dog and help whith dogs to get um involved.. i also like the free food idea for youngsters..

what hooked me on hunting whith dogs like meny was the movie the red fern grows had a lot to do about it full cry mag and the internet had a lot to do whith it to reading old hound stories about hunting or reading about the curent stud dog that was all the rage in my younger years i got my first dog in 2003 hunted bear and feildtriled and water raced and bench showed a good 6-7 years before i enterd my first night hunt know i perfer nite hunts and plesure hunting be it bear coon or cat over the other events i to have lerned to take good whith bad in night hunts and there has been times when it was fun to get beat as when the best dog that nigh wijs who can argue whith that..

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Melson's Big Game kennels. home to some decent English dogs ,one leopard and 2 red dogs who are nice dogs to . We hunt bear and coon also a few bobcats and a few grey fox . I am not color blind.

Great hound hunters of the past quotes I like and live buy .
"Its not the legnth off the ears it whats betwen the ears "- lester Nance
" "If you did not see it in the tree it did not happen" -Herb kennedy
" I live to hunt and I hunt to live " - Henry McIntyre

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Registered: Jul 2012
Location: Odessa, Mo
Posts: 2066

Post of the year here. Also when you get them to the club, don't what for them to talk to you. Go up and introduce yourself, and get a conversation going.

quote:

---

Originally posted by btg
Yadkintar- Yes sometimes certian gimmicks will work but only to a point

T Felderman- You are right many as they get older lose the time to hunt playing ball, chasing girls, or starting families will get in the way. But many will start back when they get older that is why you can "re-introduce" them.

Fisher13- Yes they will read it on social media but they won't feel invited.

Dale Huff- Yes they can be lazy. I wonder who they learn that from?

Kids are not the problem we are the problem. I see alot of men at night hunts but I don't see their kids or grandkids. Why? Lazy Men. Men are too worried about winning. Men don't take them because they are too loud, run around and they act like KIDS.

Seeing more youth at clubs starts outside the club doors. Take them with you during the week. The youth are playing with electronics because dad , uncle, etc. is too busy to fool with them. I take a kids and an 83year old man with me almost everytime I go.

So you don't have kids or yours won't go. I have found that there are boys out there that would give their left arm to just to have a man spend quality time with them and teach them the right way to act. No you can't take 15 kids with you everytime you go, but if just pick out a couple good ones that are worth your time and teach them about coon hunting and life neither you nor they will ever forget it. So lets stop blaming the youth and remeber YOU are supposed to be teaching the youth.

---

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