I want to get a little deeper on hunting with kids today. Many people have reached out asking about it and we all know there are ten ways to skin a cat right?
Anyways, we have four kids and all of them tag along on the mountain nearly every weekend we all go out. If it’s just the hubs, he usually takes our boy and during Lion season, the girls go.
We have a system and our kids know how to hike. They love to hike because we made it fun. It started off when we moved to Southern Utah and began hiking the area down here. We do feel like this set the foundation for them learning how to navigate around in the hills.
We’ve been on a few sketchy hikes to trees, listened to a lot of whining in the truck, and worked through learning an area + camping in a tent.
We’ve made many improvements slowly over time, but the biggest one for us is figuring out how to keep our kids happy in the truck when the days get long and we aren’t finding much.
First and foremost I’m sure we all know the term “hangry” right? Now I don’t know about you, but Dustin also says some days I can take this to a whole new level. My life revolves around food and I’m always making sure there are snacks involved when traveling or hunting!
So, we have a hard shell cooler that sits in the back. The reason for the hard shell you ask? Well, if you have kids you know they can’t hold still and when they are hopping around and jump on a bag full of snacks, everything gets smashed and then…. They won’t eat any of it! Been there and learned that!
Second, ya know the drives where the kid is constantly asking you to hand them the drink because they are thirsty? We conquered this with insulated water bottles for all + they are in charge of their own before we hop in the truck.
No more reaching over the seat to pass it back and the best part is they don’t leak. Now, we did upgrade the truck this past year so they do all have a cup holder in the back, but we have caught one rolling around a time or two.
Third, get yourself a playlist! Now we play “Daddy DJ” and the kids get to request a song. Luckily, they have all taken to the music that Dustin loves quite well so the most requested have been songs or brains can all handle.
I will admit, I’ve never been the mom willing to play any cheesy kid songs in the car so cutting those out was never a bridge we had to cross.
Fourth, when the whining begins… distract them! With anything you can think of from asking questions to saying, “LOOK, is that a track on the road?” They perk up real quick, but if they don’t stop we’ve had many times of listening to dad tell them “Quit your damn whining” and plenty of thoughts of dropping them on the side of the road and grabbing them on our way back down!
Our favorite days… the ones where we freecast and spend more time in the stop and go. It breaks up the long hours in the truck and allows them to stretch their legs and get their wiggles out.
We’ve neve really been one to pack activities in the truck because it just makes a bigger mess. They use their imaginations, hang their heads out the window, and try to grab sticks as we drive by! Anyone else remember doing this in the truck when you were young? I know I do!
Anyways, this is what has worked for us + I hope there’s a golden nugget that helped you too!
Keep 'em fed, in charge of their own drink so you don’t have to cater, and let them roll those windows down Daddy DJ! We only get 'em for so long, so let’s make memories they’ll remember forever.
See ya on the mountain!
The ColdStrike Fam
