son lost interest

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Guess I did see it coming, but hoped it wasn't so. My 14-year-old son hasn't wanted to practice as he should for a couple of years.

This year he started talking about not liking to sit so long in a tree  stand, especially when he probably wouldn't see a deer. (He wasn't far off on that last part in our neck of the woods.)

Came time to buy his license, he said he'd rather save the money for a new computer....

I think that, as so many do, he may come back to hunting one day, but for now, he likes instant results, as in computer scenarios. He's not lazy--does well in karate and practices that.. I started taking a class myself.

So, I'll be  hunting alone, unless he  has a change of heart.

Just needed to say this to  folks who understand.

Jim

[kawika b]

jim,,,be glad you can even talk to your son on that kind of level. that says a lot of good as far as your fathering goes. keep his fire stoked with stories and such. he may wanna give it a go later on down the line. for now as a teenager he'll be a totally different person,LOL.

[Bjorn]

That is a bummer...but sounds like you are going with the flow, Jim.
 Unfortunately they can't be pushed. My 14 year old is spotty too.............we hunt on the ground and that helps with the 'boredom'.

[vermonster13]

Share in as many of his interests as you can and he just may want to share in your's again.

Might want to buy him a small game license and take him after some instant gratification just to keep the embers smoldering.

[deadpool]

i hit that phase myself when I was thirteen, a new bow and some flu flu arrows with a day of pheasant hunting changed that for me

[30coupe]

Don't force it. He'll come back to it in all likelyhood. My youngest (age 22) hadn't picked up his bow since last spring. I thought he had lost interest, but I didn't press the issue. Last weekend he came home from college and wanted to shoot. He flung some arrows for about a half hour, and then said he was taking his bow back to school with him (he lives off campus). He said there was an archery club in Ames, so he was going to join and do some practice.

Sunday he called to tell me he got engaged Saturday night (not a shock as they have been together for over 6 years). The shocker was when he asked for my recommendations on a tree stand!

Keep your own fire burning and your son may decide to join you. I would bet he will.

[Tater John]

Don't have an answer for you Jim, but you ain't alone. I'm right where you are, again for the 3rd time

Rusty

[Rooselk]

Jim, I put my own dad through that when I was a kid. And so did many of my friends. The reason I know this about my friends is because my friends and I have talked about this very subject at hunting camp. Chances are that your son will someday become interested in hunting again if he had the bug when he was young.

If possible, you might try suggesting some spot and stalk hunting rather than a tree stand to see if he bites.

[Luckyned]

Jim, I hear you pain, brother and I'm right there with ya. I have 4 kids and I'm trying hard to 'ground' them with some family traditions but it is extremely difficult! I refuse to cave.. I will have my way..at the expense of the rest of modern world's way of thinking. <--not an extremist even though I feel like one at times. I have the option of blaming our game commission. Kids won't see squat without private land to hunt. My only problem is my kids are young and still afraid of the only huntable game on my land.

[Pete W]

He told you the problem. Sitting in a stand all day.
 Let him walk.

Pete

[SC Bowhunter]

Jim,
I feel your pain. My 16 year old son has had no interest. I have been a hunting maniac from birth so it's hard to accept. Luckily, my 12 year old daughter is archery hunting with me for the first time this year. I have told her to take a book to our stand and read a sentence and look around. Without it she is bored in 2 minutes. The other day we were on stand for 4 hours. I think for a kid it's better for them to just be out than to be bored and lose interest. My son told me the other day he would like to go turkey hunting so maybe there is hope for him yet. Hang in there.

Rob

[fredbear92]

I know what you mean.....except I'm completly opposite. I started hunting when I was 13 and I've been hooked ever since. I'm 15 now and I still have the strong desire to head to the woods.

[thp]

Right there with you.  Sad when it happens.  Got my son a youth season tag and when it came one of our only opportunities to go out and hunt he chose to go and watch a girls volleyball match.  Though I lost money on the tag I had to smile.  Sometimes when you are a 14 year old guy watching pretty girls play volleyball is a lot more interesting than sitting in a treestand with your ol' man.  oh well, he'll be back to the woods in a few years.

[leon]

I am going thur the same thing with my 13 year old.

[Tbilisi]

My son went thru this at about that age.  They have to discover what they as individuals want.  It is nothing to worry about.  It's hard to sit still at the age of thirteen.  Let him discover his way.  That's why we have kids so we can allow them to become adults.

[NDTerminator]

My son didn't go through that phase until a couple years later.  It didn't last with him and I think it doesn't with most.  Now he's a grown man, a careeer US Army soldier with a tour in the Afghanistan under his belt, and wants desperately to come home again for good so he can live the rural hunting lifestyle he was brought up in.

It's a lot different for kids now than it was when I was in HS in the 70's.  I successfully juggled school, a part time job, 3 varsity sports, and a steady girlfriend, with only minor cuts into my hunting and outdoors time.

Now it seems school demands so much more time, and a varsity athlete essentially has a full time year round job in one or two sports alone.
Casual dating seems a thing of the past; kids go out once or twice and then they are "going together" which translates into a full time committed relationship.

Hang in there, I bet he'll come around in time...

[Stone Knife]

I hope i never have to go through it, my so is only 11 and can't hunt yet. But i take him to 3D shoots that we camp out together during the summer this has kept his interest up. Do you do those kind of things with your son to keep his interest, not only with archery but with you. It is very hard to compete with the instant gratification of video and computer games. Just sitting in a unproductive tree stand would get to most anyone but the most die hard hunter and then they would only put up with that for so long. Have you thought about taking a trip together to do a different kind of hunting, it doesn't have to be real expensive if you could not afford such a hunt. Last year i took my son to the bunny hunt we had a blast together and till this day he is still talking about it. Try to mix it up a little, there are a lot of distractions in this world for a 14 year old boy that will compete with the time spent with dad, so as parents we need to work hard to capitalize on the time spent with our children. I wouldn't give up on him, 20 years from now he will have forgotten all about that computer but he will never forget the times his dad took him hunting camping and just spent time in the woods with him. Good luck, it will all work out in the end.

[Billy]

Gone/going through it....
22yr old is sometimes interested again and the 16yr old has always been more interested in shotguns and flight arras.
 It's all good though. They sometimes throw the 'old guy' a bone and ask to go fishing or some other thing outside.
 Long as I can still beat 'em at chess we have something ...LOL

[Wulomac]

My sons both lost the hunting bug due to college, girls and being 16 or 17.  Now they are 27 and 31 and we are going to hunt again this fall!  Don't give up - don't ever give up.

Wells

[MI_Bowhunter]

Teenagers, nuff said.

Maybe he just needs to try a different style of hunting if sitting in a tree is becoming too boring. Maybe a different quarry, small game, 3d targets, etc.