Taking a youngster turkey hunting? These 9 tips will help make your gobbler hunt a success

High hopes for an outdoor family’s future often start well before newborns soil their first camo onesies. Then soon enough, changing diapers turns to changing lures, and before parents know it, they’re being out-fished and out-hunted by the same children who learned everything from them. Somewhere right now, in fact, there are plans coming together for daughters and sons who can’t wait to ride shotgun on their first spring turkey opener.

I first embraced fatherhood with the anticipation of doing all the cool outdoor things with my own kids that I learned from my dad, regifting his teaching techniques and lesson plans for the trout stream and grouse trail. When it finally came time to introduce my two sons to the world of turkey hunting, however, it was something I would have to figure out on my own—a sustainable wild turkey population just didn’t exist yet in my neck of the woods when my dad was teaching me about hunting.

If you’re planning to take youngsters on their first gobbler hunt this spring, I hope what I’ve learned can help make your own outing a success, and save you some frustration afield in the process. And as an added bonus, many of these tips can also apply to other hunts.