herding cats

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doubleh

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Any one ever tried it? Can't be done but I felt a little like a cat herder this morning. At their request I took my two oldest , 9 and 12 years old and sisters, great grand daughters to the range this morning. We put out the swinging targets we were going to shoot and that is where things went a little astray. One of them found an empty cartridge and the brass hunt was on. They had to walk all five pistol bays before shooting. Then and only then they got down to business and shot a little. Then both had to take a trip to the ladies restroom. After that another piece of brass was seen and the hunt was on again but grandpa put a stop to it rather quickly and then some shooting got done---- until my daughter arrived with their one year old sister. It was shoot a little, play with the baby a little, and back and forth until grandma, my wife, decided it was time to quit and go get something to eat.

All in all it was a pretty good morning. Overcast and cool with some thin showers around. The girls got to shoot, I got to shoot, and I'm used to the short attention span of young kids. :thumbup:
 
My oldest grand daughter is five, and lives almost 1,600 miles away. I figure when I retire in five years or so and move to be closer to our kids again, she will be ready to engage in the shooting sports. It may prove challenging at that age, but a challenge I look forward to with relish.
 
Where’s the end of the story where they get a snow cone or some ice cream?

I’m taking my girls shooting this weekend. 8 and almost 10 so we will be doing similar stuff I would imagine. And I already told my wife to keep the baby inside, we don’t need any distractions. The 8yr old just took to slapping together an AR so she wants to shoot “the big gun” now and she will get to assuming things go according to plan.
 
Yep, the good old fashion brass hunt. We shoot on an open range, won't be kids usually don't get to run around unless we're the only ones there. But MAN, when they do I come away with a 5 gal bucket full of shiney stuff, and rocks, my boy really likes rocks. I quit even trying to get useable brass out of the mess, now it goes home gets washed, and they can lose there own brass in the yard....and build rock piles....
 
WestKentucky said:
Where’s the end of the story where they get a snow cone or some ice cream?
Click to expand...

They had their choice of donuts or cinamon rolls and a drink. Just to set everyone's mind at ease we were the only ones at the pistol/22 rifle bays. None the less grandma and I kept a close eye on them, mostly to make sure they stayed out of the mud that was in a couple of bays.
 
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doubleh,

It's sounds like you had an enjoyable day with your grandkids :thumbup:

As far as keeping a child's attention and them getting distracted, I like to call it ADOLAS - attention deficit, oh look a squirrel.

I know the feeling of trying to herd cats. I use to work as a bouncer at a bar. Trying to get a bunch of drunks to leave at closing time is always an adventure.
 
I went to an indoor USPSA match recently. Saw some 8yr old with a holster. Thought thats nice, dads letting him wear his holster. First stage he blew me away. He runs like a rabbit and had better firearm handling than anyone there. Kids are amazing. He's 9 now and a B class shooter.. I wonder how that goes over in school when the "what did you do this weekend" topic comes up?
 
We both play and he does usually have the answer when I have a question.
It's a love hate thing for me with the vijia games. It sure is fun and the ammo is cheap. I just hate getting smoked by some little kid and have him call me trash afterwards. LOL
 
I'm gonna tell an old joke that someone told me how to herd cats, but I don't want to be misunderstood; I love cats, own one, and have owned a cat for most of my life. I also don't want to convey the idea that I'd ever hurt a child. It's just a joke.

Q: If you own 10 cats, how do you herd them?

A: You shoot 9.

Seriously you cannot herd cats.

And kiddos are almost as hard.

I hope with the wee ones running around the range, safety was maintain.


Yours sincerely, TommyGunn, the Master of Bad Jokes. :confused:
 
My kids did fine shooting, even before kindergarten. But it was a 1 on 1 kinda thing.

My youngest is the one that wants to shoot and hunt, and is the one w the tissue disorder. Figures.

.22rf about it for her, unless i do a .300AAC on a tripod. Has had shoulder repairs and worry about retina..

.so min recoil.

But she cant handle cold temps or swings on temp. So gun season is no go here
 
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The thread title got my attention and reminded me about how we controlled cats....as kids we milked several dairy cows and never herded cats, instead we appealed to their natural weakness, milk. Carry a couple buckets of milk each milking session and dump it out in pans for the cats, not uncommon to have 25-to-30 cats following the buckets.

As a Grandparent I learned kids are the same, you can't herd them like cats but you can appeal to their weaknesses.....often used a behavior and reward system using M&M's. Cats can be trained to follow the milk and kids will follow the candy......every time. :)

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I have taken young kids to ranges when matches were rained out or otherwise closed to shooting but it was OK that we were there. To pick up lead at the back stop or brass.

Shooting is a one at a time, rules to follow activity and usually doesn’t last too long before they want to play with dirt or something else catches their attention, then we move on.

I have even been asked if we could go to the “shooting place” only to find out it was a reading party for her and her dolls...

18F76A17-2958-4826-BCE0-F26EE8CE7BBC.jpeg
 
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