I am proud to say that my 10 year old son Jared has officially come of age and is now my number one hunting partner.  Last year was his first time ever going on a dove hunt and shooting his own shotgun.  He uses an old refurbished single shot 20 gauge that we bought for $50 dollars years ago.  He loves it and it works good at knocking down high flying doves.  We decieded to hunt opening weekend of the speacial whitewing season in a public hunt unit south of Ulvade, TX.  We invited my brother in law Domingo Lopez and two close friends from our home town.  The drive was long from San Antonio but the hunting was well worht it.  The location was nice surronded by grain fields and nice clear area to find dropped birds.  My son quickly learned techniques to shoot doves and downed 6 birds on his first dove hunt ever.  This was pretty outstanding considering he had four adults to compete with that were shooting at everything in sight.  He went on to hunt other public hunt loations with similiar success, it is important that he understands and respects firearms and the danger they bring.  I believe taking him hunting helps him respect others and learn valuable life long lessons.  I am proud to say that he is eagerly awaiting this years opening hunt and I know he will continue to shoot good and down plenty of birds.