James is in the fourth grade.  He is fascinated with all things related to hunting right now. 

He has been practicing his skills with a bow and arrow in the back yard, and with a rifle at the local shooting range with dad.  He is learning about gun safety and how to care for the weapons.  He is also learning about how to use the weapons to hunt for food. 

Our family enjoys eating deer that my husband hunted.  We teach our children that we only hunt animals we intend to eat.  Or, we would only shoot an animal if our life or livestock was in danger, such as a cyottee trying to kill a calf or a turkey, or a raccoon killing our chickens.   So our children are raised with a respect for life.   James is looking forward to going on his first real hunt with dad in the near future.

 

Recently, we gave the boys a hunting computer game called   “Hunting Unlimited 4”.  This has been a great activity for all of them to learn more about hunting.  James brothers love this game too.  They are in the second grade, and kindergarten and all of them can spend a good deal of time playing hunting.

Even dad enjoys getting in on the action.  He has played the game several times with the boys.  Though James did have to teach the “hunting expert” a thing or two on using the computer software.  Why is it that kids can master the computer so fast, and it is such a challenge for adults?

Even though this is a computer game, James is learning a great deal.  Here are some of the skills he has been practicing.

*Learn about 30 different hunting weapons and accessories.  His favorite weapon is the cross bow and the 308 bolt rifle.  He had the most success in his hunting adventures with these. 

*Learn about the weapon’s engineering and power to use in the hunt. 

*Make decisions about what weapons to use in what locations, and with what type of prey.



*Learn Geography on 50 different missions.  Study the maps and terrain of several different countries on different continents. 



*Learn about animal science.  Study 15 different animals and numerous subspecies.  Learn about where they live, what they eat, what their habits are, how much they weigh, and much more.



*Learn about the dangers in hunting different animals. In some of the adventures, your character can be killed by a bear or other animals.  So there are safety issues to learn too.

*Practice using different weapons, and targets. 

*Learn how to judge distance, direction, terrain, wind, and other factors in hitting targets. 

*Use math and logic in decision making.

*Learn about the weather and the wind and how these affect the function of your weapons.



*Finally you can create your own missions with the mission editor feature.  

*Learn several computor skills too.

This is a great way for boys to learn about science, geography, animals, engineering, and have fun at the same time.

This game is sure to please any boy, or dad, interested in hunting.