Eight year old Ethan shared his thoughts with his Pap (grandpa), Tim Broadwell. Sometimes adults make things more complicated than they need to be and it’s good to hear things from a kid’s perspective!

Pap: Ethan, you’ve been a big help to your dad and me getting Gundog Magic started. You even helped to choose our company name. We asked you why you like hunting with dogs. Do you remember the answer you gave us?
Ethan: Yes, I like hunting with dogs because you get to spend time doing something fun with your family and your friends and talk about how good the dogs are doing. Your dog is your buddy too. When a dog trees a coon or a squirrel or a beagle runs a rabbit back around to you it’s like magic that they can do the things they do. So we named our company Gundog Magic. Dogs can do a lot of things people can’t do.

Pap: How old were you when you started hunting?
Ethan: I think I was about three or four when I went coon hunting with Daddy and went with you to run your beagles.

Pap: What do you remember about those first hunts?
Ethan: The first time I saw Daddy shoot out a coon, it wasn’t dead when it hit the ground and there was a big old fight. The dogs and the coon rolled into the creek and they all got sopping wet! Finally Banjo killed the coon. He was a big one!

Pap: What about rabbit hunting?
Ethan: I like the hound music when the dogs are hot on a rabbit. I like to shoot at rabbits with my slingshot but I haven’t hit any except for the one you crippled and I shot it with my slingshot!

Pap: Ethan, I know you like to squirrel hunt too and you even have your own dog. Tell us about her.
Ethan: I love to squirrel hunt. My dog’s name is Angel. She’s a treeing feist. I saved up my money and bought her myself. She’s my buddy and she likes to chase squirrels.

Pap: What are some important things to teach a gundog?
Ethan: I think the best thing to teach all the dogs is to come when you call them. You teach them their name and say “hear Angel” and squat down and when they come you give them a treat. Puppies need to learn to walk on a leash too instead of just jumping all over the place.

Pap: Ethan, how do you like a coon dog to hunt?
Ethan: I like for a coon dog to get out into the woods but not too far and find a coon real quick and put him up a tree but not in a Cedar tree. I don’t like for a dog to run two miles away instead of hunting in the woods you are in. Daddy’s dog named Cash has a real loud locate bark when he trees a coon and I like that too.

Pap: How do you like a beagle to hunt?
Ethan: I like beagles that hunt hard to find a rabbit and have a good nose to keep on the track. I like them to bark loud and bring the rabbit around where we can shoot him.

Pap: You like to learn new things and research things on the Internet, don’t you? What kinds of things do you like to learn about?
Ethan: I like to learn about habitat and how to make better places for wildlife to live and better stuff for them to eat. I like to learn about different breeds of dogs and what they do and I like to learn about all kinds of birds.