Favorite Public Land Hunt

[Boone44]

I decided to take my son on his first ever deer hunt in DCNF. He was 1 month shy of 5 years old. We began preparing well before season watching hunting shows and spotting deer in the evenings. On 1 of our trips to spot deer he noticed a deer crossing sign on the highway and asked me what it was for. I told him it meant that deer crossed there frequently and it warned traffic. We were getting ready to the point that at night before bed we would pretend to rattle up bucks, call out how many points they had, grunt to stop him, then shoot. Opening weekend finally came, it was a cool 40 degrees. The original plan was to make 1 morning hunt and take him back home some 3 hours away. I figured 1 hunt in the forest is all he would want. I packed the gun, rattling horns, grunt, pop up blind, blankets, snacks, drinks, Gameboy, a ton of hunter orange and off we went. He walked all the way in following bright eyes with his flashlight some 650 yards. We were set up 30 minutes before daylight, he was asleep 25 minutes before daylight. Around 7:30 a 4 pt walked by at 40 yards, I woke him up to see. He wanted me to shoot him but I explained that I couldn't. We saw nothing the rest of the hunt, I hated that. To my surprise my son asked to stay another night and hunt the evening and more morning. I think he just wanted to build a fire and eat smores, whatever it takes. That evening we made it all the way to the blind, settled in and he turned to me and said "lets go get the fire would and marshmellows" Off we went, evening hunt lasted 2 minutes. That night we enjoyed a fire and some smores. I wasn't sure if he would get up the next morning but he popped right up ready to go. Once again we were ready early and he was asleep early. He woke up around 9:30, ate his snacks, played his Gameboy some and then climbed on my knee. I apologized to him for not seeing a deer we could shoot and asked him what his favorite part of the hunt was. He replied "following the bright eyes in." I then asked him what he thought my favorite part of the hunt was and he replied "me being here." He sure nailed that one. I couldn't believe what he asked next. He asked me "why didn't you put up a deer crossing sign on that tree so the deer would walk by us?" I smiled from ear to ear and told him I had thought of it I would have. Well, he was ready to go but I promised my buddy we would hunt until 10:30 and I didn't want to mess him up. I told my son that I would rattle and the bucks would come running in just like on tv. I rattled those horns as loud as I could for 5 minutes straight. As soon as I stopped my son said "lets go." I started to reply when a doe stepped into view 60 yards away and just stared at us. My son was standing over my shoulder saying "shoot, shoot." I had to explain again that we couldn't shoot just any deer. I told him that maybe a buck was with her and he should be ready. The doe took 2 steps forward and was gone. Seconds later we saw legs coming. A deer was walking in the same place as the doe, it was a buck, my son grunted just at the right time stopping him in his tracks, I shot. I couldn't believe what just happened. I found the first spot of blood and my son took over. He followed the blood himself for about 60 yards. I'll never forget his voice, "there's blood, there's blood," ever step. He found the 8pt with 4 kickers, (12pt) that scored 126". My favorite public land hunt ever.

[zhall]

Cool story.

[Etxbuckman]

That's a great story. Having seen some of your pictures I'd say it won't be long he'll be knocking down the big boys as well.

[rednecktbrizz7]

Awesome write up and great story congrats. How bout some pics to go along with it

[JVANS74]

Great write up thanks for sharing.

[Boone44]

pics

[Boone44]

http://oi58.tinypic.com/20svhag.jpg

[Boone44]

http://oi59.tinypic.com/1z9e0w.jpg

[Ender]

Good story

[Cprothro]

My son is two and I already can not wait to take him on his first squirrel hunt next year.