Opening morning I got the pleasure of taking my oldest (14) on his first bow hunt. We sat in a 2 man tree stand and had a young buck and a shooter come in together. I told him before the hunt that I wanted him to start with a doe for his first kill. When these 2 came in, I decided to pass on the buck and just watch them. They ate a while and I thought to myself,“life is short and he’s confident with his bow, let him take the buck”. I asked if he wanted to, and of course he did. The younger buck was spooky and kept looking at us, but never winded us. I told James to go ahead and draw, and when he did, the younger buck spooked before he could get on target and they both started easing away. The one he was after quartered towards us at about 25 yards and stopped. When he turned,
James let off and they slowly walked out to about 60 yards while trying to see if they could wind us.
I told him “Good job, I’m proud of you for not trying to rush a shot. You do really well.” Then I jokingly asked him why his bow was shaking and he giggled quietly and said “I’m shaking.”
They started easing back in and I whispered to him, “if he gets to that opening right there, it’s exactly 20 yards, I’ll stop him and you take your time and let one fly.” Sure enough, they did, I stopped the buck and whispered “whenever you’re rea...”,
*THWACK*, he lets one fly.
“...dy.”
I saw the arrow connect, the buck kick and run off. Shot looked good to me, but James told me he thought he hit him back. I look at the video, and the shot was good, but I still decided we’d give him an hour before easing out to leave the property, get some breakfast and come back. We got down, found some blood, but not a ton, so we started walking out down the fenceline of the property next to a hayfield with tall grass that went all the way up to the road where we parked. We get about halfway to the truck while walking in the ditch next to the hayfield. As we walked, I caught some movement beside us about 50 yards inside the tall grass of the field. I look closer and could see a bucks antlers barely sticking out above the grass. He was walking towards the road angling away from us. I handed James the rangefinder, nocked and arrow and told him that buck was about to come out of the grass. The buck clears enough of the grass that I can see James’ arrow sticking out of this buck! I draw, say “Dude, that’s your buck”, and James starts telling me the range. “ 36,38, 42”
“MEHHHH”
The buck stops, and I let one fly. The buck immediately takes of in a sprint and disappears back into the field. About the time James asks “Did you miss him?!” I hear the buck tumble heels over antlers. I yell, “No, I freaking smoked him!” We both went NUTS and I start following the crime scene like blood trail that my Grim Reaper left all over the tall grass. We get up to him and the grass is laid over, and there he lies with James’ arrow broken off next to him and the other half still sticking in him, and we went nuts again. He made it about 20 yards from where he went into the grass.
I still can’t believe how it all unfolded and feel so blessed to have this memory with my boy that will last a lifetime.
James is officially hooked on bow hunting, and I doubt he’ll ever use a rifle on a deer again. He told me, “ I know you said bow hunting was completely different, but I didn’t know it would be like THIS!”
Come to find out, his arrow hit the bucks elbow, which kept him from getting good penetration, but the shot was on target and took out one lung.
I posted a live video showing how it all went down on my Facebook and a post that has the video of his shot
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
James let off and they slowly walked out to about 60 yards while trying to see if they could wind us.
I told him “Good job, I’m proud of you for not trying to rush a shot. You do really well.” Then I jokingly asked him why his bow was shaking and he giggled quietly and said “I’m shaking.”
They started easing back in and I whispered to him, “if he gets to that opening right there, it’s exactly 20 yards, I’ll stop him and you take your time and let one fly.” Sure enough, they did, I stopped the buck and whispered “whenever you’re rea...”,
*THWACK*, he lets one fly.
“...dy.”
I saw the arrow connect, the buck kick and run off. Shot looked good to me, but James told me he thought he hit him back. I look at the video, and the shot was good, but I still decided we’d give him an hour before easing out to leave the property, get some breakfast and come back. We got down, found some blood, but not a ton, so we started walking out down the fenceline of the property next to a hayfield with tall grass that went all the way up to the road where we parked. We get about halfway to the truck while walking in the ditch next to the hayfield. As we walked, I caught some movement beside us about 50 yards inside the tall grass of the field. I look closer and could see a bucks antlers barely sticking out above the grass. He was walking towards the road angling away from us. I handed James the rangefinder, nocked and arrow and told him that buck was about to come out of the grass. The buck clears enough of the grass that I can see James’ arrow sticking out of this buck! I draw, say “Dude, that’s your buck”, and James starts telling me the range. “ 36,38, 42”
“MEHHHH”
The buck stops, and I let one fly. The buck immediately takes of in a sprint and disappears back into the field. About the time James asks “Did you miss him?!” I hear the buck tumble heels over antlers. I yell, “No, I freaking smoked him!” We both went NUTS and I start following the crime scene like blood trail that my Grim Reaper left all over the tall grass. We get up to him and the grass is laid over, and there he lies with James’ arrow broken off next to him and the other half still sticking in him, and we went nuts again. He made it about 20 yards from where he went into the grass.
I still can’t believe how it all unfolded and feel so blessed to have this memory with my boy that will last a lifetime.
James is officially hooked on bow hunting, and I doubt he’ll ever use a rifle on a deer again. He told me, “ I know you said bow hunting was completely different, but I didn’t know it would be like THIS!”
Come to find out, his arrow hit the bucks elbow, which kept him from getting good penetration, but the shot was on target and took out one lung.
I posted a live video showing how it all went down on my Facebook and a post that has the video of his shot
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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