Like the majority of you here, hunting is something we live to do and is even better when we get to enjoy it with friends and family. We headed to our place in SW Texas Friday afternoon and our #1 objective was to get my 6 yo boy’s first deer.
We rolled into camp pretty late Friday night / Saturday morning. Little man was out and momma talked me into letting him sleep in that morning since we will be here for a while. My 11 yo daughter and I headed to the stand while momma and little man caught up on their sleep. Daylight greeted us with several whitetail, axis, and a few pigs. We passed on the pigs, thinking it’d give little man some target practice that afternoon. All in all it was great hunt, as is every hunt with the kids in tow.
As afternoon approached the plan was for me to hunt with little man and momma to hunt with our daughter. We had a last minute change of plans and decided to go to a different side of the ranch so we could be closer while we were hunting (within radio distance). We dropped the girls off and I let little man pick between a couple of stands that were close. He chose a high rise blind that has a couple of feeders, one up a hill and the other directly down the hill, with the stand positioned directly between them. We hadn’t been in there long when a lone doe walked out. Of course he was chomping at the bit to get the gun in hand. After a small rodeo we were finally situated, the moment we had been practicing for. As he got the gun steadied we went over the three things he needed to do: hold the gun still, squeeze trigger slowly, and keep his eyes open to see deer fall through the scope. As we were waiting for her to turn broadside I got a little nervous and even pulled up a pic and had him show me again exactly where he was going to aim, it was perfect! He got steadied again, she turned perfectly broadside, and I gave him the green light. I could fee him getting prepared for the shot, then boom! My heart raced as I watched the doe run off, favoring her front legs....I was trying to keep myself from jumping out of the stand in excitement. We waited a few minutes and went down to look for blood. We immediately saw tons of blood and made a short 40 yd track. He was leading the effort in the end and actually walked right past the deer, as the blood went a little past her and she doubled back. High fives, hugs and, of course, blood on his face for his first kill commenced. We took a few pics and then headed back to the stand to grab the truck.
As we were walking back I looked up the hill at the other feeder and there was a very nice 6yo 10pt. When I asked him if he wanted to shoot, he first said no, that I could shoot it. He said he didn’t want to shoot all the deer and that he wanted me to shoot one too. After telling him I wasn’t going to shoot it, that it was all his, he gladly said he’d do it. Somehow we managed to sneak back towards the stand, climb a fence, and climb up the ladder without the buck seeing us. After another small rodeo we got him all situated, went through the 3 things again, and he was ready. The 6.5 went boom again and buck dropped right where he stood. You talk about a proud dad moment!
We rolled into camp pretty late Friday night / Saturday morning. Little man was out and momma talked me into letting him sleep in that morning since we will be here for a while. My 11 yo daughter and I headed to the stand while momma and little man caught up on their sleep. Daylight greeted us with several whitetail, axis, and a few pigs. We passed on the pigs, thinking it’d give little man some target practice that afternoon. All in all it was great hunt, as is every hunt with the kids in tow.
As afternoon approached the plan was for me to hunt with little man and momma to hunt with our daughter. We had a last minute change of plans and decided to go to a different side of the ranch so we could be closer while we were hunting (within radio distance). We dropped the girls off and I let little man pick between a couple of stands that were close. He chose a high rise blind that has a couple of feeders, one up a hill and the other directly down the hill, with the stand positioned directly between them. We hadn’t been in there long when a lone doe walked out. Of course he was chomping at the bit to get the gun in hand. After a small rodeo we were finally situated, the moment we had been practicing for. As he got the gun steadied we went over the three things he needed to do: hold the gun still, squeeze trigger slowly, and keep his eyes open to see deer fall through the scope. As we were waiting for her to turn broadside I got a little nervous and even pulled up a pic and had him show me again exactly where he was going to aim, it was perfect! He got steadied again, she turned perfectly broadside, and I gave him the green light. I could fee him getting prepared for the shot, then boom! My heart raced as I watched the doe run off, favoring her front legs....I was trying to keep myself from jumping out of the stand in excitement. We waited a few minutes and went down to look for blood. We immediately saw tons of blood and made a short 40 yd track. He was leading the effort in the end and actually walked right past the deer, as the blood went a little past her and she doubled back. High fives, hugs and, of course, blood on his face for his first kill commenced. We took a few pics and then headed back to the stand to grab the truck.
As we were walking back I looked up the hill at the other feeder and there was a very nice 6yo 10pt. When I asked him if he wanted to shoot, he first said no, that I could shoot it. He said he didn’t want to shoot all the deer and that he wanted me to shoot one too. After telling him I wasn’t going to shoot it, that it was all his, he gladly said he’d do it. Somehow we managed to sneak back towards the stand, climb a fence, and climb up the ladder without the buck seeing us. After another small rodeo we got him all situated, went through the 3 things again, and he was ready. The 6.5 went boom again and buck dropped right where he stood. You talk about a proud dad moment!
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