Son's First Deer - Deer Hunting - Deer Hunting

I took my 10 year old son out for his first deer hunt this past Friday. Work screwed up half my day and we were running late. We talked about our plan of attack on the way down and as soon as we unloaded the truck, we put that plan in motion. We quickly jump on the 4 wheeler and pulled the camera cards. The perfect info came across the card reader. The stand I wanted to put us in had two bucks come by the last four evenings. I knew that the Taj Mahal (that’s a nice tower we built a few years ago) would not disappoint.

1st things 1st of course was a quick refresher on gun safety and then setting up at the range to make sure he could still aim straight. Well, before I could stop the next string of events from happening, it was too late. I noticed that he quickly peeked out over the top of the scope and whooomp, he pulled the trigger and got is azz handed to him, he forgot to keep the gun in tight to his shoulder. Tears were flowing and I was sure that there would be a big bruise. I honestly thought the day was over right then and there. We talked things over and I tried to get him to squeeze off one more, but he was not having any of that noise. I looked for an answer to our little dilemma, do I hold the gun and let him pull the trigger??? Nope, not the right thing to do, Do we switch arms??? We talked about that too and he wasn’t comfortable. Padding, that’s it. I ended up finding a few neck gators and folded them up to put against his shoulder and we were off and running again.Two rounds right in the lungs, we were ready.

We headed inside, ate some snacks and looked at the card reader again. We started getting dressed and we in stand by 5:00 pm. The bucks had been coming through between 5:45 and 6:15 every day that week. We of started out with our annual thumb wrestling tournament and did the normal father son joking and talking. After a while Isaac was just sitting on the floor of the Taj and playing on my phone. I happened to look out the east and there was one of the bucks, right on cue, 5:55 pm.

We got all situated, the gun was resting, Isaac was sitting on my lap and now both bucks were feeding their way right too us. Man, the excitement was awesome. He was pumped, talked himself into both of them deer, which ever one gave him a broadside shot, he was going to let the air out of that buck. A couple of different times, I got to watch buck fever grab a hold of him with both hands, breathing heavy, shaking, way to excited to make a good shot. We talked about breathing slowly, calming down, relaxing (if possible). We had plenty of time still, both bucks were still feeding towards us.

The moment of truth came an agonizing 20 minutes later. We had picked out the buck he wanted to shoot, it was 35 yards broadside, even quartering away just a little bit. I told him to squeeze the trigger…….BOOM, I saw the buck hunch up and take off into the woods. Isaac was freaked out, the sound blast/recoil from being inside the tower stand really shook him up. He was crying, he said the gun hurt his shoulder again and his body was shaking. I looked at him and said “You smoked him buddy” – “Really Daddy, Really?!?!” “Yep, that will be one dead buck, You Smashed him bud” Tears of sadness and soreness, turned into tears of joy. It was a very surreal moment that neither of us will soon forget.

I climbed down to look for some blood and asked Isaac to stay up in the blind to calm down a little more and relax. I found some hair, then some blood, and then some blood soaked corn. Uh oh, gut shot, we’d have to let this buck lay for a while. I got Isaac down and showed him what I found and explained what had happened and why we needed to back out for a few hours. He understood and we headed in for a burger and to celebrate. About 8:30 that night we came back out with flash lights in hand and started down the blood trail. It was weak at best, we only found just a few small spots in the first 30 feet and not knowing for sure which way he went, it didn’t take much for me to decide that we will have to come back in the morning. That might have been the worst thing I’ve ever said to my boy.

He was totally and completely deflated. “Why didn’t I make a better shot??” he asked me. We really talked this one over, I wanted to ensure him that these things happen and that I was not coming out of them woods in the morning with out a buck. Dad would find his deer, I promised him, and he understood. Promises or not, we both had a hard time relaxing and falling asleep that night. He was awake 4 or 5 different times and of course I was already awake each time he got up. What time is it dad, what time does it get light out, how many more hours, can’t we just go look again????? UUGGHH, it was killing me, and obviously him too.

7:30am or so, we got geared up and headed out again. I picked up where I had left off the night before and Isaac was kind of meandering off to the east, I said, keep your eyes on the ground and help find blood. I even showed him how dark it is now after it dries up. Wouldn’t you know it, 3-4 minutes later, Isaac is running and screaming, “I FOUND HIM DAD, I FOUND HIM” there the buck laid, not more than 60 yards from where Isaac hit him. It hardly bled at all, we even back tracked it, but found very little sign. It was a higher power that dragged Isaac to that buck, I really believe it, it was some thick and nasty stuff to get to and who knows, we may have walked right past him. I honestly thought that, that buck would have gone much farther than he did. I honestly can’t believe we didn’t hear him pile up. Hugs and photos came soon after, many phone calls to friends and family were made and we headed back to grab a 4 wheeler again to aid in getting him out. He must have been quartering more than I remember, there wasn’t much left of the innards……Liver, intestines, stomach, lung were all taken out. PEWWWWWW, all in all the meat was in good shape, had to take out a little extra side fat and such, but not a big deal.

I’d never be able to duplicate that moment, it was just like we’ve all read before and just like I’d hoped it would be. One for the memories and one for the books for sure. That rack with be placed on a plaque and proudly displayed in our basement right along side the rest of the family trophies. Sorry son, no shoulder mount this time, but it doesn’t hurt to ask……