His First Deer Experience That Will Last a Lifetime!
One of the biggest and most satisfying experiences any father, Mother, Uncle, Aunt, or grandparent could ever experience is watching a young person enjoy his adventures in the outdoors. I think it was in the winter of 2017 around the end of October. One of the coldest days I can remember hunting in Texas. I had the pleasure of taking my great nephew hunting for the first time since he completed his hunting Trainers course. As I said it was very cold that day, I believe it was somewhere between 5 – 10 degrees Fahrenheit. So, his dad and I made sure the young man was bundled warm as per instructions from the boss (Mom).
We started out that morning around five AM so we could get into the stand during the hours of darkness well before daylight. One of the first lessons I taught him was how to light the propane heater, as I made sure we had plenty of propane canisters so we could stay warm that morning. Actually, it was more so for the old folks as our blood is a little thinner with age. Those younger gents and gals have thick blood.
I’m telling you it was so cold that morning it had to be -10 degrees when the sun started peeking above the horizon, but my great nephew was determined to stick it out and he sat there not moving and watching out the window of the deer blind. Now remember, we sat in a wooded area of the 750-acre ranch we leased for hunting and fishing and all of this land was surrounded by other ranchers who owned land and all this land was low fences. If you saw a nice buck that was legal you better shoot it because if he jumped the fence the chances of seeing again him would be zero. Hunters on the other side were trained too.
As we waited until the sun was above the horizon. We listened as the birds began to come alive with their chirping and the songbirds bringing the morning to life in the woods. All of a sudden, we saw a movement of a doe in the distance just wandering through the woods. Nothing particular was on her mind except trying to walk off the morning chill, then a few moments later a young fawn caught up with her and they continued on their way towards the water source that was about 300 yards to our south. For the moment things were quiet, then, a doe came charging out of the wood line, and about fifteen seconds later here came the big boy (buck) right behind her.
While we got a glimpse of how nice he was I nor my great nephew could not see the width of his antlers and of course, when they stopped the two of them were behind a tree that blocked our view so we waited for them to step out to get a better visual of the buck and to confirm if he was legal. Thank goodness for the hunter’s safety course because when he exposed himself my great-nephew sitting to my right could see him but I could not. He whispered loud he is big, he is big. I ask him if he was legal and he said yes, the inside spread had to be 13” at the alert position. I said if he is that big shoot, Kolt took aim and fired. He said he was dead, and I said did you shoot for the shoulder as we taught you and he answered, “no I could not see the shoulder so I shot him in the neck,” wow we stepped it off and the deer was 120 yards away. Great shot and the look on his face were priceless. Later that morning he shot a pig that was almost taller than him. He went home that weekend with one satisfied young man and I have to say I was proud of him too!
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