So my buddy who is on my lease with me is 17 years old. Kid doesn't have many friends and just likes to hunt and fish so I went out of my way to help him out and offer him a spot on my lease. Today he called me and told me he shot his first doe with a bow! I was all excited for him and told him congrats but then he told me he can't find it. I ask him what happened and he said that he hit the front shoulder and then it ran off and bedded in beans. He went after it and pushed it into the corn. So I hop in the truck and drive an hour to the lease to help him get it. He's showing me this blood trail in the corn and its about a drop every 10 feet. Im starting to get nervous that this thing ain't dead yet... Sure enough there it is laying in the corn looking at me. I tell him get his bow and put a good shot on it and end it quickly. (Normally I'd take a knife to it in that situation but not knowing where it was hit for sure and him being so young I didn't want to expose him to that.) He hits it and it expires about 15 seconds later... I walk over to this thing and its about 45 lbs. And he didn't hit the front shoulder, he hit the *** and its intestines are hanging out... I get a sick feeling in my stomach knowing this poor thing suffered for so long. Then I tell him to gut it, take the guts with him off the property and enjoy it. He then informs me he doesn't know how to gut a deer...(He's shot 3 with a gun before) Now imagine me standing there in sweatpants, sperrys, and a white t-shirt and hes asking me to gut his deer. So i hung around and showed him how to do it the best I could without doing it for him... Now the thing is we both agreed to only shoot mature doe's or bucks we were gonna mount.... So I asked him why he shot it and he said "I was in don't give a **** mode and was gonna shoot the first thing I saw"...I was so mad the ride home I don't remember half of it....Needless to say I think im gonna be looking for a new lease partner next year...
Yeah that sounds like a bad relationship brewing... Shooting deer you decided not to shoot, not knowing where he shot it, pushing it, they way he said what mood he was in... better to get out as soon as ya can good luck to ya!
Yup, time to drop him from the lease with that attitude, especially when you had made the mutual agreement on what and what not to shoot.
You say the kid doesn't have any friends? What is his family situation? You could just drop him out of the deal quick and easy or take the time to talk about his actions and your perception of his actions. Kids with social or family issues are not easy to deal with, you have the opportunity to help the kid understand how his actions affect how people perceive him. Make this a learning moment for him it could make a difference in his life. Remember the teenaged brain is different than an adult
I think there are two routes to go here. #1 is easy, just move on and find a new lease partner. Route #2 is a little more tricky, but can really pay off. Be a mentor to this kid. Help make him a better hunter, and sportsman. Then he won't just become someone else's problem. You've already taught him a skill he needs to know (gutting a deer). If he's up for it, it could change his life.
How bout some info? Who got the lease? How many members? Is there a specific rule on antlerless harvest or is the mature doe thing something you brought up and he agreed to? Does he pay to hunt there? Let's keep in mind he's 17 and had killed what, 4 deer? He's relatively inexperienced and sounds like he needs a hunting "mentor", so to speak. Maybe I'm just looking at this the wrong way but it appears you have an opportunity to help a young hunter grow. If there is money involved then there should also be lease by-laws that could be more specific about harvest goals. As far as taking a bad shot, we all have. As far as making a bad shot, we all have done that too. So he sucks at skinning, 3 deer is not that much practice. Just offering a different perspective if the young guy doesn't want to learn or improve that's one thing but I'd probably give him a chance. Young folks are the future of hunting you know and we were all dumb 17 year olds at some point. If you don't mind me asking how old are you?
Be a mentor to the kid. You just might be the one person who saves his life. Coming from someone who grew up in an abusive home, there was an old fellow just down the road who taught me how to deer hunt. He is gone now but will live forever in my heart. I only wish I had taken the time to tell him exactly what he did for me.
nvm on the age question, I see your profile says you're 21. So even though your not that much older than him thik of yourself 4 years ago, you've probably learned a lot since then. If this kid didn't grow up around hunting, fishing, & the outdoors then he doesn't even know what he doesn't know.
I got the lease, It's just me and him on it, I purposely asked him firsted to do it with me because I knew he didn't have anyone else asking him to be on any leases so i wanted to help him out. Its in the lease agreement that we will only shoot does and big bucks. Im not so mad that he shot a fawn, im more mad about how he said he was shooting the first thing he saw and didn't give a ****. It was 1000$ so we eached dropped 500$. In the middle of the summer we each paid 250$ to the guy to reserve and had a contract with him to pay the remaining 500$ on sept 1st. Well come sept 1st this kid doesn't have any money saved (he works 40 hours a week making 11$/hr) so I paid the remaining 500$ and then collected his 250$ sometime in the end of september.... That was the start of me getting worried. I think im just gonna stick this season out with him and try and help him then do the 1000$ by myself next year. Had a sick feeling all night last night knowing that deer suffered for so long.
I love how everyone assumes the kid is from an abusive home? Anyways, i'll make this short and sweet. Take it easy on the the kid, man. He killed his first deer with a bow! Don't harp him for not properly aging this doe. You just killed your first, you know that cloud he was floating on. I hope the situation wasn't soured too much by ill words. Bad shots will happen, that's part of bowhunting. Right now you have a phenomenal situation to help an eager young hunter grow into a respectable hunter. My $.02 Dropping somebody from a lease because to failed to make a perfect shot and didn't properly age his FIRST deer is just a sad mistake.
I wasn't suggesting dropping him from the lease for the deer that he shot and how he shot it, but because of his attitude on not caring and shooting anything when it was defined in the lease, as well as his failure to pay his end of things in a timely fashion. Definitely try to teach him something but if his attitude doesn't change drop him from the lease.
Although I too would be looking for a new lease partner, do what you can to teach him for the remainder of the year. It does no good letting him go back into the woods for years to come thinking he's a hunter. Anyone can kill an animal, it takes a responsible and skilled outdoorsman to be considered a hunter. Like you said, he may not have many friends or a male influence who can teach him the proper way. Teach him about conservation, deer management, and the proper way to hunt and harvest a deer through completion. If there is a next time, hand him the knife and walk him through it so he can gut the deer himself.
Like everyone else said, he's 17, take it easy on him. We were all inexperienced and stupid at one point. Try to get him to understand the mistakes that were made and let him use this as a learning experience. Good for you for not just gutting the deer like he asked but instead teaching him what to do.
I agree with the majority.. I think you should teach him to care and not take advantage of mother nature and respect the creatures in the woods. Doesn't sound like he has had a positive mentor in the hunting department. I had a buddy same age as me and a usually responsible hunter take a young young young 7pt off me years ago and it made me mad, but the difference in our situations is he knew he screwed up and was very apologetic. As hunters we have all seen the side affects of ground shrinkage and made bad decisions on what and when to shoot.. it is what makes us better hunters. So this kid just needs to make some mistakes, get his attitude fixed, and learn from his mistakes.. and the only way he will do that is if someone points out where he messed up. Good Luck! at least you didn't loose the doe!
No he knows what he did was wrong and could tell I was upset even though I didn't say anything. He's even texting me now saying that it doesn't matter because it was his first deer and blah blah blah when I haven't said anything to him. He just told me that he called the landowner who is a personal friend of mine and he hadn't met before we got the lease and told him that me and him were gonna get the lease next year......This is going downhill so fast and I am doing my best not to strangle someone
With the way you flipped out on the Scorecard thread about not having a second picture with your "mature doe" and your reactions to everyone's advice here, I don't know that this kid would be missing out on much not being on the lease with you next year.
