Friday evening, I took my boys out for their first sit of the season. My oldest is 11, and this will probably be his last year with the crossbow, and my youngest is six and wanted to tag along with Dad and his big bro. We got into the blind around 4:30 and had our first action at 5:30 when two young bucks stepped out. Unfortunately, they never got within range and eventually made their way out of sight. A short time later, we had two does, and two fawns come into the plot, where they proceeded to munch clover and chicory for 30 minutes within 30 yards of us. My son said it was bucks or nothing, so we just sat and watched them. At some point, something spooked them, and they scattered in all directions. With about 10 minutes of legal light left, I asked the boys if they wanted to start packing up or wait a couple more minutes, and they both said we should wait it out. No sooner did I say that than I looked up and saw one of the bucks from earlier coming back into the plot. Joey quickly popped the safety off the crossbow, stopped the buck all on his own, and smashed him with a perfect double-lung shot. We waited about 15 minutes before looking for the arrow and confirming the hit looked good. Then I let the boys take up the trail, and with a little bit of assistance from Dad here and there, they were able to recover the buck about 100 yards away. Thankfully, Joey is big enough to assist with the drag out, which was nice! It's tough to tell in the photos, but he's got 9 points. He probably would have been a Booner in a couple of years, but he's dinner now! Overall, it was a great experience for the boys to be together and an awesome start to our season. I spent a few hours on Saturday getting him cut up, and I'll finish grinding and packing today. I hope to get the skull cleaned up this week as well. This is his fourth deer in four years, and a couple of turkeys in there as well. I'm starting to think I'm a better guide than a hunter.
Congrats to the young one, he's getting to be quite the hunter! I loved he wanted to do bucks only. Good job Dad! Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
Congrats to your son on a successful hunt. Those are going to be great memories. Sent from my SM-A037U using Tapatalk
Great Job Dad, letting them decide on what to do next. Awesome awesome !!!!!! Congrats to the young hunter. (Joey)
since Justin posted a buck taken on his first hunt, this counts as his buck submission..... congrats on the boys being successful!
Thats pretty awesome! Congrats to your little man! Did you film it? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Very cool. Awesome job dad, you're making memories with them that you, nor them, will ever forget. It would take a 170" buck for you to feel the same excitement as when your kids have success.
That's awesome! My 7 year olds are asking to go with me but I don't know if they can be quiet enough.... or sit still long enough. @Justin how did your younger one do? How do you keep him interested but sit still?
We were in a blind with just enough windows open to see and shoot out of, which certainly helps! The youngest one doesn't sit still - he's moving all over the place, looking out windows, wanting to use the binoculars, messing with his brother, eating snacks, playing on my phone or his tablet, etc. When I watch the footage back from inside the blind, I'm amazed that a deer ever gets close enough to see, let alone shoot.
