This weekend my 10 yo son Samuel and I were able to take his new Bob for his first big game hunt!
A client of mine was generous enough to allow us to hunt on his gorgeous 350+ acres north of my home for the whole weekend, and even to lodge in his cabin. Here are my 2 boys (Elijah is 7 yo and right behind Samuel hunting-wise) on the porch last Monday night when we were up there setting up our pop-up blind:
We went up Friday night with EXTREMELY high hopes having seen many pics like this:
I was honestly afraid that my son Samuel would be spoiled by an easy hunt with a big payoff! That certainly was not the case...
We hunted 7 am until noon on Saturday and all we saw was a doe w/ 2 fawns. Samuel wanted antlers and didn't want to break up the family in spite of my assurances the babies would be fine. You can imagine how excited I was that my boy could sit that long with such little stimulation and not complain about what I call in our house "the b word"!
Saturday evening we sat from just before 3 until 8 and here is what we saw:
Vying for a top spot in a vealison-a-thon, I tried to get him to do a 1-2-3-SHOOT! double on these, Samuel taking the mom and me taking the baby but he would have none of it. He wanted antlers. I explained he was taking a gamble that might not pay off, but he wanted a buck on which to use his new gerber:
Sunday morning we sat from 7 am to 2 pm and saw NOTHING! I was freakin' but my client was back and took us to a better spot that seemed more "bucky" right off the bat. It was thicker and a lot more of an impromptu set up, but Samuel's hopes were high as he "rested his eyes".
Around last light I spotted a buck going in to feed. Unfortunately that buck was well shielded and I only caught glimpses of his head as he moved toward the feeding area. The blind was up above his feeding area, and the ferns were still up though brown, and the height difference between Samuel and me was just enough to block Samuel's view. I raised the tripod and had him stand, hoping he could then point down at the buck but after all that fidgeting around the buck had moved. We were frustrated.
We sat down thinking the buck may have vanished, and all of a sudden there he was to my left. We scooted Samuel & the tripod in place, but he couldn't see the buck which was staring right at us from behind a pine tree. It was inevitable; the buck bounded away, leaving Samuel slack-jawed. Light was fading fast, and he knew he wasn't going to take any venison home this hunt.
He was downtrodden, but this was when we went back through the "other" events of the weekend (which really aren't "other" at all) including the barred owl we saw the first morning, the flock of ruffed grouse we spooked, and another individual that we saw hop her way up a pine to roost Saturday night and then fly down Sunday morning. There were multiple red tailed hawks and too many squirrels to count. He'd put a little dent in Fellowship of the Ring, and best of all he and I had shared peace and tranquility rarely enjoyed in a house w/ his 4 siblings!
Yes, he agreed, it was a fantastic weekend, and not filling his tag, he pointed out in a somewhat devious fashion that reminded me of myself, ensured he'd get more of them before the end of 2012! As we drove back into cell range and my phone blew up w/ pics from friends of their kids and the bucks they'd shot, he was able to say "Aw man tell Drew congrats! That is a great buck!" and so on.
What a great kid!!!! I can't wait to see how his younger brother develops in this regard!
Thanks for reading,
efw
A client of mine was generous enough to allow us to hunt on his gorgeous 350+ acres north of my home for the whole weekend, and even to lodge in his cabin. Here are my 2 boys (Elijah is 7 yo and right behind Samuel hunting-wise) on the porch last Monday night when we were up there setting up our pop-up blind:
We went up Friday night with EXTREMELY high hopes having seen many pics like this:
I was honestly afraid that my son Samuel would be spoiled by an easy hunt with a big payoff! That certainly was not the case...
We hunted 7 am until noon on Saturday and all we saw was a doe w/ 2 fawns. Samuel wanted antlers and didn't want to break up the family in spite of my assurances the babies would be fine. You can imagine how excited I was that my boy could sit that long with such little stimulation and not complain about what I call in our house "the b word"!
Saturday evening we sat from just before 3 until 8 and here is what we saw:
Vying for a top spot in a vealison-a-thon, I tried to get him to do a 1-2-3-SHOOT! double on these, Samuel taking the mom and me taking the baby but he would have none of it. He wanted antlers. I explained he was taking a gamble that might not pay off, but he wanted a buck on which to use his new gerber:
Sunday morning we sat from 7 am to 2 pm and saw NOTHING! I was freakin' but my client was back and took us to a better spot that seemed more "bucky" right off the bat. It was thicker and a lot more of an impromptu set up, but Samuel's hopes were high as he "rested his eyes".
Around last light I spotted a buck going in to feed. Unfortunately that buck was well shielded and I only caught glimpses of his head as he moved toward the feeding area. The blind was up above his feeding area, and the ferns were still up though brown, and the height difference between Samuel and me was just enough to block Samuel's view. I raised the tripod and had him stand, hoping he could then point down at the buck but after all that fidgeting around the buck had moved. We were frustrated.
We sat down thinking the buck may have vanished, and all of a sudden there he was to my left. We scooted Samuel & the tripod in place, but he couldn't see the buck which was staring right at us from behind a pine tree. It was inevitable; the buck bounded away, leaving Samuel slack-jawed. Light was fading fast, and he knew he wasn't going to take any venison home this hunt.
He was downtrodden, but this was when we went back through the "other" events of the weekend (which really aren't "other" at all) including the barred owl we saw the first morning, the flock of ruffed grouse we spooked, and another individual that we saw hop her way up a pine to roost Saturday night and then fly down Sunday morning. There were multiple red tailed hawks and too many squirrels to count. He'd put a little dent in Fellowship of the Ring, and best of all he and I had shared peace and tranquility rarely enjoyed in a house w/ his 4 siblings!
Yes, he agreed, it was a fantastic weekend, and not filling his tag, he pointed out in a somewhat devious fashion that reminded me of myself, ensured he'd get more of them before the end of 2012! As we drove back into cell range and my phone blew up w/ pics from friends of their kids and the bucks they'd shot, he was able to say "Aw man tell Drew congrats! That is a great buck!" and so on.
What a great kid!!!! I can't wait to see how his younger brother develops in this regard!
Thanks for reading,
efw
