My son's first deer-Updated with story
My son's 1st deer.
Shot Saturday 11/17 at about 3pm. It is a 7 point 1 1/2 year old.
Shot Saturday 11/17 at about 3pm. It is a 7 point 1 1/2 year old.
0
-
Dood deal! He looks like a happy camper. 0 -
nice 0 -
Congrats....Nice Buck[:)] 0 -
That looks like a Michigan kill tag?
What county?0 -
Tuscola 0 -
Very nice, to bad NYS don't take the hint..... 0 -
congrats....why the yellow tag?? [;)] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by mond
congrats....why the yellow tag?? [;)]
They were out of orange. Don0 -
Oops.
I hope that was this years color.[:D]0 -
Nice whitetale
Fine first deer
Looks happy
I'm glad for you and your son0 -
tell the young man, congrats WAY TO GO!!!!!!! 0 -
Looks like he is off to a good start. Nice butter buck. 0 -
WoooHooooo
Hunting is never any better then that.
Good Job[^][:)]0 -
Nice deer for a first time harvester! Congrats to you and your son.[:)] 0 -
nice buck tell your son congrats,great way to start out,good luck. 0 -
30-06, no doubt. If buying new, Savage is the best value out there. 0 -
Nice,
We were up by Oscoda and didn't see any[:(]
Don0 -
Well done young man! [8D] 0 -
Great Pic...congrats to your boy and you....[:D] 0 -
WOOHOOO!!!!
Very nice. Congrats!0 -
congrats thats a fine buck,..proud papa..huh?..[;)][8D]..Loko 0 -
Outstanding!! Thank you for teaching you boy how to hunt. 0 -
Can that smile get any bigger.[:D] Great picture. 0 -
Congrats!! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.........BACKSTRAP!!!![:p][:p][:p] 0 -
Great picture, indeed! 0 -
quote:Originally posted by matwor
Congrats!! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.........BACKSTRAP!!!![:p][:p][:p]
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Good job! Congrats to the lucky young man.0 -
I've never seen a more perfect example of an 8X10 or larger framed portrait for that young man's wall. It's something he would be proud of for a long time.........his first. [:)][:)]
rider0 -
Thanks to all for the kind comments.
And now, the rest of the story.
He did a good job exercising restraint. He saw two antlerless deer but had to let them pass before this one came by. He only had a buck tag for the area behind my house.
We had been out together in the morning, in the swamp behind my house. We have a large blind about 2 feet tall made of dead and down wood in the shape of a diamond. Nothing fancy, just something to help break up your outline and hide some movement. It could easily seat 4 people if there weren't so many cedar roots on the floor of the blind.
Anyway, we were both sitting on those cheap folding metal and nylon fabric chairs that morning. He fell asleep for about an hour and a half. He looked so cute. He was sitting in his chair. I had covered his legs with a camo poncho liner. I gave him my fleece facemask. He had his orange hat on top of that. I had a thermos of hot chocolate and had given him a cup full. I heard him breathing deeply. When I turned around, I noticed he was asleep. (We were facing different directions.) He had his head turned and was sound asleep, with just his eyes and nose exposed out of the mask. His gun was resting across his lap on the arms of the canvas chair. I so wished I had brought a camera. I thought about how fast he was growing up and that I wasn't going to get many more chances to take pictures of him as a child. I actually thought about trying to sneak back to the house to get the camera, but thought if he woke up, he would wonder why I left him out there alone.
We came in about 11:30AM and had lunch with my brother and older son. Then I laid on the couch. I was tired. I had got up earlier than all of them and made them breakfast.
Well, they headed back out for a mid-day hunt while I napped. My brother took my older son and went for a little walk to move the deer around. This one headed out to the back of the property while the other 2 pushed the state land behind my property. He was bummed that he was not old enough to hunt on state land with the gun. In Michigan, you have to be 14 to hunt with a gun on state land.
After they passed him and went back toward my house, he went back down into the swamp to our blind to sit a while. The other 2 popped in and told me they were heading across the road to hunt the state land across the road. (I have state land both behind me and across the road from me.)
About 15 minutes later, he came running up the back porch and told me he shot a 4 point. I thought he was kidding because I had not heard his little 20 gauge go off. He insisted that he was telling the truth.
He said he shot a 4 point down in the swamp and hadn't even tagged it yet and needed my help. I asked him if I needed my boots or would my shoes be OK. He told me it was right near the blind so i knew I could get by without boots so I slipped on my shoes while he ran back out there.
I yelled to my brother and other son who were still in the driveway. We all headed out to the swamp and my older son says, "It's got more than 4 points! It's a 7 Pointer!"
I went down and helped him tag it. After some congrats and looking over the wound, my other son and brother headed back out to were they were going to hunt grumbling about "beginner's luck". I told my son to wait with the deer while I went and got the camera and the tractor to haul it out. He waited while I hustled back to the house.
At first I couldn't find the digital camera so I dug out my 35mm and loaded a roll of film into it. Then I fired up the John Deere and drove to the edge of the swamp.
I helped him drag it out of the swamp while mentally reminding myself that I was getting old and that I'd better remember not to shoot one too far from a road or path. This was work and it was only about 75 yards into the swamp!
Anyway we loaded it into the bucket and drove it up to the house. Then I located the digital and took this photo and a few more before we started gutting it.
I showed him how to gut it and we were both covered with blood because I would take his little hands in mine and show him what I wanted him to cut and explain why. When we were done, we hung it up from the tractor's bucket to drain and rinsed it out with the hose. I had cut open an empty dog food bag and laid it down to catch the guts, and I had him run the metal detector over the gut pile to see if we could find the slug because we didn't notice an exit wound. No luck. I picked up the 4 corners of the dog food bag and put it and the guts into a big garbage bag so the dog wouldn't eat it. (Don't want his little bird dog getting a taste for deer.)
Anyway, I sent him in to shower because he had to leave in a little while. (He is in a play in Bay City and has to perform for the next 4 weekends.)
When I came inside after cleaning up, I got my reward. My fast growing-up son came running up and gave me a big hug and said "Thanks Dad!".
You know, I think i must have gotten something in my eye about then, because they got a little watery.
It doesn't get any better than that.0 -
CONGRATULATIONS! Way to go! Looks about the size of my first deer, but I was a whole lot older than this young man when I got my first deer. 0 -
quote:It doesn't get any better than that.
BTDT with 2 of my boys, I know what you mean[:D]
Don0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
39 comments