j-bird
Well-Known Member
I typed this up for another forum and thought I would share this here as well. I may already have shared this story before...... this was several years ago as the boy in this story is now 21 and not so much a boy any more.
I don’t remember the year or even how old he was, but Junior (my boy Tom) was out with me for a youth hunt for deer. He had been the year before, but we didn’t see a deer he could shoot. We had several close encounters but for one reason or another it just never came together. His first youth hunt we didn’t even see a deer. The next year we had a pretty yearling buck walk right up to us…..but at that time the youth hunt was for antlerless deer only. He was still fairly young so getting him out for firearms season was a struggle as well.
This year was going to be different. He had practiced with his single shot 410 and was hitting a paper plate at 50 yards. Shooting wasn’t the issue – seeing deer he could shoot was the issue. So that Saturday morning we got up and I chose a location where I knew the deer liked to move. We sat on a steep bank which gave us an elevation advantage like you would get from a stand without the falling concerns. The first hour passes and the sun has come up and we have not seen anything. He is growing impatient and starting to squirm around. We are sitting on the ground, no blind, just leaned up against a large tree. Another ½ hour passes and he is making more noise in the leaves than the squirrels are. “Dad……dad, I gotta pee.” I explain he needs to wait as the deer like moving in the morning. A few minutes later, “Dad…..dad, I’m cold.” I explain that he needs to be quiet and I give him my hunting coat to use as a blanket. This goes on for roughly another hour or so. If you have ever taken a kid hunting you know what I’m talking about. He had an excuse, need or a question about anything and everything.
Out of the corner of my eye I see what looked like a shadow move. I tell Tom, “Tom, I think we might have a deer coming our way, you need to get ready.” “Where dad, where!” I hear from him as he is more busy looking and nearly crawling over top of me to see the deer. “Sit still, gun your gun ready, she is going to come right down the path in front of us here” I tell him. He gets ready and I make sure he has a decent rest and as the deer comes into view his eyes grow and grow. It’s only a young doe, but to Tom this was the greatest deer he had ever seen! I whisper to Tom, “When I stop her if you have a good shot you shoot. You know where to aim and remember to squeeze the trigger and not jerk it. I’ll stop her with a noise and when I do if the shot is good you let her have it” He nods in confirmation as the deer gets closer. She is alone and isn’t in a hurry. She wanders into a good position and I make a soft bleat type sound with my mouth. She stops perfectly and looks right at us. Pow! That little 410 goes off and she bolts away into some tall weeds between the timber where we are and the cut corn field. I saw her go in but I never saw her leave the tall weeds, and I quickly lose sight of her!
I look over and Tom is shaking like he is nearly having a seizure! “Did I get her, did I get her Dad!” Tom’s eyes are still as wide as they can be. I stand up and Tom starts to reload the gun…..”No, don’t do that….hand me the gun…..you are a little shaken up to be messing with a loaded gun right now.” I take the gun from Tom and he is struggling to get to his feet. I tell him, “you stay right here and you watch out there to see if you see her run. I’m going to go down and look for blood.” Tom stays put and I work my way down the bank to where the deer was standing. I look back up at Tom and he is watching for the deer. I motion as if to say “seeing anything?” Tom shakes his head no. I then call up to him, “Am I standing where the deer was?” Tom shakes his head yes. I then motion to Tom to come down the hill. Well it’s a good thing I took the gun with me…..Tom walked about half way down the bank and slid on his butt the second half…..because he lost his footing! I make sure he is OK and he is fine. I asked him if the streak on his britches was from the ground of from him!
I have reloaded the gun and I am in front as I am looking for blood and fearful this deer is going to jump and run and the last thing I want is Tom trying to shoot a moving deer with me in front of him. I start to get a sick feeling in my stomach because I just am not seeing anything. No hair, no blood, no nothing. I’m fearful he missed…..the more I look the more that seems to be the case. Then I see it, a small bit of blood. OK – he hit it, but how well? We enter the tall weeds following real faint blood and I just know this deer is going to bolt. We didn't wait long at all to go after it and I didn't see it go down - bad call on my part. It’s slow going and the weeds offer no real view other than a few feet. I find small specks of blood but nothing like I am used to. I gun and archery hunt and have seen some weak blood trails but I find just enough to keep me moving forward. Tom is growing impatient and worried. I can see the fear in his face…. I reassure him, “She hasn’t run out of here yet, she is here, we will find her.” Then of course I lose the blood – it was heading right toward the open field, but I know she never made it that far…..she HAS to be in here. Tom is looking around and then disappears! Thud, he hits the ground….. “Dad!, Dad!, Dad!!! I found her, I found her!!!” He sure did – he literally tripped over her in the weeds. She had changed directions and fell over. I said a short “Thank you God!” under my breath just then. It wasn’t for me….it was for that little boy who was wrestling his very first deer up out of the weeds in an effort to get a better look. I thought he was going to explode with excitement… It's a good thing the deer was dead because I'm not sure he would have felt go otherwise!
I look the deer over and the shot was good but the 410 lacked the energy to go thru the deer and I could feel the slug lodged under the hide on the far side - deer don't bleed much from a small single hole. I had to calm him down. It was time for something that I hoped he was mature enough to understand. “Tom? I need you to calm down” I said in a calm but lower voice. “Tom, we need to understand fully what has happened here this morning.” I reached out and put my hand on the deer and Tom did the same as he scooted next to me not knowing what was going to happen. “Tom, this morning we took a life, we took the life of this wonderful creature so that we can eat and have life ourselves. We need to make sure we never take that for granted.” Tom turned and hugged me and said, “I feel happy and sad at the same time….is that OK?” “Yes – yes it is, I would be worried if you felt differently” I told him. He wiped away a few tears and then that smile quickly returned.
We went to the house and got the truck. This was before I had a cell phone so we had to wait to get to the house for pictures and phone calls. He called everybody he knew was a deer hunter. He was the man of the hour and of the day and of the week. We had to get the roll of film developed that day (yep 32 exposures developed for maybe a dozen actual pictures) but we did it and he carried a picture around with him everywhere he went “just in case somebody asks” is what he told me. I will never forget that day. Some of my most memorable hunts have nothing to do with me killing a deer.
I don’t remember the year or even how old he was, but Junior (my boy Tom) was out with me for a youth hunt for deer. He had been the year before, but we didn’t see a deer he could shoot. We had several close encounters but for one reason or another it just never came together. His first youth hunt we didn’t even see a deer. The next year we had a pretty yearling buck walk right up to us…..but at that time the youth hunt was for antlerless deer only. He was still fairly young so getting him out for firearms season was a struggle as well.
This year was going to be different. He had practiced with his single shot 410 and was hitting a paper plate at 50 yards. Shooting wasn’t the issue – seeing deer he could shoot was the issue. So that Saturday morning we got up and I chose a location where I knew the deer liked to move. We sat on a steep bank which gave us an elevation advantage like you would get from a stand without the falling concerns. The first hour passes and the sun has come up and we have not seen anything. He is growing impatient and starting to squirm around. We are sitting on the ground, no blind, just leaned up against a large tree. Another ½ hour passes and he is making more noise in the leaves than the squirrels are. “Dad……dad, I gotta pee.” I explain he needs to wait as the deer like moving in the morning. A few minutes later, “Dad…..dad, I’m cold.” I explain that he needs to be quiet and I give him my hunting coat to use as a blanket. This goes on for roughly another hour or so. If you have ever taken a kid hunting you know what I’m talking about. He had an excuse, need or a question about anything and everything.
Out of the corner of my eye I see what looked like a shadow move. I tell Tom, “Tom, I think we might have a deer coming our way, you need to get ready.” “Where dad, where!” I hear from him as he is more busy looking and nearly crawling over top of me to see the deer. “Sit still, gun your gun ready, she is going to come right down the path in front of us here” I tell him. He gets ready and I make sure he has a decent rest and as the deer comes into view his eyes grow and grow. It’s only a young doe, but to Tom this was the greatest deer he had ever seen! I whisper to Tom, “When I stop her if you have a good shot you shoot. You know where to aim and remember to squeeze the trigger and not jerk it. I’ll stop her with a noise and when I do if the shot is good you let her have it” He nods in confirmation as the deer gets closer. She is alone and isn’t in a hurry. She wanders into a good position and I make a soft bleat type sound with my mouth. She stops perfectly and looks right at us. Pow! That little 410 goes off and she bolts away into some tall weeds between the timber where we are and the cut corn field. I saw her go in but I never saw her leave the tall weeds, and I quickly lose sight of her!
I look over and Tom is shaking like he is nearly having a seizure! “Did I get her, did I get her Dad!” Tom’s eyes are still as wide as they can be. I stand up and Tom starts to reload the gun…..”No, don’t do that….hand me the gun…..you are a little shaken up to be messing with a loaded gun right now.” I take the gun from Tom and he is struggling to get to his feet. I tell him, “you stay right here and you watch out there to see if you see her run. I’m going to go down and look for blood.” Tom stays put and I work my way down the bank to where the deer was standing. I look back up at Tom and he is watching for the deer. I motion as if to say “seeing anything?” Tom shakes his head no. I then call up to him, “Am I standing where the deer was?” Tom shakes his head yes. I then motion to Tom to come down the hill. Well it’s a good thing I took the gun with me…..Tom walked about half way down the bank and slid on his butt the second half…..because he lost his footing! I make sure he is OK and he is fine. I asked him if the streak on his britches was from the ground of from him!
I have reloaded the gun and I am in front as I am looking for blood and fearful this deer is going to jump and run and the last thing I want is Tom trying to shoot a moving deer with me in front of him. I start to get a sick feeling in my stomach because I just am not seeing anything. No hair, no blood, no nothing. I’m fearful he missed…..the more I look the more that seems to be the case. Then I see it, a small bit of blood. OK – he hit it, but how well? We enter the tall weeds following real faint blood and I just know this deer is going to bolt. We didn't wait long at all to go after it and I didn't see it go down - bad call on my part. It’s slow going and the weeds offer no real view other than a few feet. I find small specks of blood but nothing like I am used to. I gun and archery hunt and have seen some weak blood trails but I find just enough to keep me moving forward. Tom is growing impatient and worried. I can see the fear in his face…. I reassure him, “She hasn’t run out of here yet, she is here, we will find her.” Then of course I lose the blood – it was heading right toward the open field, but I know she never made it that far…..she HAS to be in here. Tom is looking around and then disappears! Thud, he hits the ground….. “Dad!, Dad!, Dad!!! I found her, I found her!!!” He sure did – he literally tripped over her in the weeds. She had changed directions and fell over. I said a short “Thank you God!” under my breath just then. It wasn’t for me….it was for that little boy who was wrestling his very first deer up out of the weeds in an effort to get a better look. I thought he was going to explode with excitement… It's a good thing the deer was dead because I'm not sure he would have felt go otherwise!
I look the deer over and the shot was good but the 410 lacked the energy to go thru the deer and I could feel the slug lodged under the hide on the far side - deer don't bleed much from a small single hole. I had to calm him down. It was time for something that I hoped he was mature enough to understand. “Tom? I need you to calm down” I said in a calm but lower voice. “Tom, we need to understand fully what has happened here this morning.” I reached out and put my hand on the deer and Tom did the same as he scooted next to me not knowing what was going to happen. “Tom, this morning we took a life, we took the life of this wonderful creature so that we can eat and have life ourselves. We need to make sure we never take that for granted.” Tom turned and hugged me and said, “I feel happy and sad at the same time….is that OK?” “Yes – yes it is, I would be worried if you felt differently” I told him. He wiped away a few tears and then that smile quickly returned.
We went to the house and got the truck. This was before I had a cell phone so we had to wait to get to the house for pictures and phone calls. He called everybody he knew was a deer hunter. He was the man of the hour and of the day and of the week. We had to get the roll of film developed that day (yep 32 exposures developed for maybe a dozen actual pictures) but we did it and he carried a picture around with him everywhere he went “just in case somebody asks” is what he told me. I will never forget that day. Some of my most memorable hunts have nothing to do with me killing a deer.
I literally have him beat by less than an inch for the biggest deer off of our place per the official score sheet.....and those bucks where killed in the same year not 200 yards from each other....... I actually though he had me beat!
