# A little bit late, but our youth season hunt and good lessons learned



## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

2 seasons ago, my boy shot his first deer. He shot it with a crossbow. Last season he played basketball after the football season and had almost 0 time to hunt, and that didn't sit well with him. This season he decided to forgo basketball and pursue deer instead. ( atta boy ) 
We have come close several times this bow season, but as they sometimes do, they stayed just outside of range. We were excited for gun season with all the deer we were seeing. 
We couldn't hunt Saturday morning due to demands at work, but we got out Saturday evening. Didn't see anything until about 15 minutes left of legal time, my son slapped my arm ( I was reading fishing reports on OGF lol ) and grabs the muzzleloader ( his favorite gun ) I look up and wow, a large buck with a very wide rack stepped into the field. He was a good 200 yards away. He took 2 or 3 steps into the field and turned around and headed back into the woods, bummer. It was very windy and I don't think he liked the open field. 
Sunday morning rolled around and we are headed to the same blind, I spot 5 deer feeding in the field so we stop, its 30 mins until legal time and we need to get past them to get to our blind. So we army crawl, very slowly trying to get into shooting range by legal time. We got within 125 yards, but only one deer was left feeding as the rest had moved into the woods already. He is as accurate as I am with a gun, and this is a shot I know my gun and son could make. But we decided to hold off on the shot because it wasn't an ideal situation. That deer moved in with the rest, now we're free to get to our blind. It's now 15 minutes into legal time, couldn't believe how fast that time flew by. 
We get settled into the blind, and see 0 deer for over an hour, when I look to the left I see a single deer 60 yards out and walking right into his view. The deer was walking at a steady slow pace and I asked my Son if he seen it good in his scope, he did so it was go time! As the deer continued to walk, I was in the middle of asking him if he wanted me to stop the deer. It went like this, Do you want me to sto- BOOM he takes the shot, surprising the hell out of Dad and the deer! Ok then lol. 
The deer took of looking a bit woozy, good deal I'm thinking. The deer ran 70 yards off into the neighbors woods, maybe not so good I'm thinking. We get out, and look for blood, no dice. There's a light snow on the ground so blood should be easy to spot. We walk the route the deer took following the tracks, a good 50 yards now, still no blood. My Son starts to get worried and frustrated. He told me he knew he put a good shot on the deer, or as he stated, a perfect shot. 
I walk over to the property line and bingo, good pink frothy lung blood! Good news, the bad news is, it was for sure on someone else's property. A guy I've never met or knew how to contact. So I call the Landowner of the property I hunt, luckily he knew who the guy was so I look his info up and give him a call, straight to voicemail. Damnit. I'm trying to teach my Son a good lesson on doing things properly, he and I are anxious to see if the deer piled up. So I call a second time and start to leave a message, when he picked up the phone and granted us permission to find his deer. It was 30 yards into his woods, we found it! 
He did indeed put a perfect shot on it. I have it on video, although I'm a terrible cameraman, if I can figure it out, I'll put it up here. 
On another note, I shot a nice buck in October and have a ton of meat, so I asked my boy what he wanted to do with his deer, and he said he wanted to donate it to FHFH ( Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry) and that made me a proud Dad! So we did just that! So many lessons learned in one single hunt, don't take iffy shots and always respect others properties and it will all work out. Sorry for the long winded post.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Anyone have a clue how to post a video?


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## Seaturd (Apr 14, 2004)

No on the vid but excellent post, shot & deer.


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## SelfTaught (Mar 27, 2014)

Awesome story and post! Congrats to your son


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Congrats to your son.
Excellent post...and thank you for teaching him right.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

congrats to your son. and a perfect shot. thank you for sharing his hunt with us. love reading about our young hunters success. its great that he gave up basketball to hunt with his dad.
sherman


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## PromiseKeeper (Apr 14, 2004)

When your son does it like that, its way better than shooting one yourself. Way to go!


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## Riverduck11 (Jul 11, 2013)

Look forward to teaching my young ones the same lessons...hopefully they take an interest!

Great story!


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

PromiseKeeper said:


> When your son does it like that, its way better than shooting one yourself. Way to go!


I agree!


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Congrats to your son, but also a huge congrats to you for raising him right & teaching him those valuable lessons. My sons started hunting deer 17 years ago & as they did, I put less effort into my own success & more into theirs. WAY rather see them kill one than me.


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

You'll need to upload the video to YouTube and then post the link ... easiest way. Congrats on a great hunt


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## Shaun69007 (Sep 2, 2009)

I would give the landowner who gave you permission to get you deer some trail bologna or something for granting you permission. It will go good for both your son and also may give you some more permission on that property.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

That's a great hunt! Job well done by both of you.


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## PromiseKeeper (Apr 14, 2004)

Shaun69007 said:


> I would give the landowner who gave you permission to get you deer some trail bologna or something for granting you permission. It will go good for both your son and also may give you some more permission on that property.


This made me smile... when I was first hunting on my own, a farmer pretty much let me hunt his place like it was my own. Every Christmas I would take him his favorite, a case of Red Man! We were both happy. It was good for me and was a lesson learned from my Dad who bought the Red Man for me to give him. Thanks Dad!


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

crappielooker said:


> hey heey heeey..since no one was heer..i may as well start somethin up..
> lets not forget the fish-ins..i went to get the curry ingredients today..its gonna be awesome..
> friday night..be there or be somewhere else..


We plan to offer him fish, he hunts his property and doesn't allow anyone to hunt. He has a no trespassing sign on every other tree lining his property. He even drives his property about half the nights that I hunt. So I wasn't sure how the phone call was going to go. A Christmas card is already on its way.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

ML1187 said:


> You'll need to upload the video to YouTube and then post the link ... easiest way. Congrats on a great hunt


Thank you!


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

T-180 said:


> Congrats to your son, but also a huge congrats to you for raising him right & teaching him those valuable lessons. My sons started hunting deer 17 years ago & as they did, I put less effort into my own success & more into theirs. WAY rather see them kill one than me.


I have done the same! I've put pretty much the whole bow season effort towards getting him one. Now maybe he'll get a chance at his first buck.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Thanks for sharing a great story and pictures. Brought back memories of my son's first deer thirty eight years ago.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Thanks for all the comments guys, I appreciate it. Great memories made for sure! Take a kid outdoors, even if it isn't your kid, you'll have a great time!


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