Clintos1980
Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2024
- Messages
- 20
Hey everyone!
I'm pretty new here. I want to share with you a great story, probably one of the top 10 days of my life!
We are from Middle Tennessee, West of Nashville. I am 44 years old and have only been deer hunting since 2021 (grew up around it, dad never did it, therefore I never learned..did fish a lot though). When I turned 40, I made a conscious effort to get back outdoors with my kids and try hunting as well as do more fishing, hiking, etc..
I fell in love with hunting immediately, and I've had some success over the following years, which I will post about later. However, this post is about my boy's first deer.
I bought him a muzzleloader in 2023 so he could extend his season by a few weeks. We hunted from a ground blind on 12 different days throughout the months of November and December. He passed up does on 2 different occasions because he wanted to wait on a buck during the rut (I told him several times how that may, or may not, work out for him). The third time the doe group showed up, he wanted to shoot, but this shot was out of the range he had practiced (50 yards). He ended up not taking the shot because, even though I think he could have made it, we didn't want to chance wounding that doe.
We went out one more time after that in December of 2023. Same blind, different location. About 3 minutes before last light, a 10-point buck showed up at 30-40 yards...but he never moved his vitals out from behind a tree, which prevented my son from getting a proper shot. He ended up crying in the truck that night before we left our spot. After a few minutes of "tough it up talk", I realized how he must have felt and I told him it was OK and he did the right thing by not attempting a shot he wasn't comfortable with, AND that we were lucky to even see a buck that big.
Fast forward to 2024...he was ready to go. I bought him a rifle for this season...6.5 Creedmoor (don't hate please). He practiced out to 100 yards with that rifle AND his muzzleloader and was grouping half-dollar size. Man, what a difference a year can make! We hung our first ever ladder stand nearby to where that buck was the year before. He told me before the season "Dad, I'm going to shoot the first thing I see this year!", and I said "Yep...you should."...within reason of course.
The first time we went out was on Young Sportsmen's weekend in TN where they let youth under 16 hunt with any weapon before archery season opens up, so he took the rifle. We did an evening hunt about 2 hours before last light. About 45 minutes into our sit, a doe and a fawn walked out at almost exactly 100 yards.
My son was freaking out because he was expecting we'd have to sit multiple times and wait multiple hours to see a deer like we did the year before. I told him that sometimes that's just the way it works and asked him if he felt comfortable with the range. His response was totally different than the year before…he said “Yep”. PERIOD…no questions, not “can I/should I/etc.”, just “Yep” - he sounded way more confident and way more mature. When he told me he was ready I TRUSTED that he was...so I said shoot when ready…
He laid that doe down at 100 yards right through both lungs, and we had one of the best times of our lives. Harvested all the meat, of course, and got some great pics and memories. Forever thankful for that day. I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed that moment...apologies for my stupid face, trying to make the wife laugh
I'm pretty new here. I want to share with you a great story, probably one of the top 10 days of my life!
We are from Middle Tennessee, West of Nashville. I am 44 years old and have only been deer hunting since 2021 (grew up around it, dad never did it, therefore I never learned..did fish a lot though). When I turned 40, I made a conscious effort to get back outdoors with my kids and try hunting as well as do more fishing, hiking, etc..
I fell in love with hunting immediately, and I've had some success over the following years, which I will post about later. However, this post is about my boy's first deer.
I bought him a muzzleloader in 2023 so he could extend his season by a few weeks. We hunted from a ground blind on 12 different days throughout the months of November and December. He passed up does on 2 different occasions because he wanted to wait on a buck during the rut (I told him several times how that may, or may not, work out for him). The third time the doe group showed up, he wanted to shoot, but this shot was out of the range he had practiced (50 yards). He ended up not taking the shot because, even though I think he could have made it, we didn't want to chance wounding that doe.
We went out one more time after that in December of 2023. Same blind, different location. About 3 minutes before last light, a 10-point buck showed up at 30-40 yards...but he never moved his vitals out from behind a tree, which prevented my son from getting a proper shot. He ended up crying in the truck that night before we left our spot. After a few minutes of "tough it up talk", I realized how he must have felt and I told him it was OK and he did the right thing by not attempting a shot he wasn't comfortable with, AND that we were lucky to even see a buck that big.
Fast forward to 2024...he was ready to go. I bought him a rifle for this season...6.5 Creedmoor (don't hate please). He practiced out to 100 yards with that rifle AND his muzzleloader and was grouping half-dollar size. Man, what a difference a year can make! We hung our first ever ladder stand nearby to where that buck was the year before. He told me before the season "Dad, I'm going to shoot the first thing I see this year!", and I said "Yep...you should."...within reason of course.
The first time we went out was on Young Sportsmen's weekend in TN where they let youth under 16 hunt with any weapon before archery season opens up, so he took the rifle. We did an evening hunt about 2 hours before last light. About 45 minutes into our sit, a doe and a fawn walked out at almost exactly 100 yards.
My son was freaking out because he was expecting we'd have to sit multiple times and wait multiple hours to see a deer like we did the year before. I told him that sometimes that's just the way it works and asked him if he felt comfortable with the range. His response was totally different than the year before…he said “Yep”. PERIOD…no questions, not “can I/should I/etc.”, just “Yep” - he sounded way more confident and way more mature. When he told me he was ready I TRUSTED that he was...so I said shoot when ready…
He laid that doe down at 100 yards right through both lungs, and we had one of the best times of our lives. Harvested all the meat, of course, and got some great pics and memories. Forever thankful for that day. I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed that moment...apologies for my stupid face, trying to make the wife laugh
