By Cody Bright, Field Staff Member
Deer season for me… its a pastime, a time to reflect on life and all that is happening around us. I am very great full to be able to do what I love and to be able to pass on my knowledge and my mistakes of the sport to my boys, so that they too can grow to love the sport and appreciate the highs and lows that go along with it.
That being said I’m a true believer that getting your children involved in the sport does more than just teach them how to hunt. It teaches them gun safety, responsibility, patience and builds their confidence and not only that it is great bonding time.
My oldest son Carson, who is 9, has taken full addiction to the sport. I have taken him during youth season the last three seasons and he has been fortunate enough to fill his tag the first night with a doe the last two seasons. The excitement he puts into it from the moment he sees the deer to the moment he is sitting behind it getting his picture taken is priceless!
This season was a little different. We had been talking about youth season weeks before opening day and how he had a “hit list buck” we had captured on our trail camera a few times. He was holding out for this one deer, I myself thought yeah right, first doe that comes out on opening day is done! I stood corrected , we climbed in the stand and within an hour and a half we had a food plot full of deer, non of which were “his buck”. We hunted morning and night the next day and three other nights after school the following week. The following Saturday afternoon we climbed into the same stand and at 7:00 pm we had a few does step out into the food plot, one of which was a nice mature doe. He says to me “if she comes into range I’m gonna take the shot” which was fine with me, honestly I was surprised a 9 year held out this long! Lol.
Well she came in on a string and followed the script to a tee. She gave him a 15 yards broadside shot. He couldn’t have put a better shot on her, we recovered her within 40 yards from the shot. Now even though this wasn’t his “hit list buck” he was beyond excited to be able to get a deer and to help put food in the freezer!
It just goes to show how getting them out there and involved with you, really does teach them more than just how to hunt, to me it shows he has learned everything I had hoped he would, out of this crazy addiction we all share!!
