Opening day : deer 1 boy 0

[mountaineer magic]

Yesterday i took the oldest out for opening day. While it was a fun day he didn't get a deer. Then again he has 4 1/2 months so I guess there isn't a big hurry.
we got a late start cause chores still have to be done even though he got his brother to cover the milk cow and some responsibilities, but we didn't see anything in the morning. . We resumed hunting during the afternoon and when we were walking in we spooked a doe. She doubled back and snuck north into the corn field. I figured it would be a good time to set up a blind for him and just wait. As we were heading into the shelter belt a fawn spooked and started running around looking for mamma, who had went north to the corn. He came running right at us and slammed on the brakes about 15 feet from us. It still had spots. It took off and ran around and was back running right as us again. My son kept saying how stupid. And he didn't want to shoot such a stupid little thing. We set in the blind and around 5:30 a doe meandered in behind the blind. Unfortunately she either always had her butt toward us or was behind the trees where a clear ethical shot wasnt possible. She must have finally either heard or smelled us because she disappeared after about 15 minutes of waiting for a good shot. We decided to head out to the corner of the alfalfa for the last hour. We snuck around the outside of the shelter belt along the edge of the corn. We spooked a deer that was in range and it just stopped and snorted at us. He was getting ready to pull down on it when I saw it was a forkhorn and we are doe hunting so that guy was safe. When we got to the alfalfa there was a doe with 2 fawns in the field. it was over a 100 yards and I have him shooting at only 50 yards. She saw us and out of curiosity kept moving closer but only closed the gap to 75 yards. While an easy shot for most , I have his gun sighted at 50 and he had been practicing at 50 so I am not going to allow them to shoot beyond what they are proficient at. Needless to say his day rolls around again Tuesday. Til then it is little brothers turn today and little sisters turn tomorrow. It was still fun.

[bronko22000]

Well Chet in a way its too bad he didn't get a deer. But like you said, he has plenty of time. But the way I see this day is: 1. you had a lot of encounters, 2. you showed him that ethics is more important than a kill, 3. you both had fun, 4. you ingrained a fond memory of you and him in the field spending quality time together.

[cayugad]

Sounds like a good day to me.. spending time with your son and just sharing time. Killing an animal is not the end of the world. And like you said, he has a lot of time. So I am sure he will be filling the freezer sooner or later.

[sabotloader]

chetmarks

Hunting rule#1.. You never shoot opening day -opening week unless it is a great clas animal... Reason, what the heck would you do the rest of the seson??? We only get one tag on most occasions... Now that rule goes by the wayside during elk season in most cases...

[stripercrazy]

what a great way to learn to hunt, your son's very lucky and is learning the right way.

[Semisane]

You're a fine teacher and father Chet. My highest regards.

[pluckit]

My heart races every time I see a deer when I'm hunting. That's the excitement and feeling I'm looking for when I go deer hunting. After I pull the trigger that feeling goes away. I'm sure he was excited just seeing deer.