Since opening day - Daddy - when are you taking me hunting with you?
Well - It's been a beautiful day here in northern Illinois, cool temps and beautiful skies. So I ask my daughter, wanna go hunting?
Man she got ready so fast. She meets me in the garage with her little cammo hat, cammo sweatshirt & facemask. She was bouncing in the car all the way to the hunting spot. She couldn't wait.
We get to the spot, park the car, about had to tie her down to keep her from running out to find a deer. I got her to slow down & help me get everything out of the car, gear bag, bow & ground blind.
She wants to RUN to set up the blind. Wow - enthusiastic is an understatement. We get out into the alfalfa/hay field, set up the blind, get in and.... "Where are the deer daddy?" Man it's like going somewhere in the car - "are we there yet?"
I soon discover that my release did NOT make the trip to the field. Well, this could be a good thing. Let's just see how still & quiet she is. Bet we'll be out of the blind in 15 minutes. An hour later & I'm the one wanting to get out. I know that I can't shoot without the release. She's trying to console me about the darn thing. Couldn't believe it.
We decide to get out and scout some - look for rubs & scrapes. It must be her size or proximity to the ground. She was spotting deer trails & tracks before I even had the chance to process what I was seeing. Kids a regular scout.
We're coming up on a clear space between two windbreaks and we see a really big bodied buck about 50 yards away. Half of his left side rack is missing. I'd seen him the week before & he was intact then, so who knows.
We decided to have some fun and do some "Ultimate Stalking" in the open field. Well - it works. We got within 30 yards with him head down, munching away & broad side. All the while, my daughter and I are whispering and about what we should do & what we think he'll do. At least 5x she says, "I wish you had your bow thingy (release)".
We start to tire & I did not want to stand up & let him know who or what we were, so I start to blow at him. Soon my daughter starts to blow at him. It was hilarious. The buck just looked at us in disbelief. We spent 15 minutes playing with the buck like this.
Soon however, even I am tiring of this. We decide to take the "Ultimate Stalk" one step further. I stand up in a crouch, with my daughter behind me, holding on to my belt - with her head bent. We start walking parallel to him. He just stared & chewed. His face looked like - "What the $@!* kind of animal is that?". Eventually he decides that he's had enough and ambles away.
Man what an evening. My daughter was going a mile a minute when we got home. The wife looks at me and says - "Well, is this true?" Yes I reply. I'm expecting a warm appreciative look of "Isn't it great that you 2 had so much fun!" Instead I get, "How could you get so close to a buck with our daughter - she could have been hurt". We hear the 7 year old yell from up stairs - "Aw mom, you just don't get it - we were hunting!" At that, we both start to laugh so hard we've got tears running down our faces.
Learned allot this evening. Need to sort everything out & apply this stuff.
Anyone know of a bow built for a 7 yr old little girl?
"It's not the kill, it's the adventure and challenge! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>"
Edited by - justinl on 10/14/2002 00:13:04