My eldest son has now got into archery in a big way and was more than eager to cozy into one of my favorite hauntsSunday morning. We took a back door in so that we wouldn't leave a scent trail where it mattered. In the dark, I set him up behind a big yellow pine overlooking the intersection of 2 trails 20 yards away. Then I slipped out and went to another good spot about 300 yards farther on.

At first light, a doe headed up the hill to the west of both of us, then more on scattered trails. Before I realized they were there, 8 does and fawns were coming right at me from a copse of trees below. I had to plaster myself against the trunk of the pine that I was hiding behind as they leisurely worked their way past as near as 15 yards.

When I was able to resume normal scanning posture, I was able to see a number of does and 3 bucks heading up the trail straight toward my son's stand location. They disappeared from my view as they neared his position and I waited anxiously for the shot that would scatter most of them back down the hill. Sure enough, 2 does and 2 bucks suddenly came scooting around the hillside right toward me. But they veered off about 60 yards away and headed up the slope.

Once all had calmed down and it appeared that the morning activity was about done, I headed for my son's stand. He came out from behind the tree as I approached and the first thing I saw was his quiver, still with a full compiment of arrows. "You sure got them bucks stirred up," says I. "There was bucks here?" he replied. Turns out he decided to go exploring and missed all the action, except that he spooked the deer toward me when he returned to his assigned ambush site. Ah, the impatience of youth. Methinks he learned a bit about bow hunting just then.