I took my 12 year old son out for his first time shotgun hunting this last weekend. Went out Saturday morning and had a lot of deer running all around us. One doe was within about 30 yards of us standing perfect for a shot, but my son couldn't see it. Later on we were walking along and a 8 point jumped up in front of us and when it was about 100 yrds away he says he clean shot and I told him not to shoot. I expained that the deer was too far away and running so chances of getting a good shot were very low.
Sunday morning we moved to a closer area to where all the deer were walking the day before. Right at shooting time three does come walking by. I asked him if he could see the deer and he says a little too loud that he couldn't see them. So those deer take off. At the time they were only 15 yards from us. A little later I look to the edge of the trees and see the biggest buck that I have ever seen on the property we were hunting. I asked my son I he could see the deer and he said yes. So I told him to get ready. The buck comes to within 30 yards and stands perfectly. My son is just shaking like crazy, but he gets a shot off. Unfortunately it was a miss. We definitely had a lot of fun though.
I had wondered before we went out what I would do if a monster buck came out if I would let him have the first shot. The only buck I have shot was a 6, and this buck was a massive 12 pointer so it was a hard decision, but if he could have downed that buck that would have been better than if I would have. So I don't regret the decision at all. And the look on his face when talking about getting his first shot was amazing. I think he finally understands that it is not as easy as the hunting games make it look like.