It's muzz-loader season here in VA and my oldest son has been asking to go hunting with me for the last few weeks. Since he's only six years old (just turned six in Oct) I wasn't sure if he could take sitting in a stand for more than 20mins.

So, this was the perfect excuse for me to buy a new buddy stand and place it on a prime spot where I'd seen a lot of doe's during bow season. We'll, after myself and several of my buddies finally got that stand up, (I should have hired a tower erection crew), we were ready for our first hunt together. I decided to take him out in the evening so I wouldn't have to worry about him getting cold or fallin asleep in the stand on a morning hunt. I told him to pack his bag with a few books and some snacks and then he just had to have the same camo clothing on that I was wearing, so I let him wear some of my old hunting garb. Since I hunt my own property, we only had a short walk from the house. We took our time and looked for tracks and other sign of deer in the vicinity. We actually kicked up a few doe's bedded down in the creek near my stand.

Anyway, It's about 4:30 by the time we get settled in and he's busy readin his books and occasionally looking around for deer. We talk a little bit about kindergarden, his buddies in school and what he want's to be for hallowen. I'm trying to kill some time hoping for at least a doe or two to make an appearance. It's amazing how quick you can run out of things to talk about with a six year old.

After about an hour and half, he's ready to go. I keep telling him to just hang on another 10 min's b/c it's prime time and we're sure to see some deer b/f dark. Sure enough, just a few min's after I said that, along come a couple of doe's walkin down the same path we approached the stand. I told my son to be quiet and don't make a move or the deer will spook and run. We'll, they keep getting closer and closer and then finally, at about 30 yds and he can't take the pressure anymore. He put's his hand over his mouth and I noticed he was trying not to laugh. Pretty soon he had both hands over his face and couldn't stop giggling and that was it, I started laughin too and we were busted.

Although we didn't get the chance to harvest the deer, I had a memorable experience with my son and will alway's cheerish the memory of that first hunt together. I'm sure he's hooked b/c when my wife and I were putting him and his little brother to bed, he asked when we can go hunting together again.