Jimmy S

I agree with everyone here. If I were you, I would ask myself this question: Under this situation, would I be proud of my son after he shot his first deer? I think not.

llbts1

You did right. I will be worth it.

NY Bowhunter

are you serious?

Doemasters

not cool...

Trustee

Fire!!!!!!

Striper Phil

I wasn't going to get into this one but I would need a picture of the terrain, sounds pretty rural out there. Dirt road or what? Some places hunt from ATV's, some on land with so much food you might as well walk the deer by on a leash, or across a ravine at hundreds of yards. Spot a deer at a thousand yards drive up to 300 yards behind a hill with an ATV pop over the hill and shoot. I'm not sure on this one. I guess it is a more private thing. Don't seem to be any laws broken so it really is a choice thing not an ethics thing.

rem7400 2

While I tend to agree that a first deer for a young hunter would be preferrable in a "classic setting". A boy on stand in the early dawn, suddenly a snap of a twig draws his attention to the............

But I also take great exception to some of you guys with your "road hunting " condemnations. I really hate these ethical question threads, I define my hunting first and foremost by if it is legal. After it is determined to be legal then I make personal choices beyond that.
I hate a true road hunter, one that hunts from the road shooting deer off land that they do not have permission to hunt. They are breaking the law and I have no use for them.

But let's take this ethics question a bit further. So it's a bad thing to take advantage of a legal opportunity to harvest a deer. These guys hunted legally and "ethically" all day long and were on the way off the property when they spotted deer in the field, I'm gonna assume that xd9x19 assessed the safety aspect of the situation and decided it was safe and they discussed the option of getting out of the truck and trying to get a shot.
For you guys that say this is a bad thing, let's change one factor, instead of coming out in the truck let's say they were walking out on the road and spotted the deer in the field. Or let's say they were standing by the truck getting ready to leave and spotted deer in the field.
Let me tell you boys, if I'm in the mood to harvest a doe and was presented with this opportunity I only have one word to say about it........BANG!!!!

Bowtech Joe

I am gonna have to agree with rem7400 on this one.

as long as everything was in the legal boundaries then there shouldnt be a problem.

AJ52

Lets assume it is all legal.

If it was my Boy - I'd have to pass.

If it was a nice shooter Buck - I'd have to think about that one for a nano second?

I think the key to this whole question is what do you wish to teach your son and his memory to be on 1st Deer?

Talondale

Kind of reminds me of arguements for or against artificial lures in bass/trout fishing. It's not real fishing if your using real bait. Dry flies vs salmon eggs. Blah blah blah. Seems like a lot of preaching on this site. I think it's a matter of taste. What do you want to convey to your son? (Assuming all was legal as you said it was) Maybe that was a chance for a good conversation with him (a quick one) about why he was hunting, what kind of experience HE wanted. Did he want his first deer to be a drive by happen-stance or the fruit of a well thought out hunt? He may say heck yeah ( Honestly I would have at an early age, and may even now except we have to be 100 yards off a road in VA) but with guided questioning he may opt for a different experience. Who knows you could even try to talk him into a belly crawl stalk, which could turn a lucky pot shot into a challenging opportunity for bragging. That would be fun too even if he didn't get a shot, and exciting.