Our First Youth Hunting Season Our one and only son was born January 15, 1999. His mother and my wife (Tonya) were both extremely excited to bring Bryce into this world. It was a moment to this day we continue to thank God for. I do not think we could have truly imagined the joy he would bring to our lives. Let me say that Bryce’s first deer hunt did not just happen over night. When he was a little fella, I had made up a lullaby I would sing to him each night that included the phrase “rise the next morning when its dark and clear, sit up in your stand and get your first buck deer.” So you can see poor Bryce was going to be influenced by the tree (at least half of it in this instance) he fell from. Well, I actually have to tell the truth, the plan started even before that. Myself, Ed (hunting partner), and Scott (hunting partner and brother) had built enclosed deer stands room enough for a couple of others to hunt in knowing it would be a great and safe situation for the young ones to hunt out of one day. In the meantime it was also nice to help stay dry! Eight years later an all out search was launched for a Christmas youth deer rifle. I really did not think it necessarily was something that an 8 year old would go nuts over for a Christmas present; after all we had learned valuable Christmas present lessons through the years. Such as, the box that an expensive toy came in was much more interesting and fun to play with as opposed to the expensive toy itself. It seemed the boxes and the wrapping paper would always serve as the 1st thing to be played with and the 1st thing destroyed or broken. Regardless, I wanted Bryce to have a deer rifle for the deer season when he would be nine, and I wanted it to be a Christmas present. His mother would continued to ask me if I was sure a deer rifle was something Bryce wanted or something I wanted for him. I knew when the time came for deer season it would be something he wanted, after all, I already had a .30 06 and who needs more than one gun, right? After assaulting every gun dealer, pawn shop, and any other possible store in the four state area we finally ran upon a Remington youth model 700 bdl .243 on sale that I just could not turn down. I mean I had checked them all out, discussed what would be the best caliber to get with anyone that would listen, needless to say done my homework. My biggest concern, Bryce had very little meat on his bones at this stage in his life and I did not want him to be scared of the gun. My brother was good enough to lend us some lighter reloads that he had loaded for his daughter Ashlee. Problem was there were only a few shells left, and plenty of practice and preparation was still needed before the big hunt. We decided at least for practice shooting we would use factory loads and put a shot bag on top of the gun while setting it on a rest and table. Bryce done well with this but we still needed to shoot the loads he would hunt with and without the shot bag to make sure it was still on target. I still remember how “nervous” I was for him to take that first shot without the shot bag on the gun. I had seen my 6’8 hunting buddy Ed bloody his face before from the scope, so yeah I was a little nervous for my little buddy. After we took the bag off I stood beside him encouraging him to do a good job, wanting to help hold the gun but knew he had to do it by himself. He put the stock to his should and grabbed the gun by him self for the first time, bulls eye! Nobody could have done any better! We spent several days prior to hunting just practicing taking aim and how to hold onto the rifle. We would get in Papa Ed’s stand and simulate deer hunting, practicing safety rules and preparation for “the shot.” We pretended to see a deer; Bryce would slowly bring his gun up in shooting position, laying it on the stand for support, he would then wait for me to tell him it was ok to shoot and trigger the safety to fire. It was a well thought out and practiced plan! Although we noticed another item we were going to have to work on. The safety on his bolt action was so difficult for him to put on fire it made a noise when he would click it on. We decided it would be best for me to slowly push it forward so it would remain quiet. So now the patient one would have to wait for me to not only tell him when to shoot, but also trigger the safety. Bryce had taken, his hunter safety course, done plenty of practicing and now it was here, youth deer season! Bryce had grown up with Ed and I “camping” out in our 30 x 40 shop during deer season. Over the years we had made it into a very comfortable and fun atmosphere, TV, fridge, microwave, wood stove, kitchen table, the whole nine yards. Of course Bryce wanted to do the same thing and I was more than happy to oblige. We all had only wished that Ed could have been there with us as he would have loved it, Ed had passed away just about a year and a half earlier. With help from his mother we got everything thing together real cozy. There we were in our “camp” the night before imagining a great hunt. It was a magical evening as Bryce warmed up to me and we looked over the latest Bass Pro Shop magazine just trying to find something that we could not live without. We went over the rules and discussed everything thing we had talked about to ensure a safe and successful hunt. It was time to make sure we had all necessary supplies gathered up for the next morning and call it a night, as we anticipated the next morning. I had already decided we were not going to get into the stand as early as I normally would since I knew that little nine year old patience would not last forever. The alarm went off and it was time! We had a great morning just getting our clothes on in anticipation of the hunt. We had carefully laid out the night before what we were going to wear and equip ourselves with so the morning preparation could be smooth and enjoyable. Just as planned we were ready for the morning hunt. We got into our deer stand with our binoculars, water, and snacks all carefully positioned so as to make sure we would not be making any unnecessary noise. I knew it would be a good day when Bryce had shushed me a couple of times! I also knew that we would need some type of plan to keep Bryce’s patience in touch. To solve the patience problem and to keep quiet we decide to use the cell phone trick. We put it on silent and would type messages back and forth on the screen to read. Of course Bryce thought it was funny to tell me there was a deer out there each time I would lower my head to read his messages. After setting in the stand and exchanging messages for about 40 minutes Bryce again tried to get my attention to the deer that was standing out there. This time I would not be fooled, but after seeing the sincerity and excitement on his face I bit and took a look. Sure enough, about 60 yards away stood a big doe slightly turned from us just outside the woods. It was time to put all we had practiced to work! Bryce slowly picked up his gun and rested it in shooting position on the bottom of the deer stand window. He got her in his sights and was being surprisingly patient. I whispered for him to wait for her to turn. About that time she began to look into the woods. Bryce did not have a bad shot to take, but it was not as easy a shot as I would have liked for him to have for his first time out. Now I am getting worried thinking she may bolt into the woods and him miss the opportunity all together. I would never hear the end of that. I slowly took his safety off and gave him the go ahead signal. Boom, down she went turning a complete kicking circle, and got up sprinting into the woods. It was hard for me to tell how good she was hit but knew we had better sit in the stand for a while and give her a chance to bleed out. After Bryce shot I had sent a text message to my brother and his mother “deer hit, will need to track.” They both were at work and everyone is even more excited with anticipation of Bryce’s first hunt. Now we are really going to test Bryce’s patience. You would have thought we were taking a 10 hour car trip and Bryce asking every few minutes if we were there yet. The whole time I am secretly questioning the fact that I allowed him to take the shot, at the same time hoping for the best. To make the matter worse, we had another doe come and stand 20 yards from us,…. broad side! Now I am really questioning the first shot as I wondered how the patience is holding out beside me. Sure enough, he is ready for round two as I feared. I sure was wishing this was the shot he was going to take, but since we had a wounded one in the woods I would have to ask even more patience out of Bryce. The second doe finally walked away and after about 45 minutes I gave in, we would go look for a trail. Bryce went right to the spot where she fell and we found a trail going into the woods. We followed that trail about 10 yards into the woods finding nothing else. By now we are getting text messages from my brother and his mother wanting to know what is going on??? At this point we have had no luck finding any more blood. We decided to mark the last sighting and cover a circle from that area to see if we could find anything, needle in the hay stack approach you might say. We covered the area well and found nothing, now I am crucifying myself for telling Bryce to take the shot, worrying how a negative ending would affect his desire to continue to hunt. You know how the second guessing thing works, should I have waited, should I have done this or done that. It also did not help the second guessing that the second doe had come so close to use broad side. After crucifying myself and exhausted at that, I walked back out of the woods when my brother had called to take a break and talk to him. We had gotten several text messages from him and Bryce’s mother with the symbols ?????????, wanting to know what was going on. We all were anxious for Bryce’s first hunt. I went on to tell Scott we were not having any luck finding any more signs of the doe. He could tell the frustration in my voice. No hunter ever wants to leave a wounded deer in the woods and that idea was multiplied for Bryce’s first hunt. At the end of that conversation I hear a little voice from the woods, “Daddy, I found some more blood!” So now I tell Scott I will get back with him and headed to the woods. What I saw looked like a beagle on a rabbit trail! Bryce was on the move. Then I hear “Look what I Found!” Sure enough there she was not 40 yards from where Bryce had shot her. She must have bolted in the woods and made a circle trying to head back towards the way she came. Honestly I don’t know who was the most excited me or Bryce. High fives and hugs ensued. Not only did Bryce get his first deer, but he tracked and found her, I was really proud of him! After dressing her we also saw that Bryce had made a perfect shot, hitting her in the heart! She ended up weighing 100 pounds after field dressed which is a very nice doe for our area. What a way to spend some time with your son, in the woods! Lifelong lessons can be learned there. While coaching high baseball and softball for several years various hunting experiences served as great lessons to learn by. From the first lullaby, to the Christmas scavenger hunt for his rifle, to the preparation, practice time and “camping” in our shop can all be summed up with one word,………………………….. MAGICAL.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 00:43:09 +0000
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