by-Jerod Fink
So it was my first time going out in WI this year (9 days chasing mulies, and the wife wouldn’t have appreciated me going out any sooner)! I said what the heck, and brought my 3 year old boy out with me in the Double Bull (A Country Boy can Survive). So we get in the blind at about 3:30 (good move, right) and I’m trying to get him into a beef jerky induced coma so he could sleep until Primetime. No dice. Coloring books, grape juice, jerky, etc., nothing worked to calm him down. I counted over 350 questions before I lost count. The kid soaked it all in.
Well, about 6:00 a doe steps out, and he sees his first deer in the wild. I’m pumped, he’s pumped, all is good. So I figure that the deer will start showing in this spot pretty soon. I stand him up on his chair and tell him to keep a look out. Nothing for a half hour, and he’s starting to want to go home. Can’t blame the little fella, as his Dad had him out in the blind for way to long.
I’m about to give in and call it a night, when 3 deer step out in the exact same spot as the previous doe. A forkie, a yearling doe, and a big Momma doe. No kidding, they start working into range. Of course, I’m nervous as can be because I’m thinking that this is the ultimate. My son’s first hunt and we are going to score!
So the big doe works broadside to a bush I had ranged at 33 yards previously. I pull back the Guardian and am about ready to give ‘er heck. Well, she stops behind the bush, and I’m at full draw. Keep in mind, I have the most inquisitive mind known to man 3 inches from my left ear. He set the record for questions in one minute, no doubt.
So I’m trying to count my pins (SDP sight, I have alot on there), answer his questions, keep my bow drawn, and keep from shooting the blind on release. Plus I was shooting uphill, so every time I would count a pin, it would disappear into the black part of my blind above the window. Needless to say, the 50 yard pin was on her when the shot was let go. So all night at the end of my boy’s story was “And Daddy missed the deer”!
I’ve got to say, I don’t think I would have been any more nervous drawing down on a 180 class buck. Just the way the night came together, having my boy with me on his first hunt, and actually getting a shot at a deer was amazing.
Good stuff for sure!!
