Proud Dad!!!

[remington300mag]

So, just to get it out right away...this is not a heart warming story of a boys first dear or anything. Instead it is a story of a boy that has more courage, heart, drive, and the sweetest boy a guy could ask to call his son!
I'll start off by saying my son has hunted his butt off for 2 years now......hiking further, longer, and more steep than most kids his age could or would. Never mumbling so much as a complaint.....he truly loves the sport of hunting.....even though his dad hasn't been able to put him on a shooter.....1st year, 13 2 points and spikes and does.....last year finally seen a shooter 2x2 with an eye guard at last light on the last day while driving home.....still no complaints....he just keeps hunting.
That is what makes what happened today break my heart.....yet also filled me so full of being proud of the son I have raised. I started full time guiding this year for salmon, so I haven't had near the time for scouting as I would like....the few days I did get out I didn't see much (3 does) in any of my old stomping grounds.....did see wolf tracks (mission unit) so now I decided to look somewhere new opening day....somewhere I had hunted before but had not scouted. We get up at 2:30am and out the door by 3..... Wanted to make sure we got our spot to walk in before someone else. Left the truck an hour and a half before light to get set up and wait for the action to start. Right at first light I see a group of 4 hunters working their way along a logging road towards where we were watching.....and 2 other hunters coming in from the top of the ridge.....about that time my son, glassing all the time, spots a deer! I throw my glasses up and notice its a buck.....spotting scope set up I zoom in and see it is a nice wide and tall 3x3..... I tell my boy it was a shooter and to get ready....no time at all he is on his bi-pod and ready....I range the deer at 286 yards.....tell him one more time where to hold and he squeezes the trigger....the buck spins around....face plants....tries to get up and starts rolling down into hell it's self....tried to get its feet under it again about 125 yards down the hill but just ended up taking a header into a down burned tree. never moved again. Layed there with its head caught in the limbs of the tree for near 20 minutes while I attacked my son....cheering and carrying on. Every dad thinks of this moment and it was finally our turn!! So, we get our gear all together and grab our packs.....about this time all hell breaks loose right under us......gun fire and a lot of it!!! 7 or 8 shots in the first volley.... Then probably 6 more in the second.....we figured another buck was getting some warning shots....so we drop down the back of our ridge to get in a logging road that would get us much closer to my sons buck......as we start to drop off the hill I notice 4 guys standing at my sons buck.....of coarse I immediately seen red.....I took off down the mountain,son following behind me. As I approach the group (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 about 12 like my son) I see they are gutting the buck.....and it has been shot to hell!!! I asked what they thought they were doing and they said they seen the buck bedded down and shot it.....I mention in not such a nice tone that the reason the buck was laying there is because it was dead already.....asked them why they thought it wouldn't die with their multiple hits.....then mentioned cause it's head was stuck in the limbs......now all I will say is the conversation was not going well....lots of broken English.....the 2 adults were getting pretty pissed.....and I wasn't the calmest of folks. My son stood there at my side the entire time.....never flinched....never scared. Then about the time things were getting really heated.....my son speaks up and asked... "So, which one of you actually tagged the buck?" The  youngest of the 4 raised his hand....my son then asked him, "is this your first buck?" The kids said yes.....and my normally timid son looks at the kid and says in the most manly .voice a 12 year old could speak and says, "you know, that would have been my first buck too.... But it isn't worth fighting over. Come on dad, they can have it." Of coarse I was having none of that......but my son looked at me and said, "really dad, they can have it, they already shot it up really bad" He then just smiled and headed up the hill....I was truly overcome.....I'm known as a guy with a hot temper, an angry guy, a hard ass.....and here is my son......sweet, caring, straight A's, athlete, loving, calm.....more of a thinker......I did something I never thought I would do.....I turned and walked away....all because my 12 year old told me it was ok.....didn't talk about it on the way home.....couldn't stay out due to my bum knee swelling after walking out of the hell hole..... I would have been very proud of my son today for getting his first buck..... But there's no measure to how proud I am of him for being the bigger man.... He is already way a head of his 36 year old father.....we teach our kids a lot in life.... And sometimes they teach us a thing or 2.....

[wingsandwilds]

  Great story!  Not only am I impressed with your son, but it sounds like you had a 'first' as well.  He sounds like someone who will be a leader some day and take care of others.  I wish you both the best this season.  Congrats to your boy...Karma works wonders. 

[blackhorn]

 

[duckmen1]

Wow. Awesome kid. Hope he shoots an even bigger one.

[ldjbuff]

So cool. I still would find out where those other adults live and egg their houses

[Natures Way]

That is something to be proud of.  congrats to your son and you.

[deerhunter_98520]

 

Great story!  Not only am I impressed with your son, but it sounds like you had a 'first' as well.  He sounds like someone who will be a leader some day and take care of others.  I wish you both the best this season.  Congrats to your boy...Karma works wonders. 

  that's a son to be proud of 

[remington300mag]

Thanks fellas! He really is a great kid! got a call last year from the school....he had got in a fight......knowing my son i asked the principle what the other kid had done.....Principle told me he wasn't in trouble i just needed to come down and calm him down (bawling his eyes out) guess the other kid punched a little girl in the face and was choking her....so my son tackled him and bloodied the kids nose. He just kept saying he didnt want to fight but didnt know what to do....lol
Here is something to throw out there...... What would you have done in this situation today with the deer???

[Pinetar]

That is so messed up in so many ways. I'm proud of your son and I have never met him. Good luck is coming his way!!!!!!!!! Those adults should be ashamed of themselves in a big way. There is way more to hunting than the kill and your son has that figured out. Kudos to him and I wish him all the luck in the future.

[jason stevens]

I have young girls and would have done as you did listen to your son. Sounds like he was raised right and made an honorable decision. Lots more season and memories to come good for you.

[sven]

What a class act your son is  , the deer God's will reward him I am sure, best of luck to him, Not sure I could have kept my cool either.

[longrange7mm]

  to your son that would be a hard one to take for me as well.. To bad he had to deal with such ass hats.. His buck is out there waiting and getting bigger and maybe closer to the road as I type 

[PolarBear]

What a class act your son is  , the deer God's will reward him I am sure, best of luck to him, Not sure I could have kept my cool either.

You did a great job of raising that young man!  Definitely a son to be proud of!

[MLBowhunting]

Great job on his part    I wouldve been heated also

[nwwanderer]

PM me if you get a chance