Should I few guilty for this?..

[NachesBOY509]

I still can't figure out if I should feel guilty about this or not, but before I go on since I'm fairly new to the site, "posting" wise anyway I'll explain myself a little.
I've been hunting since the first year I passed hunters safety which I was 10 at that time. I am now 22 and just got married in May! Too a women that has never hunted before  I've hunted with my rifle forever, and deer hunting is my absolute favorite! I've shot 3 bucks, and 4 does with my younger youth tags. Nothing huge yet, but every year has been a bigger buck then the last!
Any how on to my story now, last hunting season I was recently engaged and I really wanted to show my "future wife" as of now current wife, why I loved hunting so much! I would talk with her about it all the time, basically every day. About the thrill and the rush you get, and how much work gets put into it year in and year out. Buck fever, getting back into touch with Mother Nature! Just ALL of the things we all love about hunting. But just talking about it with her I could tell she still didn't fully understand the feeling you get from hunting. But she had finally agreed to go out scouting with me and such, and not too long after that she asked if she could go with me this year, that's what I had been waiting for, for a LONG time! So of course I said yes, we went scouting as much as possible and while doing so I showed her the ropes. She new pretty well the difference from a buck and a doe, a cow and a bull. But at times mixed them up. But anyways by the end of all our scouting trips she had everything down, eye guards, 3 points or better were legal, we will see a lot of 2 points and be lucky too see a 3 point. She had it all down.
So opening morning finally appeared, we were on foot by 5 am and she was a trooper, she was showing me spots where she thought we should hike too and glass, she had the binoculars up to her eyes the whole day. I was loving the facts that she was enjoying it so much! We had seen a few does and one little spike that morning, after that it really went dead for the next couple of days. And for me I have been doing it for quite some time now. So I've experienced this before, but it really had her down, to the point of boredom and would almost rather be home then hunting. We had to take a few days off from hunting for work, but we finally had the last 2 days of the season to get out there and hunt. And we really didn't see much, a lot of does and 2 little 2 points that we couldn't seem to put eye guards on. The last day rolled around and it was becoming late evening, and before we knew it we had about 45 minutes of light left. All of the sudden my wife perks up real quick, taps my shoulder what felt like 100 times. All she said was "buck" my adrenaline started pumping. I had her explain to me where she was looking and I threw up my binos in that direction after about 2 minutes I saw exactly what she was looking at. A nice big "sage buck" a perfect dead peice of sage brush that's caught all of our eyes before. So instead of telling her it wasn't a buck I decided I was going to give her that rush of hunting. I had a good feeling I wasn't going to see a buck with those last 40 minutes of light, so I told her that a buck, it's a 3 point im going to shoot. I got my rifle set up, took my time and took a shot, reloaded lead it with the scope and shot again. I told her I missed and had to act a little "pissed off" as she tried to talk me up and tell me it was ok, let's go look for blood just to double check. I could tell she finally got that RUSH, looking for blood, she had finally gotten that little taste of buck fever! And as soon as we got back to the truck, she couldn't wait to go again this year! She said that was one of the most exciting feelings! So yes I lied, but I fee it was worth it too keep her hopes up, and let her get a taste of hunting and just how rewarding it could be to hike miles upon miles once you get a shot at that buck! Should I feel guilty? Has anyone ever had a similar event like this before?

[NachesBOY509]

Here's just a few pictures from her first hunting trip. It really was great having my wife out in the woods with me

[Timberstalker]

I'm flabbergasted.

[cbond3318]

Here's what I get out of this. First, you'll probably catch some flak for dumping rounds into a sage brush , whatever. I think you have shown what it takes to make a marriage work in the long haul. You did something goofy and a little out there with your wife's experience in mind and it seemed to have worked, bravo!

Look at it this way, would you come from work and tell your wife you had a great day when in reality you hadn't but didn't want to dampen the nice evening she had planned for you both? Would you tell your wife you enjoy wandering through a craft store when in reality it's the last place you'd want to be? Would you tell your wife her hair looks good up when in reality you'd prefer it down?

No guilt to bear there bud!

Now, just hope she doesn't become a member here to tell a story and finds this, that could put a chop in the Ol' Trust Tree.

[kball4]

At least your wife will go hunting with you, my wife will sit in the truck till I'm done hunting.

[cvandervort]

Hahahaha. Love it. Made me laugh out loud in a traffic jam.

Totally the type of thing I'd do.

Comes down to philosophy: do ends justify the means? 😆

[h20hunter]

My only question: How'd she take it? All good, you are good. Not good, yeah your in the ol doghouse.

[JimmyHoffa]

Was kind of funny, maybe she'll laugh about it in the future.  Just would emphasize knowing exactly what the target is before turning loose.  We know you knew 100% it was sage.

[kckrawler]

Great story  And yes, I think you did the right thing 

[Timberstalker]

I think you had great intentions. 
I'm still flabbergasted. 

[Old Man Yager]

That's tha best story I heard in a while. I wouldn't make it a habit of not being truthful with her, but I can see why you did it. If she did all that scouting with you, and went out with you all day, I think you already got her hooked. Just remember it's got to be fun for her, and if you plan on staying married for a while, it's a lot of give and take. Good luck this year!!

[csaaphill]

   :DOH:had to go back and catch how it wasn't a deer, thought you missed on purpose at first 
Ummm but how do you know she wasn't doing the same?
If not then yeah good deal. Nice your wife has gotten into it and you now have a hunting partner. 

[csaaphill]

At least your wife will go hunting with you, my wife will sit in the truck till I'm done hunting.

mine too and not even that no more. First time out she went but I walked too far. Next time she wated in pick up and it was dark when I came back she was like
So now I just go. 

[fishnfur]

Same here.  If there's no signal for the iPhone, then mama's stayin' home.  Too many nasty biting buggy things too.

Good story NachesBOY.  I think she'll forgive you once she scores her first deer.

[Duffer]

It's natural to feel some guilt as it's a young relationship, but with some practice you will be able to lie to your wife with no regrets at all, like us old married guys do. Best to start practicing early. It gets easier with age.







   

[buckmaster303]

maybe I need to try this with my wife 

[WaltAlpine]

Get a couple of days worth of input from the responders to your question.
Then get the post deleted so she never sees it and move on, hoping for many years of hunting together.
Just keep your deceit on this unimportant level and you will be fine.

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[Jpmiller]

Here's to hoping you didn't miss seeing the buck she saw. That would be a bummer to find out there really was a deer.

[jjaba]

no guilt needed until she becomes a member and reads your post.

[Odell]

Since you asked, I'm going with yes. You lied to your wife and send some rounds off into the sage. I wasn't there so I don't know if it was safe or not but its on the list of "dont's".

You should have sent her on a belly crawl after it.


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[police women of America]

Honestly I would say no. It's good you feel bad for lying to her but it was all in good fun. And now everytime she thinks of hunting she'll think of seeing a huge buck instead of just sitting and being bored. I don't think you should have fired any shots, that was a little extreme. But I would ovoid telling her for a couple years, I know I would be mad if someone lied about a seeing a buck 

[idaho guy]

You are all good in my opinion.I get why you would feel guilty for  not being totally honest  I have never taken shots but have let young hunters and kids convince themselves they heard an elk coming in when it was a squirrel or they think they saw a bear etc. Your intentions were right.  I have been with my wife for over 20 years and she grew up in Montana in a family of avid hunters but never wanted to pull the trigger. I would take her out with me deer hunting mostly and taught her to rattle and stuff and we had a lot of fun and killed some nice deer eventually not right away. She helped me call in a small bull that I arrowed and  after a while she said she wanted to shoot her first deer and after that she was hooked and got her deer every year. Now we have 3 kids doing all kinds of stuff and she doesn't really hunt with me anymore but those years hunting together are some of my best memories. I don't think I would try to fake her out anymore but stay with it man you are on the right track it will be worth it. 

[huntnfmly]

Very cool
Absolutely no reason to feel bad
In just those few last Minutes you were able to show her and get her to feel exactly what you've been trying to explain.well done

[WA hunter14]

take it to the grave, if you havent told her yet then i definately would not tell her.

[7mmfan]

No issues in my book as long as you had a safe back drop. No different shooting at sage brush as shooting at a coyote or anything else standing in the sage.

If I did what you did though, my wife would have just given me a hard time for missing, so I probably wouldn't have done it. For pride's sake 

[NachesBOY509]

Trust me I haven't told her, I don't plan to make this a habit with my wife at all! But it really did get her into it, and now she can't wait for opening day this year!
I did make sure t was a safe backdrop to shoot towards and I took all the safety percautions!
I will take this one to the grave, but other than that it's all truths from me! And she does like to give me a hard time for "missing" but it's something we can both laugh at for quite some time considering the situation 😂

[7mmfan]

I think 4 or 5 years down the road when shes seen a few animals shot and may even be interested in it herself at that point, it might be time to come clean. I'm sure she'll find the humor in it at that point. 

[GoBeavs85]

If she spotted the "sage buck" how did she not keep seeing the buck after you shot? Sounds like you got lucky she didn't call you on it!


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[Boss .300 winmag]

I'm flabbergasted.

 

Wow.


Honesty is the best policy, your playing a dangerous game IMHO. 

[HunterofWA]

Looks like she's hooked so If I were you I'd delete this topic so that when she gets her first deer and gets real into hunting and joins this forum...

[HunterofWA]

Trust me I haven't told her, I don't plan to make this a habit with my wife at all! But it really did get her into it, and now she can't wait for opening day this year!
I did make sure t was a safe backdrop to shoot towards and I took all the safety percautions!
I will take this one to the grave, but other than that it's all truths from me! And she does like to give me a hard time for "missing" but it's something we can both laugh at for quite some time considering the situation 😂

thats right 

[de0827]

I'm flabbergasted.

 

Wow.


Honesty is the best policy, your playing a dangerous game IMHO. 

x2!   

[pianoman9701]

It's a little weird, but no harm, no foul unless she finds out. Don't get used to lying about little things to your wife. Little things will turn into big things eventually.

Unless you have a group of guys you're planning on hunting with each year and getting away from the wife for a week or 10 days (I'm one of those guys), get her into Hunter Education and buy her a first firearm. She'll never forget it. If she's into it enough to go out with you when she has no chance of shooting, think how excited she'll be to actually hunt with you. And she won't get so "down" during the slow times, too. You have a hunting partner for life, something that many have searched for in vain. Don't squander it.

[Bow_mon]

Once she has her first buck perhaps it'll be time to "come clean" just make sure it's at deer camp and around a fire.


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