What a great hunting trip with my little buddy!!! It was a trip of many lessons, patience and success. I couldn’t be a luckier.... or more proud dad. Good job buddy on your first buck.
Day one met us with really bad weather. We had turkey tags but deer were on the hit list first. As the morning progressed the rain was a damper on our deer hunt. One lonely doe was all we saw. About two hours in, 3 turkeys show up.......now turkey are on the top of the hit list. Jaycob grabs the 20 ga and sets up......BOOOM....big turkey down.
Off to town we head for a brunch and to get a few supplies. Brunch was amazing!!!
The night hunt end with water logged emotions and no deer seen.
Day two is again a wet.....and I mean wet.....day. Again one doe seen in the morning and no turkeys show. Confused and frustrated with the lack of deer, we decide to call in a favor. Auntie to the rescue.... My sister was a life saver and granted us access to their property to see if we could find a buck. That evening we head to the property. On the way in we notice a pile of does....literally everywhere we look. We get set up and wait patiently for a legal buck to show. As dark falls on our night hunt our spirits are lifted (even though we are wet) and we didn’t see a legal buck, we still watched a ton of deer.
We go to bed with high hopes for day three....the rain is suppose to stop and sun should show it’s beautiful self!!! We hope the weather is reason for the lack of deer sightings. It rains all night which helps us sleep as we here it hitting the metal roof of the cabin. When we wake.....it is silence. Fingers crossed we hope the sun will show as the daylight is only 30 minutes away.
As luck would have it. The sun rises on the food plot. Our hopes and spirits are at an all time high. Two does quickly turned into 6 which then turned into 12.....and one buck that had previously been named taco by my son, the hunter. He gets set up behind his rifle (savage 7mm-08 in a MDT chassis topped with NF scope) which is nestled in a BogPod Deathgrip tripod. The deer is slightly quarting to us and is surrounded by does. My son showed great patiens waiting for the does to clear.......Boooommmm.....whack.....Solid hit!! The buck, struggling to walk, makes his way 100 yards and out of sight (much to my surprise). We wait a half hour and then start the track. We move slow, quiet and very deliberate, finding a blood trail that is growing as we go. While we track, I teach my son the importance of being a good tracker. "Don't walk on the blood", Don't get ahead of the last blood", "Slow", "Quiet", "Listen and Smell", ect. etc. etc. After about an hour we find his buck piled up......BUCK DOWN!!
Lots of pictures, smile and laughs before the work begins. My son ask, "dad, will the antlers hold my rifle??", Me (chuckle), "Yes sir they are big enough to hold your rifle," Him, "I want a picture like that" DONE!! He saw my moose pics and wants to be like dad!!!! My heart was warmed and I got a chuckle out it to boot.
Two years; two deer, two bear, three turkeys and countless memories. He is turning out to be quite the hunter and I couldn't be a more proud dad. Passing on the tradition.
Enjoy the pics.
