Hunters first Deer

[L8NITE]

Friday October 8 2010 my phone rings at work, its my 10 year old son Hunter... "Dad"..."yes bud?"," I have all my hunting clothes laid out and my back pack ready for deer season". "But we still have a week before season Bud"..."I know but I just want to be ready."
It becomes a sleepless week for my son, he is doing everything he can to keep his composure waiting for the opener.
Saturday finally comes, its O dark 30 we load up our gear and head for our spot. To my surprise there isn't another vehicle in sight. We have the area all to ourselves! We wait for first light and then head up the road walking quietly, as we approach our target area I feel the wind switch directions and it is hitting us right in the back. I explain to my son that is pointless to continue in this direction as the wind is blowing our scent towards the bedding areas. We decide to turn around and head in the opposite direction.
We get about a hundred yards away from the truck and my son says dad there's a deer. I am looking for all its worth and I cant see the dang thing. He has asked at least four times if its a buck and if he can shoot...I still cant see it. I ask him again where its at knowing that its not going to hang around forever so I had better hurry up and locate it...when he says DAD ITS RIGHT THERE! I look to where he is pointing and there is a spike standing about ten feet away trying to hide his head in a bush. I quietly tell him its a buck and he can go ahead and shoot if he can get a good rest on his sticks. The deer bolts from its hiding spot, runs about 75 yards and turns to look at us. I tell my son if you can get a good rest go ahead and take the shot...BANG!!!
I see dirt fly and the deer walks down the hill away from us, I tell him to reload because you missed. We follow the deer until he walks into the heavy brush and disappears.
We go over to where the deer was standing just to double check for any blood or any sign of the deer being hit. Nothing it was a clean miss just as I had witnessed in my binoculars.
My heart sinks, the moment he has waited for all year has just walked away. I can see the disappointment set in but I don't let it get him down. I explain to him that it has happened to every hunter at some time during their life and it will happen again.
As we continue walking I keep thinking that we have probably just scared every deer in the valley away and our chances of seeing another one are pretty slim, but we press on. I decide to go check another canyon where I had seen several bucks during early archery season.
As we are standing on the  top of the canyon my son again says dad there's a deer. I immediately see the doe walking in our direction. We hunker down so she doesn't see us, as I continue glassing the canyon I start seeing more deer feeding on the hill side. Several spikes and five does are feeding all around us when this two point walks out from behind some reprod. I tell my son see that fat deer on the hill side its a buck and if you can get a steady rest stay calm and take the shot. We set his sticks up and he takes a rest. As I am watching through the binos I see him out of the corner of my eye frantically looking around at all the deer. I asked him if he could see the two point as I didn't want him shooting the wrong deer, and he said yea I just couldn't find it in my scope for a minute. He settles back on his sticks and I go back to the binos...BANG I see the buck hunch up and blood showing behind the front shoulder...perfect hit! The buck goes down the hill about twenty feet and piles up. We make our way (119 yards) over to the buck and Hunter is speechless. We pull the deer out of the grass so he can see the horns and he is shaking with excitement, after a few hugs and high fives he is on my cell phone calling mom to tell her the news...then calls grandpa to come help us drag it out. It was a morning we will both cherish forever.

[the1rod]

nice story, and nice buck. that thing has a massive body, congrats to you and your son.

[Kent Hunter]

Way to make Dad proud Hunter!! Nice job young man!!!

[ASHQUACK]

Very nice deer young man!

Is that a chupacabra in the backgorund?

[PolarBear]

Awesome!!  That's what it is all about!!  Congrats!

[Michelle_Nelson]

Very cool!  Congrats to your son on his first deer!

[1morebuck]

Totally awesome! That is a great story and a phenomenal buck! Is that a M-77 he's shooting? Nice gun too! That memory will last forever!

[Dadbear]

What a fantastic story. This is my 9 year old's first season hunting as well. Great job Hunter... and even better job to you, Dad, for helping to encourage and develop another outdoorsman. 

[SemperFidelis97]

Congrats to your son my 9 year old son just tagged his first whitetail buck last weekend as well now dad just has to get off his butt, and download the hundred, or so pics we took.

[PacificNWhunter]

That's a great first buck! Awesome write up.

[ser300wsm]

Congrats to your boy on his first buck. Great story,thanks for sharing.

[L8NITE]

Thank you all for the encouragement!  He had to get home in a hurry today to see if anyone had posted.  No it's not a chupacabra in the background, it's our pale face boxer LOL.  He was shooting a youth model .243, yea we are pretty dang proud of him.  It's a lifetime memory there!

[hogsniper]

Awesome first buck!   Congrats and hope there are many more trophys in your near future!!!   

[Mudball]

He is going to be an even better hunter in the future. Not to many first time BT hunters get bucks like that. I would be very proud if I could get one like that. Good job. Even looks like the weather wasn't to bad, Just don't let him think they all come on the first day, It took me 5 years with one bad hit that we never found, It still makes me sick. 

[shedcrazy]

Way to go , I love seeing the kids out there!!! Congratulations