Blues Foothill Tag Success

[nwhunter]

    So the story starts with my eleven year old boy drawing the tag with 3 points. The tag/hunt was a carrot dangled in front of his nose all school year to keep him on task and behave, I will give him a 7 out of 10. He loves to hunt and has looked forward to his first away from home hunt all summer/fall. The dates had a slight conflict with dad... I had a Colorado deer tag and we would only get to hunt the last 3 days of his season. I assured him that would be plenty and it was....barely. I gave him the choice of motel and watching football at night or walltent and roughing it so of course like a true hunter he picked the walltent, ugh I have had my fill of walltent and cots for the season but it was his choice and we had a blast.  
    We leave home after work and arrive in Dayton area at 1am and sleep in the truck, I am reminded that I am too old for that and gimp around for several hours with a sore hip. We check out some spots that fellow huntwa guys shared and see some bucks but mostly on private. Set up camp that afternoon and get an evening hunt in. A descent buck jumps up at 60 yards and stares for 5 seconds while my boy thoroughly enjoys a wild apple and doesn't see it til he flags and is gone. I remind him of this the entire hunt! We get up the next am to 8 inches of snow and howling winds. Hunt til noon trudging through knee deep drifts and see only a few deer they are hunkered down. That afternoon we head to lower ground and meet up with Dave(mtcook) and have a couple chances at bucks but don't get er done but had fun with Dave, he and Cole are packer/horse buddies.
    So down to the last day of the hunt and Cole is getting a little nervous and I will admit I was too. We decide to hunt by camp in the am and if no success come back and break camp and hunt lower and drive home. So the am hunt I spot a legal buck at 340 yards and he says too far so we sneak in to 250 only to see him go over the ridge. Frustration level with these elusive whitetails is at an all time high with the youngster so we head to camp and eat then are loaded up in an hour and a half and headed to our last afternoon spot. On the way I mention being a good sport and how not every hunt ends the way we hope but we try to the very end then keep our chin up and go home.
     To make a long story short we spot a buck and some does and go after them up and over a few ridges. He makes an impressive 150 yard shot just as the buck is getting away and after a few more less than impressive shots I have a very happy son! I got a pic of him as he came up on his buck not knowing how big he was and his expression was priceless! We drug him out and loaded him up and were home by 1am again.Fun times and lots of memories . nwhunter  

[400out]

Very good story NW and high five to your son! That is awesome

[NumaJohn]

Great work, Cole (and Dad)!

Beautiful deer to cap off a great time afield.  Well done.

[ser300wsm]

That is a great story, congrats to him & you on a hunt you both wont soon forget.. Nice buck...  

[ThePascoKid]

Congrats to your son, that's a nice Blues wt, I love that permit it's a
lot of fun

[mtncook]

Nice job guys,,,  I enjoyed the afternoon with you both.



mtncook

[Machias]

Awesome, congrats!!

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Very nice, congrats to your boy and to you... Hope my boy Cody draws something like that next year... He will be 12. This year was his first year hunting and he had one chance at a spike but he wasn't ready... Maybe next year.

[agchawk]

VERY COOL! I love seeing the youngesters out in the woods!

[Wanttohuntmore]

Congrats!  I love the pics!

[Skyvalhunter]

Congrats on a fine animal!!

[Ridgeratt]

Congrats to the youngman on his harvest. A nice deer to start the journey with.

Good on both of you for showing him cutting his tag.

Where do I find one of those color changing hats? Once again well done

[Woodchuck]

Congrats to you both, well done

[shortnround]

I love this story. Good job dad! I put in for that hunt with 9 points and couldn't draw. Fun hunt for sure. Nice buck and congratulations to the hunter!

[scout88]

thats what its all about right there, congrats to you both!