Sarah's 1st Deer 2011
Nov. 5, 2011 (Sarah’s 1st Deer)
I found a new route to our hunting grounds; it only takes us 37 minutes to get there now. Sarah, my 10-year old daughter, was asleep listening to NPR on the way there. We got to the land by 4:00 p.m., the weather was beautiful..cool and in the 50's. We had a slight breeze, and all the colors in the trees had changed, lots of fiery red/orange, yellows, and deep reds....just an fantastic change in the season.
We got our clothes on at the hunting grounds, Sarah wore some insulated ski pants, a long sleeve, her new camo sweater with pink piping, gloves, a harness, and a orange toboggan.
I carried her shotgun for her because it was heavy. We had to walk to the stand for about 10-15 minutes. We also had to cross a little creek, so she got on my back and I carried her across so she didn't get her feet wet, the creek was only 5' wide.
Once we got to the site, I set out some deer scent, estrus, about 50 yards in front of us. We were hunting a hard wood bottom with lots of birch trees surrounding us.
Sarah climbed up the 15' ladder stand. This stand is very stable and safe with a rail that goes 360 degree around us. It has a bench seat wide enough for two large adults.
Sarah wore a 5-point harness and was securely tied to the tree with a heavy duty strap. I had put a mesh screen all around the front to help hide movement a couple of days earlier too.
We sat and watched the tops of the trees sway in the wind, all the little leaves fluttering every now and then. The clean fresh air was refreshing, and it was nice and peaceful in the woods. We sat there side by side, my arms around her, and her head resting on my shoulder, real father and daughter time. We talked in soft whispers. I kissed her head often and told her how much I loved her.
This time I bought a cushioned pad so her but wouldn't hurt, and this was our second time in the woods together. It took practice for her not to move around too much, but being up high allowed us to see deer, keep our scent off the ground, and move a little without spooking game.
I was thinking, I'm glad that she took interest in hunting because our youth are the future of the sport.
Every now and then we would see a squirrel running across the ground. I told her to keep her ears open and listen for any rustling in the leaves. A deer will have a steady sound, shush, pause, shush, pause, shush...but a squirrel would be nonstop..shush shush shush shush, rustle...cackle squirrel bark...ack, ack, ack.
Sarah would doze off just a little, and it was a good sleep with the tree rocking ever so slightly back and forth. Sarah had her head down playing with her gloves when a huge hawk flew past us from behind just 5' from our heads and landed on a branch just 40 yards in front of us. It entertained us a little as we tried to get a good look at it through the branches.
Prime time was on us, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and I could tell that she was getting bored and a little impatient. I reassured her that the deer would come, but they don't move until it's almost dark.
Sure enough at 6:30 p.m., we see something 60-70 yards in front of us, walking towards us. It's a deer I whispered in her ear. She whispered back I don't see it.....pause, 'Oh now I see it.'
I got her shotgun up and put it on the rail, and said softly, I'll tell you when to shoot O.K., she whispered O.K. I spoke to her before about how to aim the shotgun, the red dot and white dot have to be together, and put both dots on the deer right above the front shoulder, and wait until the deer turns sideways.
It seemed like forever, but that little doe came in and stood facing us with her head down eating. I whispered wait, wait, wait, wait. I could tell that she was getting nervous, her check pressed down against the stock, eye in a squint, shotgun pointed at the deer. Sarah's breathing was getting heavy.
After about 30 seconds, the doe finally turned broadside to us and started to walk just a little. This was the perfect angle, and I gently took the safety off the shotgun for her, and said, O.K., I want you to shoot on a count of three. She nodded her head without looking up.
One, two, three....BOOM! The doe went down immediately, and I put the gun on safe again. Sarah was ecstatic...'I got it! I got it!' she screamed. She was shaking and trembling from excitement. 'That was awesome!'
I told her she did a great job and that I'm very proud of her and we high fived. I said, Thank God baby I wasn't sure if you were going to shoot, but you did it. 'Fantastic!' I asked her was that exciting...and with a grin from ear to ear she said, 'Yep, sure was!'
We unhooked from the tree and climbed down. It was a pretty small deer, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that my daughter got her 1st one, broke the ice, and had a fantastic time with her dad in the deer woods. We said a little prayer of thanks, we hi fived, and got ready to get out of the woods. Sarah was pumped.
After we got the deer in the truck we headed to the local gas station to get a refreshing drink. Lots of pickup trucks, with young and old men wearing orange baseball hats hanging around. I paid for our drinks and mentioned to the clerk, 'My daughter got her first deer today.' That's great, good job the man replied as he looked at Sarah and handed me my change.
When we got to the house, I broke out my wallet and pulled out Sarah big game report card and called the number. I let Sarah answer the automated questions, and then she wrote down the numbers for her tag.
Now she didn't kill the kind of deer that would grace the cover of a magazine, or get wows and aah's of most hunters, but it was a beautiful day....and it was a great day for father and daughter time.
I told her next time, we will wait and we'll get something with horns. Sarah was excited about that prospect and said she'll be ready to go again. 'Hanging out with dad is cool,' she said, and that put a smile on my face.
I found a new route to our hunting grounds; it only takes us 37 minutes to get there now. Sarah, my 10-year old daughter, was asleep listening to NPR on the way there. We got to the land by 4:00 p.m., the weather was beautiful..cool and in the 50's. We had a slight breeze, and all the colors in the trees had changed, lots of fiery red/orange, yellows, and deep reds....just an fantastic change in the season.
We got our clothes on at the hunting grounds, Sarah wore some insulated ski pants, a long sleeve, her new camo sweater with pink piping, gloves, a harness, and a orange toboggan.
I carried her shotgun for her because it was heavy. We had to walk to the stand for about 10-15 minutes. We also had to cross a little creek, so she got on my back and I carried her across so she didn't get her feet wet, the creek was only 5' wide.
Once we got to the site, I set out some deer scent, estrus, about 50 yards in front of us. We were hunting a hard wood bottom with lots of birch trees surrounding us.
Sarah climbed up the 15' ladder stand. This stand is very stable and safe with a rail that goes 360 degree around us. It has a bench seat wide enough for two large adults.
Sarah wore a 5-point harness and was securely tied to the tree with a heavy duty strap. I had put a mesh screen all around the front to help hide movement a couple of days earlier too.
We sat and watched the tops of the trees sway in the wind, all the little leaves fluttering every now and then. The clean fresh air was refreshing, and it was nice and peaceful in the woods. We sat there side by side, my arms around her, and her head resting on my shoulder, real father and daughter time. We talked in soft whispers. I kissed her head often and told her how much I loved her.
This time I bought a cushioned pad so her but wouldn't hurt, and this was our second time in the woods together. It took practice for her not to move around too much, but being up high allowed us to see deer, keep our scent off the ground, and move a little without spooking game.
I was thinking, I'm glad that she took interest in hunting because our youth are the future of the sport.
Every now and then we would see a squirrel running across the ground. I told her to keep her ears open and listen for any rustling in the leaves. A deer will have a steady sound, shush, pause, shush, pause, shush...but a squirrel would be nonstop..shush shush shush shush, rustle...cackle squirrel bark...ack, ack, ack.
Sarah would doze off just a little, and it was a good sleep with the tree rocking ever so slightly back and forth. Sarah had her head down playing with her gloves when a huge hawk flew past us from behind just 5' from our heads and landed on a branch just 40 yards in front of us. It entertained us a little as we tried to get a good look at it through the branches.
Prime time was on us, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and I could tell that she was getting bored and a little impatient. I reassured her that the deer would come, but they don't move until it's almost dark.
Sure enough at 6:30 p.m., we see something 60-70 yards in front of us, walking towards us. It's a deer I whispered in her ear. She whispered back I don't see it.....pause, 'Oh now I see it.'
I got her shotgun up and put it on the rail, and said softly, I'll tell you when to shoot O.K., she whispered O.K. I spoke to her before about how to aim the shotgun, the red dot and white dot have to be together, and put both dots on the deer right above the front shoulder, and wait until the deer turns sideways.
It seemed like forever, but that little doe came in and stood facing us with her head down eating. I whispered wait, wait, wait, wait. I could tell that she was getting nervous, her check pressed down against the stock, eye in a squint, shotgun pointed at the deer. Sarah's breathing was getting heavy.
After about 30 seconds, the doe finally turned broadside to us and started to walk just a little. This was the perfect angle, and I gently took the safety off the shotgun for her, and said, O.K., I want you to shoot on a count of three. She nodded her head without looking up.
One, two, three....BOOM! The doe went down immediately, and I put the gun on safe again. Sarah was ecstatic...'I got it! I got it!' she screamed. She was shaking and trembling from excitement. 'That was awesome!'
I told her she did a great job and that I'm very proud of her and we high fived. I said, Thank God baby I wasn't sure if you were going to shoot, but you did it. 'Fantastic!' I asked her was that exciting...and with a grin from ear to ear she said, 'Yep, sure was!'
We unhooked from the tree and climbed down. It was a pretty small deer, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that my daughter got her 1st one, broke the ice, and had a fantastic time with her dad in the deer woods. We said a little prayer of thanks, we hi fived, and got ready to get out of the woods. Sarah was pumped.
After we got the deer in the truck we headed to the local gas station to get a refreshing drink. Lots of pickup trucks, with young and old men wearing orange baseball hats hanging around. I paid for our drinks and mentioned to the clerk, 'My daughter got her first deer today.' That's great, good job the man replied as he looked at Sarah and handed me my change.
When we got to the house, I broke out my wallet and pulled out Sarah big game report card and called the number. I let Sarah answer the automated questions, and then she wrote down the numbers for her tag.
Now she didn't kill the kind of deer that would grace the cover of a magazine, or get wows and aah's of most hunters, but it was a beautiful day....and it was a great day for father and daughter time.
I told her next time, we will wait and we'll get something with horns. Sarah was excited about that prospect and said she'll be ready to go again. 'Hanging out with dad is cool,' she said, and that put a smile on my face.
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