Tyler’s First Deer

By J.T. Harden

 

The day had finally arrived for my son’s first deer hunt. Thinking back now, I am not sure who was more excited to hit the woods, him or myself. My son Tyler was now 7 years old and I felt confident in his shooting skills to harvest a deer.

In the weeks prior to the Missouri youth season, I had done my scouting in hopes for a chance at any deer for Tyler. I had decided on a nice two-acre alfalfa field with ridgelines running to each side of the field. A group of does had become daily visitors to enjoy the green field.

Several days before, I had placed our Double Bull blind in the corner of the field back inside the timberline. I place several branches from fallen trees around the blind to help it disappear. Tyler and I each had a comfy chair to sit in for the long hours we all have grown accustomed to waiting for deer to arrive.

The night before brought back so many memories for myself and my childhood hunting with my father. Tyler and I spent that evening getting all of our hunting gear out for our early morning hunt. That night meant just as much to me as the hunt itself would be just to enjoy those hours with my son and his excitement.

I awoke well before the sound of my alarm going off and made us each several snacks to take along. I snuck into his room to find him only half asleep. “ Is it time to go dad, “ he said to me. “ Yes it is son” and we got dressed and headed out. The morning was unusually cold for this time of year with the temps dipping down to the low 30’s. It was a good thing I had gotten a new order of Under Armor Cold Gear from good friend Tim Herald for each of us.

We drove the 10 miles down the road to our hunting spot and arrived well before daylight. We both settled in and awaited the arrival of a beautiful south Missouri sunrise. The morning came and went with us hearing several shots all around us, but much to our surprise we saw nothing but an opossum run by our location. I had received a few phone calls from fellow proud parents that morning on my cell phone so about 10:00 a.m. we decided to call it a morning and go see what our friends had taken.

It was now mid afternoon and I had caped out two bucks for two very excited young girls, but now it was Tyler’s turn again. We headed back to our castle we had built in the brush for an evening hunt. The hours passed by without him complaining of the cold or not seeing deer. The evening ended with a trip to McDonalds and no deer in the back of our truck.

We had to pass on the next mornings hunt due to complications, but would head back out the last evening of the youth season for what would be the best hunt of my life. Good friend Tim Mathews said that he wanted to take us to one of his spots he had because his daughter had filled her tag on the opening day with a nice 5-point buck.

We arrived to the meadow that we would be hunting on about 4 p.m. that afternoon. We walked the ridge to an open pasture and decided to settle down beside a nice oak tree over looking the pasture and a small stock tank. It was a nice evening to hunt with the sky lit up with a colorful array of oranges, yellows, and purples. As the sun slowly crept closer and closer to the tree line my hopes of my sons first deer were slowly fading when Tim grabbed my shoulder and said huge doe behind us.

I slowly moved Tyler around to the other side of the tree for a better shot. I could see her now out about 125 yards feeding across the field. Tyler steadied his Ruger Mark II .260 on his shooting sticks but could not find her in the scope. She fed behind a brush pile and we slid up for a closer shot. She came out the other side of the brush pile and was still out about 115 yards. She was just about to enter the woods and be out of site forever when Tyler said he saw her in his scope. Tim whistled and I gave a doe bleat and she came to a stop. He told me again he was on her, and I said to make sure he was behind the shoulder and he assured me he was. He reached up and flipped the safety off and I eagerly waited to hear the thunder of his gun. He shot and the doe crouched down with her tail down and did a 180-degree spin and ran into the woods.

“ Did I get her “ were the first words out of his mouth. I thought for sure he had missed her. “ I know I got her dad, I could see it in the scope. “ “ Let’s get up there and see if we can find blood then.” I said. We walked about twenty yards and another doe was feeding our way. I got Tyler into position again and told him to be steady and make a good shot. He would not take the shot because he was sure he shot the first doe, and kept telling over and over he knew he hit her good. Boy am I glad now he was right.

We walked up to where she entered the woods, but much to our amazement could not find a drop of blood. Tim mentioned that this was a draw that went out to where we parked. After a half hour of looking for blood we decided to walk the draw out and see if we could find her. We were about 70 yards into the timber when I shined my light up on the ridge to what at first I thought was a dead log. I walked up a little closer and knew it was her lying dead. I grabbed my son and we both ran up to her lying on the hillside with a perfect double lung shot. I must admit I had tears of joy in my eyes and hugged my son and told him this was the best hunt of my life. We gave high fives, hugs, and laughs while pulling her up the hill for pictures.

It seems like it was yesterday that this hunt took place as it is burned into my memory forever. As a fellow father and hunter I cannot express enough how important it is to get kids into the outdoors whether it be hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, or just playing get them outside to enjoy mother nature. I also encourage getting them and yourselves involved with the many organizations out there for kids like National Wild Turkey Federations Jake program, or the Ducks Unlimited Greenwings. These are just a couple of the many programs that are out there to teach kids the importance of keeping our hunting heritage alive. I ask each of you the next chance you have to take a kid hunting.

By JT Harden