tracker
Life Member
I had the opportunity this weekend to share in an experience with another one of my children with the harvesting of their first deer with a bow. It had been a busy last half of the week as he had bugged me on Monday that he was ready to put in the time and try to get his first deer. I knew that he had a good chance by watching his arrow placement on a target being consistent for 20 yard shots. This I have watched him improve on over the years, and felt he was ready. We had a major problem to overcome though, he is uncomfortable with heights. I had a stand placed in a fencerow behind my house where my older son had taken his first deer by bow when he was 13. It was one of those homemade jobbies out of treated lumber with a built on ladder and plywood rails. It was a stand built for one person, way too small for 2. I knew I needed to remove and relocate the old stand and build a stand that could easily hold an adult and a kid that was learning how to hunt. I knew our work would be cut out for us to have this done by the weekend.
Thursday afternoon rolled around and we began our challenge by removing the old stand from it's current tree. Things went better than I had expected on the removal of the old stand and we were soon rehanging it onto it's new tree next to the crop field, an excellant place to sit in the evenings. Returning back to the shop we built the new 5'x5' deck that would support the 2 of us when we were sitting waiting for the shot. The over engineered legs were soon put together and away we went with the tractor to hang the stand of a kids dream. Upon reaching the area where the last stand had been removed, I noticed what I thought would be an elevation change from old to new. Sure enough, this new stand was 2' higher. This created a new problem. My tractor wasn't able to reach the base height for the platform and darkness was sitting in. We would call it a day and regroup tommorrow afternoon.
Friday afternoon rolled around and I had changed the front attachment on the tractor to accommodate for the new height. We carefully maneuvered the tractor back through the timber and reached our project area. Within minutes we had cables locked onto our project and it was in the air. Several lag bolts were installed through the deck into the tree and also into the leg/ladder section. The tractor was released and we were anchored. A couple trips back and forth to the shop for assorted materials and we soon had a rail system in place. Everything was finished and all we needed to do was cleanup and shoot. I had Wyatt take a 4 wheeler back to our hunting storage room and retreive his bow and a foam block. He was excitied to throw some arrows, I was unsure how he would accept the height. We both climbed up to the top of the deck and I set there trying to read his mind. His uneasyness with the height was less than I had anticipated. I went over some rules on what he could and couldn't do, agreed upon them, then asked if he would like to give it a try, he gave me "that look" and replied YES. A few shots were taken and Friday had to be called due to darkness. We would have to continue on Saturday.
Saturday morning we were off and rolling to a soccer game and were anxious to get back to the stand. The game went well and Wyatt scored a goal to help his team seal a victory. Our running around was accomplished by mid afternoon and we were soon back home. We loaded up the back of the Ranger with his bow, a foam block, pruning saws and some string. We completed the stand and I placed the block onto the trails that the deer have been using each morning for years. There is a major trail coming in from crop that leads to bedding 15 yards each side of the stand. I had Wyatt climb onto the deck of the stand and proceeded to tell him how I anticipated the deer would react and what how they would look as they traveled toward us. I showed him the areas where he would be able to pull back and get ready for the shot. We also went over how he would have to anticipate where they would step into and how he would have to be fully drawn and look for that spot behind the shoulder to trigger his release. I had placed some firewood behind the trails for an alignment area to have his pin set and ready for the target. He took some practice shots on both sides of the stand. He was being consistant with his shots into the block. He was ready! We cleaned up our materials and called it a day. It was now all up to him.
We woke up the next day, grabbed our gear and were off. After arriving at the stand we tied Wyatts gear onto the rope and up we went. We climbed onto the deck and pulled up his gear. I had my backpack and quickly set up shop for the hunt. I screwed my bow holder into the tree for him and set out the 2 Double Bull chairs. We patiently waited. Our wait wasn't long. Watching to our south we quickly had 2 mature does and some younger does running into our area. I had Wyatt stand and get his bow into his hand. The fist mature doe was heading directly to the lower trail just as we had discussed. Just as she came to the area where he needed to draw, she frooze. I could tell she was uncomfortable with proceeding down that trail. She sniffed and vigorously stomped her front leg. The deer behind her started to feed. She decided to change her direction and proceeded to cross several yards below in heavy brush. She drew the others with her. I figured it was all over for this group. As the mature doe proceeded behind us, the younger deer stared feeding towards us. I kept an eye on the mature doe to prevent us getting busted, and also watched the other group and Wyatt. I could tell he was anxious. Unfortunately these deer weren't going anywhere soon. Wyatt did a good job of holding his bow while watching them feed. I whispered to him to wait until they cleared out of the thick area before considering a shot. We stood and watched them feed for over 10 minutes. I would hear Wyatt's arrow fall off his rest and watch him ever so slowly try to set it back on, to have it fall off again. I wondered what was going through this young man's head? How long can he hold this bow in front of him?
The arrow fell from the rest a couple more times and he would patiently get it placed back on.
The deer finally started clearing the brushy area. One of the younger ones presented it self with a quartering away shot. I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "that's a good shot, take it if you want". He gave me an "ok"
I watched as he slowly drew back. He placed his knuckle behind his ear and looked through his peek. I could see he was washing around a little. He released the arrow and sent it just over the back of the doe. All three took about five steps and stopped. I could see he didn't know what to do. "Knock another arrow" I told him. Wyatt soon had another arrow on and was ready. Hw waited until the second doe had presented almost the same shot. I watched him raise his bow, anchor and release. This time he hit the doe. It jumped from the hit and bolted from area. I watched as it ran off keeping track of the direction travleled. Wyatt looked at me and I grinned. I could tell he was excited. "What do we do now" he asked. I told him we have to wait, I didn't feel real comfortable with the shot placement and 2 hours is a good measure of time to wait.
We continued to have small talk and I asked him about the things running through his mind as this was all happening. He mentioned how it is different shooting at deer compared to a target. He really wasn't sure where his first arrow had went, he just knew he missed. After an hour he wondered if it was time. I told him it had only been an hour. He wanted to know how I could sit and wait for 2 hours with all the deer I have shot. I told him that sometimes it's not very easy. After an hour and a half I had him get down and go check for his arrows. He had no problem finding them both. The second arrow had good blood so I decided we would start tracking.
We walked to the area where I had last seen it running. The blood was decent. We followed the blood down to a dried creek bed.
As we walked down the dried bed a few feet, I could see it laying their. I told him there it is and we walked over to it. You could see the glow in his eyes, probably mine too. We looked at the hit and talked about how they travel when wounded. I could see he was hooked. I told him he had just set the new record for youngest bowhunter in our family to take a deer, 11 years old. He grinned. We took lots of pictures.
Dad's just as proud!!
Little sister informed Wyatt that she was probably going to break the family record....
For all of you that have kids, I hope your experiences are as full as the ones I have been blessed with!!
Thursday afternoon rolled around and we began our challenge by removing the old stand from it's current tree. Things went better than I had expected on the removal of the old stand and we were soon rehanging it onto it's new tree next to the crop field, an excellant place to sit in the evenings. Returning back to the shop we built the new 5'x5' deck that would support the 2 of us when we were sitting waiting for the shot. The over engineered legs were soon put together and away we went with the tractor to hang the stand of a kids dream. Upon reaching the area where the last stand had been removed, I noticed what I thought would be an elevation change from old to new. Sure enough, this new stand was 2' higher. This created a new problem. My tractor wasn't able to reach the base height for the platform and darkness was sitting in. We would call it a day and regroup tommorrow afternoon.
Friday afternoon rolled around and I had changed the front attachment on the tractor to accommodate for the new height. We carefully maneuvered the tractor back through the timber and reached our project area. Within minutes we had cables locked onto our project and it was in the air. Several lag bolts were installed through the deck into the tree and also into the leg/ladder section. The tractor was released and we were anchored. A couple trips back and forth to the shop for assorted materials and we soon had a rail system in place. Everything was finished and all we needed to do was cleanup and shoot. I had Wyatt take a 4 wheeler back to our hunting storage room and retreive his bow and a foam block. He was excitied to throw some arrows, I was unsure how he would accept the height. We both climbed up to the top of the deck and I set there trying to read his mind. His uneasyness with the height was less than I had anticipated. I went over some rules on what he could and couldn't do, agreed upon them, then asked if he would like to give it a try, he gave me "that look" and replied YES. A few shots were taken and Friday had to be called due to darkness. We would have to continue on Saturday.
Saturday morning we were off and rolling to a soccer game and were anxious to get back to the stand. The game went well and Wyatt scored a goal to help his team seal a victory. Our running around was accomplished by mid afternoon and we were soon back home. We loaded up the back of the Ranger with his bow, a foam block, pruning saws and some string. We completed the stand and I placed the block onto the trails that the deer have been using each morning for years. There is a major trail coming in from crop that leads to bedding 15 yards each side of the stand. I had Wyatt climb onto the deck of the stand and proceeded to tell him how I anticipated the deer would react and what how they would look as they traveled toward us. I showed him the areas where he would be able to pull back and get ready for the shot. We also went over how he would have to anticipate where they would step into and how he would have to be fully drawn and look for that spot behind the shoulder to trigger his release. I had placed some firewood behind the trails for an alignment area to have his pin set and ready for the target. He took some practice shots on both sides of the stand. He was being consistant with his shots into the block. He was ready! We cleaned up our materials and called it a day. It was now all up to him.
We woke up the next day, grabbed our gear and were off. After arriving at the stand we tied Wyatts gear onto the rope and up we went. We climbed onto the deck and pulled up his gear. I had my backpack and quickly set up shop for the hunt. I screwed my bow holder into the tree for him and set out the 2 Double Bull chairs. We patiently waited. Our wait wasn't long. Watching to our south we quickly had 2 mature does and some younger does running into our area. I had Wyatt stand and get his bow into his hand. The fist mature doe was heading directly to the lower trail just as we had discussed. Just as she came to the area where he needed to draw, she frooze. I could tell she was uncomfortable with proceeding down that trail. She sniffed and vigorously stomped her front leg. The deer behind her started to feed. She decided to change her direction and proceeded to cross several yards below in heavy brush. She drew the others with her. I figured it was all over for this group. As the mature doe proceeded behind us, the younger deer stared feeding towards us. I kept an eye on the mature doe to prevent us getting busted, and also watched the other group and Wyatt. I could tell he was anxious. Unfortunately these deer weren't going anywhere soon. Wyatt did a good job of holding his bow while watching them feed. I whispered to him to wait until they cleared out of the thick area before considering a shot. We stood and watched them feed for over 10 minutes. I would hear Wyatt's arrow fall off his rest and watch him ever so slowly try to set it back on, to have it fall off again. I wondered what was going through this young man's head? How long can he hold this bow in front of him?
The arrow fell from the rest a couple more times and he would patiently get it placed back on.
The deer finally started clearing the brushy area. One of the younger ones presented it self with a quartering away shot. I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "that's a good shot, take it if you want". He gave me an "ok"
I watched as he slowly drew back. He placed his knuckle behind his ear and looked through his peek. I could see he was washing around a little. He released the arrow and sent it just over the back of the doe. All three took about five steps and stopped. I could see he didn't know what to do. "Knock another arrow" I told him. Wyatt soon had another arrow on and was ready. Hw waited until the second doe had presented almost the same shot. I watched him raise his bow, anchor and release. This time he hit the doe. It jumped from the hit and bolted from area. I watched as it ran off keeping track of the direction travleled. Wyatt looked at me and I grinned. I could tell he was excited. "What do we do now" he asked. I told him we have to wait, I didn't feel real comfortable with the shot placement and 2 hours is a good measure of time to wait.
We continued to have small talk and I asked him about the things running through his mind as this was all happening. He mentioned how it is different shooting at deer compared to a target. He really wasn't sure where his first arrow had went, he just knew he missed. After an hour he wondered if it was time. I told him it had only been an hour. He wanted to know how I could sit and wait for 2 hours with all the deer I have shot. I told him that sometimes it's not very easy. After an hour and a half I had him get down and go check for his arrows. He had no problem finding them both. The second arrow had good blood so I decided we would start tracking.
We walked to the area where I had last seen it running. The blood was decent. We followed the blood down to a dried creek bed.
As we walked down the dried bed a few feet, I could see it laying their. I told him there it is and we walked over to it. You could see the glow in his eyes, probably mine too. We looked at the hit and talked about how they travel when wounded. I could see he was hooked. I told him he had just set the new record for youngest bowhunter in our family to take a deer, 11 years old. He grinned. We took lots of pictures.
Dad's just as proud!!
Little sister informed Wyatt that she was probably going to break the family record....
For all of you that have kids, I hope your experiences are as full as the ones I have been blessed with!!
